Late night with Devil (2023)
It is a one-of-a-kind analog horror flick with a unique plotline. The fictional story is set on the backdrop of 70s satanic rituals and occult practices. It happens mostly in interiors within the setup of a Television Studio program, although some found footage scenes were included at the beginning for around 8 minutes to lay the premise of the story.
The set was designed pitch-perfect reeling a feel of the 70s late-night talk shows, where the guests are allowed to smoke and both the guest and the host are immaculately dressed. Long collars and bright prints were en vogue. And of course, the makeup - thick eyelashes, nude lips, bronze and blush, a bit of shimmer and glitter, and sun-kissed skin, men sporting long hairs, thick sideburns - all done well. With a modest budget, this amount of attention is commendable, but then its necessary as well.
Even though the acting was great, and the dialogues were well written, I somehow felt that David Dastmalchian was a bit too stiff for a role like this. You need a bit of movement, shades, quivering expressions, shivering mien, and lots of voice work instead of just the weird stare, to establish a character like Jack Delroy. Indeed, David picked up the 70s mannerisms especially the hand gestures and finger movements, but then, he essentially presented the character mostly flat like the character is always under spotlight, every movement of his and every word he says were to be critically analyzed and severely judged by his audiences, and hence maybe, his character is frigid and somewhat starchy, didn't quite look that stressy of his falling show ratings.
The film invested a shoestring VFX budget of mere USD 150K on approximately 300 visual effects. Not all of them worked though. The scene when Lilly became repossessed and bolts of lighting pulled her apart so as to split her head into two, with lights emitting from the gaps - could have been done in a much, much better way. Such VFXs of lightning, splitting heads, etc. Are nowadays a common day effect employed on popular YouTube channels, that too for kids! Its hard to imagine that the same movie where at the beginning you are shown the terrific face of Lilly possessed by Abraxas, with great voice work, but then cut-to the scene where Madeleine's spirit was shown standing right next to Jack, its just so amateurish, it ruined the film for me.
The ending should have been handled in a much better way. It completely lacked the tools to induce excitement and exploit suspense to drive the film into an edge-of-a-seat ride, instead, it diminished itself more and more into a blunt stage-play.
The shoddy effects combined with an unimpressive ending will probably be the reason it won't find big distributors for releasing it across the global consuming audiences like in India. Its a failed effort, albeit qualified but not superbly commendable, it just couldn't make it to the finish line!
It is a one-of-a-kind analog horror flick with a unique plotline. The fictional story is set on the backdrop of 70s satanic rituals and occult practices. It happens mostly in interiors within the setup of a Television Studio program, although some found footage scenes were included at the beginning for around 8 minutes to lay the premise of the story.
The set was designed pitch-perfect reeling a feel of the 70s late-night talk shows, where the guests are allowed to smoke and both the guest and the host are immaculately dressed. Long collars and bright prints were en vogue. And of course, the makeup - thick eyelashes, nude lips, bronze and blush, a bit of shimmer and glitter, and sun-kissed skin, men sporting long hairs, thick sideburns - all done well. With a modest budget, this amount of attention is commendable, but then its necessary as well.
Even though the acting was great, and the dialogues were well written, I somehow felt that David Dastmalchian was a bit too stiff for a role like this. You need a bit of movement, shades, quivering expressions, shivering mien, and lots of voice work instead of just the weird stare, to establish a character like Jack Delroy. Indeed, David picked up the 70s mannerisms especially the hand gestures and finger movements, but then, he essentially presented the character mostly flat like the character is always under spotlight, every movement of his and every word he says were to be critically analyzed and severely judged by his audiences, and hence maybe, his character is frigid and somewhat starchy, didn't quite look that stressy of his falling show ratings.
The film invested a shoestring VFX budget of mere USD 150K on approximately 300 visual effects. Not all of them worked though. The scene when Lilly became repossessed and bolts of lighting pulled her apart so as to split her head into two, with lights emitting from the gaps - could have been done in a much, much better way. Such VFXs of lightning, splitting heads, etc. Are nowadays a common day effect employed on popular YouTube channels, that too for kids! Its hard to imagine that the same movie where at the beginning you are shown the terrific face of Lilly possessed by Abraxas, with great voice work, but then cut-to the scene where Madeleine's spirit was shown standing right next to Jack, its just so amateurish, it ruined the film for me.
The ending should have been handled in a much better way. It completely lacked the tools to induce excitement and exploit suspense to drive the film into an edge-of-a-seat ride, instead, it diminished itself more and more into a blunt stage-play.
The shoddy effects combined with an unimpressive ending will probably be the reason it won't find big distributors for releasing it across the global consuming audiences like in India. Its a failed effort, albeit qualified but not superbly commendable, it just couldn't make it to the finish line!
Tell Your Friends