Late Night With The Devil-Cameron Cairnes & Colin Cairnes

To the best of my recollection, the last horror movie I saw in the theatre—absent of any foreknowledge—was back in 2017 called "The Possession of Hannah Grace". It was at the suggestion of a girl I was dating at the time and was so bad that midway through the film she whispered into my ear "I'm sorry. This movie blows."

Horror is by far my favorite genre, but, unfortunately, as I alluded to in previous reviews, it has slogged something awful for about the better part of twenty years. Maybe closer to twenty-five or thirty if I devoted some serious thought to it.

Going back to 1995, off the dome, I can think of maybe five that stick out in the memory banks that I thought were pretty good.

1. The VVitch

2. Train to Busan

3. It Follows

4. One Cut of The Dead

5. Audition

Including Audition on the list is a bit of a stretch, but for argument's sake, I'll go ahead. But I didn't want to risk blurring territorial genres by including movies like Lost Highway, A Serbian Film, or Irreversible—fantastic films, but none of which I consider to be Horror.

I'll admit that it is a bit narrow-minded and a rather dull universal proclamation that—in 29 years—the horror community has only produced five good films. And to add to this admission, I must confess that I have yet to take the time to sit down and watch modern-day blockbusters like Hostel, I Saw The Devil, Martyrs, The Conjuring, Insidious, or The Nun.

Outside of I Saw The Devil, I have no urge to go and watch any of the aforementioned and after doing a quick skim through IMDB suggestions, I don't feel as if my original sentiment is too far off base.

I don't care for the Saw series, couldn't stand Terrifier, thought Hereditary to be extremely overrated, and Sinister, The Cabin In The Woods, and Get Out all sucked.

I don't mean to be so stubborn and I have given a multitude of chances—and continue to give chances—to recent titles every other Friday when I sit down to watch The Last Drive-In. But much as how I feel top charting Hip Hop artists like Kendrick Lamar, Drake, and Jack Harlow aren't even in the same galaxy of talent as Big Daddy Kane, Lord Finesse, or Rakim. Horror movies of today just don't cut the mustard like they did in the '60s, '70s, and '80s.

So, after that diatribe, where does Late Night With The Devil score in the personal points ledger?

Surprisingly, pretty damn high!

Maybe I was a bit biased in that the writers rewound the clock to 1977. But I don't believe that to be the case. It could have been set in 2024 and gone off just as well. Or maybe not. Who can say? Regardless, the concept was fresh and the execution simple and fun.

Talk show host Jack Delroy—played wonderfully by David Dastmalchian—is struggling in the ratings war against Johnny Carson and desperately needs an adrenaline shot to his ratings to avoid the network throwing in the white towel. When the broadcast of "Night Owls", his syndicated show, lands on Halloween Night of 1977, he wants to feature an authentic exorcism on live television.

As a means of adding some spice to the program, as well as to lend a hand to the verisimilitude, Jack also invites a skeptic and a mind-reader to sit in and add their two cents. From the outset, the program unfolds fairly normally with a few bumps in the psychic's cold reads, but when the skeptic starts to do battle with the possessed specimen and her handler, that is when things start to go out of control.

I don't want to give away much more than that because I think this movie was a really fun watch and a solid horror flick on just about every level.

The acting was good, the concept was original, and for the most part, the realism was enough to consider the question "Could this happen in real life?"

I saw it with my buddy Nate at the theatre and we both chatted quite heartily about it all the way to the bus stop and for the bulk of the ride back home.

What was it that made this horror film better than all of the other recents that I regard as rubbish?

I'm not exactly positive about that answer myself, but I would have to sum it up in two words: simplicity and originality.

They didn't go overboard with the gore to tattoo a shock element to the legacy of the title. The plot was simple, the idea was original, it had a good score and solid acting, and did well with the photography and contrasts (color for the show, black and white for the behind-the-scenes banter during commercial breaks).

Take note horror filmmakers, and learn to keep it simple stupid.

We're not asking for you to deliver more than what you're capable of.

Stars: ***1/2

Verdict: Watch

Cousins: The Exorcist, The Tenant, The Omen, Possession, Rosemary's Baby