Max’s Drive-In Movies – Late Night With The Devil

Usually, I only review older movies but this one is right up powerpop.blog’s alley! It’s a 2023 film set in the year 1977. They have the 1970s down…one of the best time-period movies I’ve seen as far as getting the era right. The audience in the movie could have been off a film clip of the Johnny Carson era Tonight Show. This movie marries nostalgia with horror quite nicely. It’s almost like The Exorcist meets Johnny Carson. It will make you uneasy and you have to pay attention because there are a few subplots you can miss if not. Some of it is based on the reception of the 1980 book Michelle Remembers by Canadian Lawrence Pazder. That book helped cause the “Satanic Panic” around that time on talk shows and the public.

It’s about a talk show host Jack Delroy who was a popular DJ in Chicago who got a chance to host a late-night talk show that was going against Johnny Carson. He signed a 5 year deal in 1972 and now in 1977 it’s running out.  A year after the tragic death of Jack’s wife, ratings have plummeted. It’s a “found footage” movie and the footage being a master tape that was never shown again.  Desperate to turn it around, Jack plans a Halloween special like no other, unaware he is about to unleash evil on late-night television.

On Halloween night 1977, Jack is set to host a special live episode featuring an array of guests, including a renowned paranormal expert with a single name, Christou. However, what starts as exploring the supernatural quickly devolves into chaos when a series of unexplained events unfold.

You get to know Jack’s past and about his wife that just passed away from lung cancer. Jack was part of a secret club called The Grove (a reference to the Bohemian Club) that many celebrities and elites joined. That info plays a big part of this movie. Did Jack essentially sacrifice his wife to be popular? It asks the question…what are you prepared to give up for success?

It all starts with Christou picks an audience member and accurately tells her about her son who killed himself. After that, a skeptical but nasty guest named Carmichael the Conjurer starts to say how all supernatural and unusual events are not real.  He offered Christou $100,000 to prove he was not a con man. He books an interview with a parapsychologist and the subject of her recent book, a young teenager who was the sole survivor of a Satanic church’s mass suicide. Naturally, all hell breaks loose when paranormal activity begins wreaking havoc during the show.

The plot blurs the lines between reality and the supernatural, with the audience left questioning what’s real as Jack faces his worst fears live on air. The tension mounts as the show’s studio audience becomes unsettled, mirroring Jack’s descent into madness. The film’s use of practical effects and atmospheric cinematography sells what is happening. 

Horror movies… the one thing that bothers me about most of them are the endings.  This one has an ending with a twist. My only complaint…being the 1970s lover I am…I wish they would have used the same kind of film look the Tonight Show had but the set was great. At the end of the movie you will also hear a song by Flo and Eddie called Keep It Warm.

David Dastmalchian did a great job as Jack Delroy.

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Author: Badfinger (Max)

Power Pop fan, Baseball, Beatles, Alternative music, old movies, and tv show fan. Also anything to do with pop culture in the 60s and 70s... I'm also a songwriter, bass and guitar player. Not the slightest bit interested in politics at all.

34 thoughts on “Max’s Drive-In Movies – Late Night With The Devil”

  7. interesting twist on conventional horror movies. the photo you show sure does look like a ’70s talk show or game show . Speaking of horror movie endings, I re-watched The Birds last week (which you’d written about recently)… great suspense but really to me, not one of Hitchcock’s better films partly because I thought the ending was just too ambiguous, open-ended. But I guess that in itself was a plot twist of sorts

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    1. I love the set and what they did with this. It’s really good and had me hooked. I always have problems with horror endings except one…it’s called The Black Phone…great ending!

      Yea…he didn’t want you to know why the Birds did what they did…it made you wonder and ask about it 60 years later. I used to get upset at that but I’ve seen some movies that just explain too much and takes the mystery out.

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      1. I agree, with Dave, ‘The Birds’ is open ended but that’s also ok- adds a bit of mystery to the horror.

        (And then you get some mishits from some directors who you have seen good things from, like, say, ‘The Sixth Sense’. And next up they who leave you sitting in the theatre, horror stricken, but in a sad way. The one thing I liked about ‘The Happening’ was the design of the poster!)

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      2. Yea it’s a tricky line to cross. If you give too much explanation…it feels like…too good to be true. This one is about half and half.
        Yea with the Birds the characters that we invested in survived… except my crush Suzanne Pleshette damn it.

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  13. I like the movie and the main actor is the reason why. I also like that they didn’t overdo it with the effects. Just enough to unnerve. The make-up was really good and the real, non CGI special effects. The recreation of the atmosphere from that time was super. I felt relief when the movie was over.

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    1. I did love the set and the effects. I thought it was a fresh way to do the horror they did. He was great and also the girl that played that kid. She was so errie.

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  14. Have you ever watched any of the Conjuring movies? They’re set in the 70s, although there’s a whole universe of films now stretching further back… Pretty silly, but the first couple were decent horror.

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  15. Excellent, Max! I experienced the tale end of the “Satanic Panic” you speak about, and I knew you would appreciate this movie’s nostalgic touch (even though they could have used grainy film stock—good point). I somehow predicted the ending, but I enjoyed the gradual revelations that occurred both “on air” and behind the scenes. Very clever and anxious!

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    1. The ending could have went other ways…but it was good. Thanks for reading Bernie…but this one was just very cool! He did a great job in this movie…I’ve seen him in other things but never in a starring role.

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  17. A film with a good start, okay middle, and convoluted ending. The special-effects are a bit overdone too. I think it would have worked had it kept things more simple, more ambiguous. I like to think of it as Ghostwatch meets The Exorcist but would prefer to watch either of those two over this one.

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    1. At the end I agree…her head splitting open was out there…I wish they would have kept it…well believable…something more realistic.

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  18. Pingback: Flo & Eddie – Keep It Warm – PowerPop… An Eclectic Collection of Pop Culture

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