Late Night with the Devil (2023)

Late Night with the Devil spends 93 minutes nailing the look of a 1977 talk show, then fumbles its very last segment. Everything before that is a blast. David Dastmalchian plays Jack Delroy, host of Night Owls, a late-night show that has never beaten Johnny Carson, so on Halloween he gambles on an occult special for ratings. The couch fills up fast: Christou, a psychic, Carmichael Haig, a former magician who now debunks for a living, and a parapsychologist, June, who brings along Lilly, a girl she swears is possessed. It’s built as the master tape of that night plus backstage clips, and the period detail is uncanny. Dastmalchian is the reason it works, a showman whose grin gets more desperate by the segment. A hypnosis bit with Jack’s sidekick, Gus, goes sideways in a way you won’t shake. A few AI-made interstitials drew fair grumbling. That 97% on Rotten Tomatoes is earned. A 7.9 because the format is clever and the ending wobbles. $63.16 says you watch a late-night monologue this week and squint at the studio audience.

What works: David Dastmalchian gives a riveting, fully committed performance, and the found-footage talk show format is clever down to the period detail.

What doesn’t: The finale breaks its own format and doesn’t fully land, and a few AI-generated interstitial images were a needless distraction.

Who it’s for: Horror fans who love a gimmick done right, and anyone who stayed up way too late watching old talk shows.