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Post by moviemouth on Mar 29, 2024 23:15:16 GMT
Late Night with the Devil is about a talk show host whose ratings are falling and he is desperate to get them up again. On Halloween night in the 1977 there is a special broadcast that will have a teenage girl being possessed by a demon (that she names Mr. Riggles) on live television. The movie is a slow build with a fantastic pay-off. The first guest is a supposed medium, the second is a skeptic and a magician and the third is the young girl and her guardian who is a parapsychologist. The movie has the different interviews with the 4 guests for the first half of the movie and the host's comedy bits as you would see on any late night talk show. During these early parts there are also strange things that happen and as the movie goes on things just get stranger. It is at about the midway point we meet the young girl and the possession happens. This is an intense scene and intentionally makes you think about the movie The Exorcist. After that there is a calm where it goes back to the normal talk show setting of the host talking to the guests again. I won't say anything else except that the final act has one of the greatest scenes of any horror movie I have seen. The scene takes you completely by surprise and is visceral terror.
In a time of uninspired movies and laziness a movie like this is a wonder to behold. The kind of movie that makes me want to write a letter to the filmmakers thanking them. This movie is interesting, funny, clever, campy, and creepy. The pacing is perfection. The structure is perfection. The filmmaking is near flawless for the type of movie it is. I say that because it is technically a found footage movie, but with a twist. It has more of a documentary feel than a found footage feel. The "found footage" is the tape of the original broadcast including the stuff that wasn't aired. The way the movie captures the feel of the '70s is amazing. It really feels like you are watching a real original broadcast of a 1970s talk show. It has the commercial breaks and the behind the scenes interactions between the host and his crew. This is a movie that takes worn out horror tropes and makes them feel fresh. The movie has no jump scares and only has a few scenes of violence and gore, which are mostly practical effects. It takes inspiration from The Exorcist, 1970s Hammer horror films and David Cronenberg. Michael Ironside even narrates the opening set-up for the movie. The cast is very good, especially David Dastmalchian as the lead. If you are a horror fan this movie is a must watch.
9/10
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Post by kolchak92 on Mar 29, 2024 23:24:19 GMT
I really liked it a lot. I'm not really familiar with David Dastmalchian, but he was fantastic here, apparently he was also in Dune.
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Post by moviemouth on Mar 29, 2024 23:25:41 GMT
I really liked it a lot. I'm not really familiar with David Dastmalchian, but he was fantastic here, apparently he was also in Dune. The largest role I have seen him in prior to this is in The Suicide Squad.
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Post by gbone on Mar 30, 2024 14:34:49 GMT
Saw it last night. It was a lot of fun and original. The great detail of the 70’s aesthetic was near perfect. The clothing, the colors, the smoking, the film grain. The main character was so locked in with his late night talk show swagger. Had the right amount of creepy parts with no BS jump scares.
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Post by moviebuffbrad on Mar 30, 2024 20:22:59 GMT
I really liked it a lot. I'm not really familiar with David Dastmalchian, but he was fantastic here, apparently he was also in Dune. If you remember TDK, he's the Joker stooge that Harvey Dent captures and interrogates after the attempt on the mayor. One of those "I'll be seeing this guy again in the future" bit parts.
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Post by jcush on Mar 30, 2024 20:28:34 GMT
I really liked it a lot. I'm not really familiar with David Dastmalchian, but he was fantastic here, apparently he was also in Dune. If you remember TDK, he's the Joker stooge that Harvey Dent captures and interrogates after the attempt on the mayor. One of those "I'll be seeing this guy again in the future" bit parts. I was just looking at his filmography earlier and apparently that was his very first role.
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Post by moviemouth on Mar 30, 2024 22:02:49 GMT
If you remember TDK, he's the Joker stooge that Harvey Dent captures and interrogates after the attempt on the mayor. One of those "I'll be seeing this guy again in the future" bit parts. I was just looking at his filmography earlier and apparently that was his very first role. I was looking through his filmography yesterday and noticed he didn't appear in another popular movie until Prisoners and it was after that that he starting popping up in more movies.
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Post by jcush on Mar 30, 2024 22:13:57 GMT
I was just looking at his filmography earlier and apparently that was his very first role. I was looking through his filmography yesterday and noticed he didn't appear in another popular movie until Prisoners and it was after that that he starting popping up in more movies. I think he's memorable in The Dark Knight and Prisoners, despite both being pretty small roles, so it's cool that he finally got a leading role.
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Post by moviemouth on Mar 30, 2024 22:17:34 GMT
I was looking through his filmography yesterday and noticed he didn't appear in another popular movie until Prisoners and it was after that that he starting popping up in more movies. I think he's memorable in The Dark Knight and Prisoners, despite both being pretty small roles, so it's cool that he finally got a leading role. He actually already had a lead role. I noticed it when looking through his filmography. www.imdb.com/title/tt7281538/?ref_=nm_flmg_c_26_act
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Post by moviemouth on Mar 30, 2024 22:23:34 GMT
I really liked it a lot. I'm not really familiar with David Dastmalchian, but he was fantastic here, apparently he was also in Dune. If you remember TDK, he's the Joker stooge that Harvey Dent captures and interrogates after the attempt on the mayor. One of those "I'll be seeing this guy again in the future" bit parts. One of those instantly memorable one scene performances.
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Post by jcush on Mar 30, 2024 22:37:54 GMT
If you remember TDK, he's the Joker stooge that Harvey Dent captures and interrogates after the attempt on the mayor. One of those "I'll be seeing this guy again in the future" bit parts. One of those instantly memorable one scene performances. Still to this day, whenever I see him pop up in a film I hear Christian Bale say "His name's Schiff. Thomas..."
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Post by sdrew13163 on Apr 2, 2024 8:47:25 GMT
Almost went to see this yesterday, but the showings were just barely spaced out so I couldn’t make it. Gonna try to catch it tomorrow.
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Post by moviebuffbrad on May 8, 2024 6:45:41 GMT
I enjoyed it, though not as much as everyone else here. I don't know if you guys have seen Ghostwatch (1992), but it reminded me a lot of that film, though not as creepy or authentic for me personally (that one never stops feeling like a TV broadcast, whereas this kind of took me out of it with a lot of the multiple camera angles, or whenever they did "behind the scenes" which just looked like standard movie footage cut scenes). They kinda buried the leade early here with the psychic rather than play up any ambiguity, and I was a little letdown once it turned into a VFX reel.
Not to sound overly negative, I did like it a lot. Especially the acting. I thought David Dastmalchian was an odd choice for a late night comedian going into it, but he was perfect. I forgot who the skeptic was until the hypnosis scene where he channels Huge Weaving for a second and was reminded of Matrix Bane.
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Post by moviemouth on May 8, 2024 7:03:56 GMT
I enjoyed it, though not as much as everyone else here. I don't know if you guys have seen Ghostwatch (1992), but it reminded me a lot of that film, though not as creepy or authentic for me personally (that one never stops feeling like a TV broadcast, whereas this kind of took me out of it with a lot of the multiple camera angles, or whenever they did "behind the scenes" which just looked like standard movie footage cut scenes). They kinda buried the leade early here with the psychic rather than play up any ambiguity, and I was a little letdown once it turned into a VFX reel. Not to sound overly negative, I did like it a lot. Especially the acting. I thought David Dastmalchian was an odd choice for a late night comedian going into it, but he was perfect. I forgot who the skeptic was until the hypnosis scene where he channels Huge Weaving for a second and was reminded of Matrix Bane. I just looked at Ghostwatch. I am now interested in watching that. It is a TV movie, so that is probably why I haven't heard of it.
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Post by Prime etc. on May 8, 2024 7:21:16 GMT
Was he the guy with the cellphone in his stomach in the Dark Knight? That guy reminded me of Donal Logue.
But I realllllly hate this found footage stuff--and I know it isn't quite that but it isn't cinematic either and I consider found footage (or tv broadcast) a cop out because it is easier to make people think of something as a documentary or reality tv than to get them involved in a story which is cinematic. Hey-the Texas Chainsaw Massacre also started with a voice over but then went into cinematic mode.
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Post by jcush on May 8, 2024 7:22:17 GMT
I enjoyed it, though not as much as everyone else here. I don't know if you guys have seen Ghostwatch (1992), but it reminded me a lot of that film, though not as creepy or authentic for me personally (that one never stops feeling like a TV broadcast, whereas this kind of took me out of it with a lot of the multiple camera angles, or whenever they did "behind the scenes" which just looked like standard movie footage cut scenes). They kinda buried the leade early here with the psychic rather than play up any ambiguity, and I was a little letdown once it turned into a VFX reel. Not to sound overly negative, I did like it a lot. Especially the acting. I thought David Dastmalchian was an odd choice for a late night comedian going into it, but he was perfect. I forgot who the skeptic was until the hypnosis scene where he channels Huge Weaving for a second and was reminded of Matrix Bane. I just looked at Ghostwatch. I am now interested in watching that. It is a TV movie, so that is probably why I haven't heard of it. I watched Ghostwatch for my horror marathon a few years ago and thought it was pretty good. I definitely liked Late Night with the Devil more though.
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Post by moviemouth on May 8, 2024 7:28:06 GMT
Was he the guy with the cellphone in his stomach in the Dark Knight? That guy reminded me of Donal Logue.
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Post by Prime etc. on May 8, 2024 16:14:32 GMT
Was he the guy with the cellphone in his stomach in the Dark Knight? That guy reminded me of Donal Logue. lol ok I don't even remember that guy.
there goes the verisimilitude.
That guy would not have been hosting a national tv show in 1970s America. Maybe Fernando's Hideaway.
TV was very white bread in those days.
I had this picture in my head of the cell phone guy as a talk show host and even he seemed a little out of sync with the hosts I remember. The closest thing I could think of to that guy was William Conrad in Brotherhood of the Bell.
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Post by moviebuffbrad on May 8, 2024 17:33:18 GMT
lol ok I don't even remember that guy.
there goes the verisimilitude.
That guy would not have been hosting a national tv show in 1970s America. Maybe Fernando's Hideaway.
TV was very white bread in those days.
I had this picture in my head of the cell phone guy as a talk show host and even he seemed a little out of sync with the hosts I remember. The closest thing I could think of to that guy was William Conrad in Brotherhood of the Bell.
Apparently he's Iranian but he's very white passing. Especially in this with the 70s white guy sideburns and stuff.
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Post by Prime etc. on May 8, 2024 18:06:18 GMT
Apparently he's Iranian but he's very white passing. Especially in this with the 70s white guy sideburns and stuff. Yeah but it is such forced casting if you want authenticity. If that is what you are claiming to sell.
If you compromise an idea because you feel you need to inject diversity of some kind--which is unnecessary because you did have black and latino and asians on tv at the time--it's not like you don't have options to fill that requirement-they could easily make one of the guests black, indian or Mexican or whatever -but to make the host the diversity card by default--you are sacrificing the most important part of it--there's no way that there are no actors who could play the role as well at least (since most tv hosts were not half Iranian!) so it is a kind of token woken.
If this movie was made in the 70s and they used Ricardo Montalban as the host----it may have worked-I could picture him as a host of a show because he had the screen presence for that-but standards were so different then for casting.
I remember this guy in the Dark Knight now after thinking about it but he just doesn't strike me as having the gravitas for it. Some movies are great at doing retro-casting. The Shadow 1994 was very clever at some of the casting--they picked supporting actors like Max Wright and Ethan Phillips who had personas and voices that would have fit perfectly into 1940s radio--even the guy playing the Asian scientist had a Keye Luke kind of quality. I don't think I have seen a movie that was so careful in retro casting to make you think of older acting styles. Not so much for the leads but the people playing cab drivers etc.
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