Late Night with the Devil (2023)
There is something almost quaint, in the best possible sense, about a horror film that roots its scares in the world of late-night television. By 1977, the American talk show had become a nightly ritual for millions of households, a warm and familiar presence glowing in the corner of the living room. It is precisely that familiarity, that sense of safe, scheduled entertainment, that Late Night with the Devil sets about dismantling. The Cairnes brothers, Cameron and Colin, frame the whole thing as recovered broadcast footage from a fictional Halloween night episode of a struggling chat show called Night Owls, complete with period-accurate set design, VHS grain, and the kind of creeping wrongness that makes you want to check the door is locked. The found-footage format is well-trodden ground at this point, but the television broadcast setting gives it a fresh angle, more Ghostwatch than Blair Witch, and that specific cultural touchstone will feel especially familiar to British and Irish viewers who grew up with the BBC's legendary 1992 Halloween broadcast. The production is a genuinely international effort, pulling together Australian, American, and UAE financing under the banner of several smaller outfits including Spooky Pictures and AGC Studios, with VicScreen's involvement giving it a distinctly Australian creative backbone despite the thoroughly American setting.
Cameron and Colin Cairnes have been working quietly in Australian genre cinema for well over a decade, their earlier feature 100 Bloody Acres (2013) earning them a solid cult following for its dry, bloody rural horror comedy. This feels like a significant step up in ambition and craft, a polished but unsentimental piece of work that takes its period detail seriously. The production design deserves particular mention: the burnt-orange and avocado colour palette, the chunky studio cameras, the studio audience warm-up energy, all of it lands with convincing period weight. It is the sort of film that Australians are increasingly good at making, as anyone who has seen You Won't Be Alone will recognise: genre work with a genuine sense of place and atmosphere, even when that place is a meticulously recreated American television studio. Leading the ensemble is David Dastmalchian, a character actor perhaps best known to mainstream audiences from his supporting turns in the Ant-Man films and The Suicide Squad, here given the rare opportunity to carry a feature as its undisputed centre of gravity. Alongside him, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, and Ingrid Torelli fill out the live broadcast night, each bringing a different register to what is essentially a pressure-cooker ensemble piece. Torelli in particular, as a young girl who may or may not be harbouring something unwelcome, has the kind of unsettling screen presence that genre films live or die by.
I went into Late Night with the Devil, directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes, completely blind as I always try to. To be completely honest, the first half felt like it was taking far too long to get into the actual meat of the story. It’s a tight 90-minute runtime, but they spend a good chunk of it just setting the scene for this fictional 1993 late-night talk show. However, I have to hand it to them: the payoff is absolutely worth the wait. It’s one of those rare films where the final 30 minutes completely sell the entire movie, shifting the gears just enough to make that slow burn feel like a deliberate, creepy trap.
When it comes to the cast, this was actually the first time I’ve seen David Dastmalchian step up as the lead, and fair play to him, he delivers a deeply committed and believable performance as the desperate talk show host. He anchors the film brilliantly. The acting throughout the rest of the ensemble is pretty decent, too, with one glaring exception: Rhys Auteri. I’m sorry, but every single scene he was in just completely dragged me out of the immersion. His delivery felt so out of step with the rest of the cast that it took me right out of the unsettling broadcast vibe the directors were trying so hard to build.
Atmospherically, though, the film is genuinely unsettling at times, tapping into that live-broadcast dread without relying entirely on cheap jump scares. I will say, the specific "electricity" effects were laughably bad (like, completely take those out bad) but for the most part, the practical and visual effects were handled really well and added to the tension rather than ruining it. Overall, I really liked this film. It’s not flawless, and the sluggish start and one dodgy performance hold it back from being an absolute masterpiece, but that killer third act makes it a cracking watch. Late Night with the Devil is a highly entertaining, deeply creepy ride that more than earns its keep by the time the credits roll.
Late Night with the Devil sits comfortably in a small but worthy tradition of horror films that use mass media as both setting and metaphor, the idea that the thing invited into your home through the screen might not be entirely benign. It is not a reinvention of found footage, nor does it need to be. What it offers instead is confident, considered genre filmmaking from a directing duo who clearly understand that atmosphere is built slowly and that a strong final act can reframe everything that came before it. For fans of Australian horror specifically, it makes for an interesting companion piece to other recent local output, and if this sort of considered, slow-burn genre work appeals, it is worth keeping an eye on what the Cairnes brothers do next. Sometimes the best thing a horror film can do is make you uneasy long after the credits have rolled, and on that count, this one does its job.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2023 | Watched: 2026-06-11
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Late Night with the Devil (2023) on YouTube
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Shudder · Shudder Amazon Channel
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Hulu · AMC Plus Apple TV Channel · AMC+ Amazon Channel · AMC+
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Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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