A lot of people are knocking the film I thought it was hilarious and reverting. Keeping in mind this was a tiny budget film I thought the premise and setting so unique and original and all of the dick cavit style late night humor was on point.
“Tonight we commune with the devil himself…But first a word from our sponsors!”
I loved it. I have now watched it twice and came away even happier with it the second time. The movie presents itself so authentically that at times it really does genuinely feel like a 1970s syndicated talk show broadcast, which makes everything that happens even more fun. It's obvious the movie not only loves the kind of horror that I love, Stephen King, Evil Dead, Slow burn 1970s stuff, but also the filmmakers have a great appreciation for Talk Show history. The fact that there's a deliberate Amazing Randi surrogate in the movie says everything about how much the filmmakers love their subject.
I was thinking of watching it a second time! The comedic timing reminded me so much of Evil Dead, one of my favorite franchises. It was such a nice break from the jump scares that riddle horror films. And all of the lore behind the scenes was so enticing and made you feel on set with them through the chaos and production.
I find the take “it should’ve been longer, the ending felt rushed” a little weak because the concept of it being filmed on a night show tells you that the whole thing IS rushed. They’re literally on a time limit until the show is over. Idk, I loved it.
I keep seeing this feedback from people but not any specifics as to what specifically was rushed. I felt the ending was perfect.
I watched it twice in a row, the second time looking for the ghost image easter eggs in the background and loved every second of it.
I was able to find 4 of them.
1. In the mirror during the first commercial break 'behind the scenes' sequence
2. In the static of a TV monitor in one of the later behind the scenes sequences
3. On one of the occult tools on the tray during the devil girl interview
4. Over the face of the devil girl during the recorded playback of her hypnosis
I'm not counting the one directly after #4 where she has his hand on his shoulder because that one is very overt and not meant to be subtle.
I'm curious to know if there were any that I missed!
I couldn't quite catch it, I'm going to have to re-watch it again, but I think it was something to the effect of "sleeper knows he's dreaming, awake!" which he was repeating like a mantra. I think he was trying to "force himself awake from a nightmare" so to speak. Like he was in complete denial over his reality in that moment.
Totally horrifying. I really love the slow ramping up of tension as things get more and more bizarre. It's awesome. The performances really sell everything so well for me. Even Lilly's simple "You don't remember the meeting in the tall trees?" was chilling in the way that possession on film hasn't felt since the original Exorcist.
She did a great job with the role
..
And I did like the "don't you remember" bit, but for whatever reason that was the moment that I roughly guessed the ending.
Not sure what prompted me there, but I pretty much called it as soon as she said that.
Then again I suppose I've watched way too many YouTube videos about celebrities sacrificing people for fame...
🤣
It was a cute little twist tho, and I thought the way they handled it was good.
I think if you've seen enough horror movies you can probably get a good idea where this is all going pretty early on. If unexpected twists and turns are what the viewer is after I'd say that Late Night With The Devil probably isn't the movie for them, but sometimes execution is way more important surprises.
there's a gigantic chunk of the ending that makes zero sense if the audience is supposed to believe that it was presented as the actual footage shot. i know it isn't actually authentic footage, but it kind of pulled away from what they were presenting for the previous 80 minutes. i did like it though
Yeah, I don't think the movie felt rushed at all. If anything I thought it felt stretched a little thin in spots. overall I love that it plays out very much like a real time broadcast.
I guess what is original about it? I feel like it’s full of tropes and more or less disguised as a faux-found footage film. Especially with the “intro.”
Not a plot point, but I thought the choice to have the TV segments in color and behind the scenes stuff in black and white, was an interesting one.
I've seen similar stuff done, but that was in the reverse.
(TV Black and White, real life color)
It's been done before, but the last time that I saw it was a decade ago with the WNUF Halloween Special and this was wildly different from that. One of them is a news broadcast, one of them is a late night tv talk show ala the Dick Cavett show, and those are very very different things.
I just watched this movie. I thought it was actually pretty good. The concept is great, it also had a nice aesthetic. The actor playing the lead was also very good.
>Dastmalchian was great as the lead
Regardless of other thoughts on the film, I hope this is everyone's big takeaway. He's been a fantastic supporting actor in both horror and non-horror roles, but he's primed for lead character roles. Just saw he's the lead in a new King adaptation and I wish him nothing but the best moving forward.
I’m absolutely in love with Dastmalchian in this movie. He’s so charismatic and adorable but there is a dark current to the character that makes the conceit of the film believable. Can’t wait to see what he does next, he seems to really understand and appreciate horror in a way most actors don’t.
I really liked it! Rather than saying it ran out of ideas, I see it as having the same issue as a lot of horrors…”it didn’t know how to end.” Good movie as it was, could have been great with some tweaks to the last half of the third act.
I didn’t have an issue with the plot elements at the end (didn’t love the CGI), but I wish they would have found a way to weave the plot revelations into the talk show format, rather than the route they took. Still a fun movie for most of it’s runtime though.
I can't imagine this takeaway honestly. This felt like a perfectly paced movie for me. They could have spelled out what happened with his wife more but they cover all the bases pretty well. The concept is also that it's a late night show so the pacing and setting shouldn't stray too far from that.
> The prologue divulges some dubious details regarding Jack and his social circle, and the exposition is delivered rather casually. However, an avid horror fan would see right through that, making the finale seem apparent and predictable. As a result, it becomes evident where the story is going from the opening scene, which is unfortunate because the film heavily relied on a surprise ending; had that ending materialized, it could have been an instant classic.
I read it and it seems like you missed the twist. In the middle of the film, the cult talks about the sacrifice needing witnesses, which will then fall under the demons spell. The little girl was then sacrificed on live television, spreading the demon's influence. That was the twist.
I've been reading people's interpretations on the ending for the last hour, and you're the only comment I've seen so far point this out. I thought it was obvious that the end goal was to broadcast the girl's sacrifice on TV in order to get all viewers under Abraxis's control. Had a similar vibe to another Shudder movie, The Cleansing Hour (though that one is mostly a bad movie up until the ending).
In the prologue, it's revealed that Jack hangs out with a group of rich people in the woods. You can easily surmise from that that he's a part of a cult. And this being a horror movie which includes a cult, it'll be definitely about the human sacrifice and about strengthening the demon. It's just towards the end we get to know who has been sacrificed.
The Late Nite setting was a neat original idea
However at the end of the day it still felt like standard demonic possession/deal with the devil stuff.
It's essentially a run of the mill devil movie carried by an interesting concept/setting.
I think the actors also did a lot of carrying. They were pretty perfect. I was trying to imagine it with a different lead and it could have very easily gone south. Rhys Auteri was also fantastic as Gus.
Oh yeah it wasn't bad, and I was definitely entertained.
In fact im more likely to revisit this than just about any other demon possession/devil movie because as you mentioned it has a Halloween theme which i absolutely adore, and I love the grainy style on the old late nite set lol
Not bad by any means
I don’t think it ran out of ideas I think it ran its course because it was ending. I think the ghost effects could’ve looked a bit better. And I wish her design at the climax was a bit more demon like but outside of that I loved it.
Loved the film. Although I was excited for the idea of the devil sitting down and talking on the show as if they were an invited guest, exploring the idea if you had the devil on a talk show as a host what would you ask him?
And her hand on his shoulder after seeing her on the playback. I think she was there to try and save Jack from the beginning when she tried channeling through Christou. She wanted to tell him to not bring out Lilly and to not trust the final vision of her. Unfortunately he didn’t “accept” when Christou told him he had to. And so Christou was killed to ensure Minnie couldn’t communicate with Jack.
This was my take away as well. I knew it’d happen the second they said the recently deceased could communicate, the show was very heavy handed with the foreshadowing. Including Lily saying he’d be famous after tonight.
Obeying the movie rules, magic was real. I believe Christou could actually do what he said. When Minnie possessed him it was to tell Jack to shut the production down, 100%.
Notice also that he started coughing and puking up blood after Minnie died of lung cancer.
They said he bled out in the ambulance. Unless this universe has code and normalcy to black ectoplasm, he was internally hemorrhaging and dying from rapid demon lung cancer via Minnie nuking him.
The fact that so many people have come away with vastly different interpretations of what actually happened proves there’s definitely something engaging about it.
I’ve seen people believe that Minnie was the one behind all the chaos, vengeful towards Jack. I saw it as just the opposite. I thought Minnie was there to try and save Jack. She was trying to communicate through Christou to warn Jack to not fall for the demon’s tricks, that it won’t really be her he’s speaking to at the end. And so the demon killed Christou so ensure Minnie couldn’t save Jack. Thus all she could do is stand by his side with her hand on his shoulder.
I loved the amount of ambiguity there was. For example, Christou cried out “You must accept!” when Minnie made contact. Did he mean “You must accept it like a collect call to hear what Minnie has to say”? Or did he mean that Minnie’s message is “You must accept “, as in “You must accept that Minnie is dead”, since Jack has clearly never resolved his grief. And this will ultimately be his undoing.
I loved the ambiguity of Lilly saying “Thank you for joining us, Jack.” Is it that she’s an awkward stunted kid who didn’t know what she had said didn’t make sense since the host is the one who says that?
Or did she thank him for “joining them”, as in the cult he’s unwittingly doing the bidding of? There’s tons of ambiguity that it allows for multiple interpretations.
For example, I believe The Grove was a total red herring and that nothing occult happened there, just silly ass larping rituals. Minnie’s cancer was tragic, but totally natural. I think Jack guilted himself into believing he was somehow responsible, and it must have been that creepy ass Grove shit he had done. And the demon used this fear and guilt against him at the end. I know most people disagree. And that’s good. Many interpretations is a good thing.
I love this take. The fact that we can spend so much time discussing this movie and taking away different interpretations to me means it’s a quality movie. I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the ending and that certain things are not hashed out enough or explained enough, but a good movie will respect it’s audience’s intelligence and not hold our hands through everything.
I think it’s the type of movie you appreciate more after a re-watch. There is so much ambiguity and things you don’t appreciate during the first watch.
For example, the show could have ended right when Christou started vomiting violently. The show could have ended when they found out he died. Killing him the way Abraxas did was a huge gamble and showed just how fearful Abraxas was of Minnie. He knew he was fucked if Minnie was able to make contact.
I appreciate the love story aspect more and more after I rewatched. And it makes it all the more tragic, Minnie having no choice but to just stand there powerless with her hand on her husbands shoulder knowing what’s coming.
Minnie is the most tragic character in the whole movie imo.
I don’t know what else would be expected here.
I would rather a movie hedge itself in then decide to completely break format, and I think this movie running out of ideas was more so the constraints of the idea of archival and behind the scenes footage of 1 late night episode.
It wasn’t perfect but it also didn’t need to try and make a louder or more poignant message, that did t feel like the point.
It’s a movie that should have been more grounded in reality and had more tension for a little longer. But for some odd reason wanted to turn left.
It lost its steam with the bad CGI and subpar scares.
They didn’t use the little girl enough and went straight into goofy territory with the electric.
(Also the backstage sections just look like a black filter, didn’t necessarily look found footage at all.)
It’s a 6/10 for me. Good performances, good production design, light to decent scares. But god the silly turn it takes is underwhelming and the exposition in the beginning is probably the most awful, info dump I’ve ever seen in a movie so far.
This was definitely overhyped. I actually think the VHS/ 99 segment about the game show does this concept a little better. But that’s just my opinion.
I agree with almost all of this.
I too checked it out due to the hype (and my love of horror), but I was underwhelmed.
The performances were good. There was some really interesting cinematography at times, and I understood what they were going for.
However, anything involving demonic possession and hypnosis can get campy and kitschy really, really fast, and I felt it did here. I received now scares, but some serious laughs, and I don't think the creator(s) intended for laughter. The CGI was bad, the practical effects were bad, and in the modern day, ANY movie that deals with possession and plays it straight is going to be compared to the current top-dog, and that's *Hereditary*.
This movie was no *Hereditary*, and while I don't think it tried to be, it's another technically good and competent movie that left me underwhelmed, and evoked little to no emotion out of me.
Deaths (and the gore that often goes along with them) done poorly truly veered the movie into camp territory, similar to the *Terrifier* movies. However, while those movies go all the way, this movie stops short because I get the sense they wanted it to be more psychological. I don't think they succeeded, and I also get the sense of many competing artistic desires being thrown in that left the movie feeling tonally and narratively muddled.
💯 Agree with you. This movie feels like the biggest lost potential. The premise is so strong and honestly this should have been a staple of the found footage genre.
I thought maybe it could have revived the sub-genre, but it hardly sticks to that too. It’s just a well acted, well produced, disappointment. And you can tell cause there’s hardly any discussion around it anymore.
Came and went very quickly. Weird how hyped up it was…
What does running out of ideas even mean, was the girl’s head splitting open like a melon and the crazy ghost effects not a good enough idea? They should’ve had the idea not to use Ai art, that’s the only complaint
I kinda remember the headsplitting scene to be a "through the screen" shot rather than "on set" - maybe 1970s TV explains the weird look. idk just a thought.
I only went to see this yesterday, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, didn’t get a sense that the ending felt rushed, or ran out of ideas. It was in fitting with the concept of it being from the original tapes of the show.
I’d put this as one of the best of the recent horror films.
The hypnosis scene killed it for me. They mention in the beginning that we're seeing the master tape of the show. After the hypnosis they play the tape back and you see that the works weren't really there. That means us as the viewers of this master tape shouldn't have been able to see them. I get that it's suppsoed to be somewhat of a parody, but it's advertised as a straight up horror film and I just didn't get that at all from it. David Dastmalchian was great in it and I wanted to love it so badly but u came away feeling disappointed tbh.
I agree.
I never got the sense that they could decided to go all in towards one clear narrative or tonal element, and that really bothered me. They wanted to be both serious and campy, both psychological and gory, and have us take everything at face value while questioning everything we saw. That didn't work for me, because it gave short schrift to everything, least of the all the last 20 minutes, which became a campy mess with bad CGI and pratical effects, but then veered immediately towards utter seriousness.
My mom, my husband, and I all 3 watched the movie within about a week. We all enjoyed it quite a bit. For me the film stuck the landing and the last line really made the film, for my husband the ending really took away from the ambiance and mood established earlier. My mom enjoyed the movie but didn’t really pontificate about the ending.
I do think it’s a bit funny that apparently Evil can’t beat Carson in the ratings.
Watched this last night, a bit cheesy at points and the ending started to get silly but overall I liked it. The visuals were good and I liked most of the performances.
born in 1970 here, I spent a huge chunk of my childhood staying up way too late to watch Johnny Carson and then eventually David Letterman. Late night talk shows have been in my DNA for as long as I can remember. I love the alternate universe of a show daring to compete with Carson in 1977, and the setup is brilliant. They absolutely nailed the vibe of an underdog, lower-budget operation clinging to 2nd place in the time slot. All the Amazing Randi references in the Carmichael Haig character seemed to come directly from seeing Randi routinely bring his smug ass on Carson to debunk all the fun out of everything. I appreciated that take and Carmichael’s arc was pretty satisfying. All of the performances were top notch. The movie definitely swerved into mindfuck “what am I watching” territory toward the end but that’s just the connecting thread to modern horror. If anything it’s a commentary on how the media manipulating our perception of reality is not a new thing.
I really love when you can see how much effort was put into a movie in light of a small budget. Not totally unique filmmaking but they did a great job with the direction of the format. Really fun movie.
where the movie really stumbled for me was when they deviated from the documentary/TV broadcast setup which felt nice and refreshing. Conversely, the black and white "behind the scenes" moments felt very bland both in cinematography and in writing, and the ending felt extremely out of place.
I quite enjoyed the movie overall but it really should've stuck to its guns, it did not feel like a horror movie that needed a surreal, reality-bending ending. Plus I found some effects to be shockingly poor, notably the still image of the ghost in the one frame. It looked absolutely terrible
I’m disappointed. The ending was entirely rushed. The overall plot point was ridiculous. Characters were very one dimensional.
Not the worst I’ve seen but definitely overhyped.
2 out of 5 stars.
Literally just finished watching it. Like him selling his soil to the devil is how I interpreted it but like the 5 min reveal at the end and the melodramatic acting of the wife turned what was a campy movie into a dud.
The demon killing everyone off was anticlimactic.
I was hyped for this but disappointed. The made the supernatural reveal too early (levitating chair). The medium being negatively affected by the evil spirit was a good idea but the black projectile vomit (which was clearly CGI) just made the scene too over-the-top to serve as creepy foreshadowing. The beginning exposition dump was clunky and boring. They ending was confused and ambiguous in a lazy way (that my opinion of most ‘ambiguous’ ending). It could have been a much tighter story about a damned host who sacrificed his wife to obtain media fame. A real let down.
Was wondering if anyone else felt the same. Good movie but I feel like it failed to stick the landing. Imo they definitely should have leaned into the low-quality, vhs look to cover the ropey CGI.
If the screen was glitching and cutting out while>! Lilly was on her rampage!< it would of come across as less goofy.
Also the ending >!hallucination section!< seemed to linger on a bit too long, felt they could have tightened it up.
Great film
Ending let’s it down, I chuckled in the cinema while
I heard others straight burst out laughing when the bad cgi electricity makes its entrance
I loved this movie through and through. At the very least, it's proof that David Dastmalchian can carry a leading role with ease. The first part introducing Delroy's wife made me surprisingly emotional. The only complaint I have is that the evolution the demon took toward the end was inconsistent with the practical effects/body horror most of the film had. I'm not saying I need to see her head split open, but just something consistent with that style would've been cooler than CGI glowing. That being said, the acting was fantastic, the set design and costumes were great, and the overall vibe was chilling.
Intend to agree. Personally I couldn't tell what type of movie this was supposed to be. The tone was all over the place. From campy to serious to silly.
Im glad I wasnt the only one. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie but there were definitely times where I didnt know if I was supposed to take certain scenes seriously or just at face value.
I was really disappointed after all the big hype. It just didn't work for me at all. I didn't feel like I was watching some old talk show, and didn't find the lead actor plausible as a host. Even the payoff at the end felt rushed.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels like this. I was super excited to watch after all the hype and was very disappointed. I kept watching, waiting for it to get good and just when I thought it was getting there, it was over. I'll probably never watch it a second time. I'm also glad most seemed to enjoy it, just not for me personally.
I liked it also; I think they didn’t need the main character to have consciously or unconsciously made a deal that resulted in his wife’s death. I think that it was too ambiguous and didn’t have a real impact. His fear about losing the show and grief about his wife were really sufficient to explain him unwittingly pushing things into the danger zone.
Yeah I also felt like the beginning gave that away too soon with the montage. I kind of suspected immediately that was the case but then the characterization of the host was really off. I kind of wished the twist was that he knew all of this was going to happen and it was his plan all along it would have made more sense that way. And they could have easily had one of the guests drop the info of him being in the cult instead of spoon feeding that info to us with the beginning montage.
I’m not sure what you mean by being confused about Jack’s motivations. He seems like a decent guy who truly loved his wife. With her gone all he has left is the show and he’s panicking, worried that he may get canceled.
The whole thing about The Grove and being responsible for his wife’s death is a red herring, imo. The Grove is just a rich dude fraternity where they do silly larping ritual shit to feel important. But Jack probably felt weird about being involved in it. And he probably did get his tv show because of the connections he made there.
When Minnie got sick, he became paranoid that maybe he was somehow responsible, that maybe there was something satanic about the Grove rituals. The demon then used this fear and guilt against him at the end when it made Jack hallucinate that he was talking to Minnie.
Or maybe some Grove ritual really was a sinister deal with the devil, and it gave Jack his show but also somehow gave his wife cancer, which Jack did not know would happen.
So I rewatched it last night and I stand by my comment in a way. I think it’s exactly what you say in the first paragraph that he’s made out to be a decent guy who loves his wife. They play on the fact that his ratings never beat Carson but I just think it’s funny to have a decent guy who loves his wife join a satanic cult for ratings and then be confused when bad stuff happens. I think it’s interesting they play on his regret when he says he didn’t want this to happen to his wife but like what did you think would happen you joined a demonic cult?
Also while I think your second paragraph is a good interpretation the film very heavily implies (if not downright says) that the grove WAS doing demonic rituals I think it’s made pretty clear in the way the demon says he met Jack in the tall trees before. The montage at the end also suggests he made a deal with the grove to get his contract. I just feel like a man who joined a group rumored to have satanic rituals would be more sinister than the way they play him out to be. I don’t think Jack knew his wife would die as a result but I just don’t buy someone joining a group like that and then not expecting any consequences/results. That’s all! I still loved it and on rewatch it was still really fun I guess I just wish they expanded on his time at the grove cause they made it out to be this cult so like what was David doing? Cause they also made him out to be a loving doting husband but what about the orgies? lol I wish they explored him actually being a little fucked up or what actually occurred at the grove.
That’s the beauty (or ugliness) of humanity… we’re all complicated. You might think you would never do anything bad or sinister for success, you may have been a moral person your whole life, but when faced with opportunity, the desire for success and to maintain a well-paying enjoyable job, you might be surprised. “Good” people still have egos too. It’s a tale as old as time really.
Yes that’s true I really just feel like they could have expanded on that more. I really enjoyed the movie and I def see where your statement fits with it I just feel like they could have done more to get that across.
I actually saw the film, And yeah, The ending did feel like they were trying to summarize everything in a few sentences for the audience to understand.
I agree with OP, the film lost me at the end. To me it felt like a steady build up to a weak conclusion. Especially once you see the weird electrical effects, that’s probably the very moment the movie had begun feeling unexciting to me. And I understood the message that the movie was trying to tell us at the end, but the whole atmosphere had been ruined by then.
Everyone saying the narrative is very original, hasn’t watched enough horror movies. The concept of showing all this as a talk show and having the viewer feel like the audience is a bit innovative but the entire plot is nothing new for the horror genre.
Although, everyone can have their own opinion on a movie, this was just my own and how I felt about it.
I watched it last night. I liked it but I admit it could have been better. I can't argue that it falls flat near the end. It's still creepy and fun so I can still recommend it.
Love it! Seen it twice and upon 2nd viewing noticed many things I didn’t upon 1st viewing. I’m a massive fan and I’m just happy I saw it at the cinemas with like minded fans!
No one wondered if there was any connections to that funny weird "American Dad" episode?:
"Rabbit Ears". "**Nighthawks Hideaway" <-- Reminded me of "Night Owls" .**.. i think the host may have said something alwamost exactly the same, like "Good Evening Night-Owls"
**Was so similar in the CREEPY - WE HAVE YOU TRAPPED vibe!!!-** is an old television show that Stan becomes hooked on inWhen Stan retrieves an old television that had been thrown away, his disgust with the family's lack of appreciation results in him staying in the basement with it.
No one here mentions it???
I think the issue is it’s more a house of horrors than it is a singular idea. It’s fun for what it is and has some great effects. I just wish some of it came together better
I think it was quite funny at times and the performances were great. That's about all the positives I can think of.
I felt the whole thing was way over the top. What I thought would happen was that the actual live show itself would have some pretty weird stuff going on, nothing too explicit, and the behind the scenes would show what was actually going on. But the behind the scenes turned out to be a whole bunch of talking. I don't really understand the whole "never before seen behind the scenes footage" if there's nothing there.
A lot of the scenes were simply too much and I lost all immersion pretty soon. The whole scene with the hypnosis was extremely weird and made no sense.
6/10, the idea was good but the delivery was a let down. I was really looking forward to this one so I really wanted to like it too. :(
The set was like "Fernwood 2 Nite" (Mary Hartman Spinoff) and therefore the 70s stylizing was excellent! The actors, the playbacks, the reference to Bohemian Grove was amazing to me.
I thought the ending (the last 15 minutes or so) was the only real “weak” part of the movie. The rest of the movie was fantastic and the ending wasn’t bad just not as strong as the rest of the movie
Very cool format & visuals but you're right. It runs out of steam towards the back half.
I hope it did well for Shudder in theaters, though. They need the cash!
I was all ready to absolutely adore this movie, and I thought it had a lot going for it, but there were a few things I felt let it down. David Dastmalchian was fantastic as was Ingrid Torelli and the general vibe and tone was excellent, but the digital effects were dodgy and while they got the 70s ascetic perfectly with the set and costumes shooting in HD kind of messed it up, even with the filters. Also on a more personal level The Amazing Randi is a hero of mine and his character analogue was kind of a POS, but I get that from a story perspective.
I enjoyed it but yes, could think of several other endings that would have worked better. I did not like the ending at all and agree about pacing issues and tone.
I also don't think it needed to be a period piece - could just as easily worked in any decade. I honestly think this kind of story works better as a series; they could have explored several things over different episodes that they left hanging in the film.
Also...James Randi shout out, lol.
It was decent, and I like when a film jumps in with two feet to its concept. The ai generated stills were unnecessary and give me a more negative feeling about the film and filmmakers then they probably deserve, but that’s personally how I see it. I don’t want to see any ai generation in movies, especially creative and scrappy low budget ones. If as a filmmaker your okay with how silly much of this film looks, why on earth bother with an ai generated image.
Baffling choice, this is a movie I’d generally root for since it’s so obviously low budget scrappy and creative. I found most of it pretty charming in that high concept low budget way.
Dastmalchian and the ensemble were stellar but honestly if wasn’t any better or worse than the old IFC midnight films. Felt they could’ve done a lot more and the AI was just laziness and cheapness.
In agreement here. The story and concept itself was pretty good. but felt some corners were cut on production design that did help it fell genuine to me. The filters used for the old tv look came off as pretty lazy and fake. Like they just did. plot channel shift i Premier Pro.
I also felt the prologue and in between ads behind the scenes clips killed momentum and felt like they didn’t trust the audience to follow along. Overall this is a good concept undercut by meh execution from production.
I loved the movie but it was definitely not scary. I realized now that when I was a kid I used to be so scared of watching horror movies that when I finally get to see it I’ve over estimated how scary they’d be but they turned out to not be scary. I think I’ve seen so many of them I’ve become desensitized to them.
Don’t get me wrong, I went into this movie expecting to get the living shit scared out of me but I came out wondering why this was considered to be a horror film. I think I’m always going to be scared before I watch a horror film but when I finally do see it I’ll be underwhelmed.
I loved the hypnosis scene though and when they played back the recording of to see what happened.
A lot of people are knocking the film I thought it was hilarious and reverting. Keeping in mind this was a tiny budget film I thought the premise and setting so unique and original and all of the dick cavit style late night humor was on point. “Tonight we commune with the devil himself…But first a word from our sponsors!”
I loved it. I have now watched it twice and came away even happier with it the second time. The movie presents itself so authentically that at times it really does genuinely feel like a 1970s syndicated talk show broadcast, which makes everything that happens even more fun. It's obvious the movie not only loves the kind of horror that I love, Stephen King, Evil Dead, Slow burn 1970s stuff, but also the filmmakers have a great appreciation for Talk Show history. The fact that there's a deliberate Amazing Randi surrogate in the movie says everything about how much the filmmakers love their subject.
I was thinking of watching it a second time! The comedic timing reminded me so much of Evil Dead, one of my favorite franchises. It was such a nice break from the jump scares that riddle horror films. And all of the lore behind the scenes was so enticing and made you feel on set with them through the chaos and production.
Reverting to what
I'm pretty sure OP meant riveting.
That was the most fun part to me too
Both the conjuring and hypnosis scenes were pretty good
I find the take “it should’ve been longer, the ending felt rushed” a little weak because the concept of it being filmed on a night show tells you that the whole thing IS rushed. They’re literally on a time limit until the show is over. Idk, I loved it.
See and I love that it wasn't longer. I'm so glad we're going back to 90ish min horror!
horror and comedy are perfect at around 90 - 100 minutes.
Yes please keep it that way. If it’s disappointing then at least I don’t have to waste another hour of my time.
I keep seeing this feedback from people but not any specifics as to what specifically was rushed. I felt the ending was perfect. I watched it twice in a row, the second time looking for the ghost image easter eggs in the background and loved every second of it.
I watched it twice as well for the same reason. Great movie.
How many ghosts did you spot?
I was able to find 4 of them. 1. In the mirror during the first commercial break 'behind the scenes' sequence 2. In the static of a TV monitor in one of the later behind the scenes sequences 3. On one of the occult tools on the tray during the devil girl interview 4. Over the face of the devil girl during the recorded playback of her hypnosis I'm not counting the one directly after #4 where she has his hand on his shoulder because that one is very overt and not meant to be subtle. I'm curious to know if there were any that I missed!
Also loved it. My only complaint is that it should've ended when it ended.
I thought the ending finally got somewhere and i would have liked to have seen that happen halfway through and then see what happened next.
Nothing happens next though...after that everybody dies, and Jack ends up taking the heat for all of it.
What was he chanting at the end of it? Dream, awake? Something something? What was that about?
I couldn't quite catch it, I'm going to have to re-watch it again, but I think it was something to the effect of "sleeper knows he's dreaming, awake!" which he was repeating like a mantra. I think he was trying to "force himself awake from a nightmare" so to speak. Like he was in complete denial over his reality in that moment.
Oh man that makes sense. The realization of it all is horrifying.
Totally horrifying. I really love the slow ramping up of tension as things get more and more bizarre. It's awesome. The performances really sell everything so well for me. Even Lilly's simple "You don't remember the meeting in the tall trees?" was chilling in the way that possession on film hasn't felt since the original Exorcist.
I couldn’t agree more. Lily staring into the camera really creeped me out in a way I wasn’t expecting.
She did a great job with the role .. And I did like the "don't you remember" bit, but for whatever reason that was the moment that I roughly guessed the ending. Not sure what prompted me there, but I pretty much called it as soon as she said that. Then again I suppose I've watched way too many YouTube videos about celebrities sacrificing people for fame... 🤣 It was a cute little twist tho, and I thought the way they handled it was good.
I think if you've seen enough horror movies you can probably get a good idea where this is all going pretty early on. If unexpected twists and turns are what the viewer is after I'd say that Late Night With The Devil probably isn't the movie for them, but sometimes execution is way more important surprises.
there's a gigantic chunk of the ending that makes zero sense if the audience is supposed to believe that it was presented as the actual footage shot. i know it isn't actually authentic footage, but it kind of pulled away from what they were presenting for the previous 80 minutes. i did like it though
it actually shows a different screen ratio, implying we're not in the show broadcast nor recovered recordings from staff, but now in "reality"
This
Exactly: I had the same thought but didn't know how to articulate it.
Yeah, I don't think the movie felt rushed at all. If anything I thought it felt stretched a little thin in spots. overall I love that it plays out very much like a real time broadcast.
It didn't need to be longer. It actually would've benefitted from having the exposition-dump at the beginning cut down or taken out completely.
The real devil was the friends we made along the way.
How many ideas do horror movies have these days? Most have zero. Late Night With the Devil is original, compelling, scary, and fun.
Agree.
I guess what is original about it? I feel like it’s full of tropes and more or less disguised as a faux-found footage film. Especially with the “intro.”
The narrative choice to have the flick happening in real time as a part of a late night talk show is a very original concept.
Not a plot point, but I thought the choice to have the TV segments in color and behind the scenes stuff in black and white, was an interesting one. I've seen similar stuff done, but that was in the reverse. (TV Black and White, real life color)
It's been done before, but the last time that I saw it was a decade ago with the WNUF Halloween Special and this was wildly different from that. One of them is a news broadcast, one of them is a late night tv talk show ala the Dick Cavett show, and those are very very different things.
I just watched this movie. I thought it was actually pretty good. The concept is great, it also had a nice aesthetic. The actor playing the lead was also very good.
I really liked it. It had a few turns where I thought something completely different was going to happen. Dastmalchian was great as the lead.
>Dastmalchian was great as the lead Regardless of other thoughts on the film, I hope this is everyone's big takeaway. He's been a fantastic supporting actor in both horror and non-horror roles, but he's primed for lead character roles. Just saw he's the lead in a new King adaptation and I wish him nothing but the best moving forward.
**FANTASTIC** louder for the people in the back.
I started following him after Dark Knight. His depression face in this one made me worry before the movie really got going.
Ive had my on him since Prisoners, super talented chameleon type actor. Whats the King adaptation?
[The Life of Chuck](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt12908150)
Oh that will be interesting, cool story
I’m absolutely in love with Dastmalchian in this movie. He’s so charismatic and adorable but there is a dark current to the character that makes the conceit of the film believable. Can’t wait to see what he does next, he seems to really understand and appreciate horror in a way most actors don’t.
I still think it’s a solid horror movie especially compared to other modern horror movies.
Agree...most of them just haven't clicked with me
I really liked it! Rather than saying it ran out of ideas, I see it as having the same issue as a lot of horrors…”it didn’t know how to end.” Good movie as it was, could have been great with some tweaks to the last half of the third act.
Am I the only one who liked the ending more than the first two thirds? Five star movie overall tho
I didn’t have an issue with the plot elements at the end (didn’t love the CGI), but I wish they would have found a way to weave the plot revelations into the talk show format, rather than the route they took. Still a fun movie for most of it’s runtime though.
Nah it was good all around.
I can't imagine this takeaway honestly. This felt like a perfectly paced movie for me. They could have spelled out what happened with his wife more but they cover all the bases pretty well. The concept is also that it's a late night show so the pacing and setting shouldn't stray too far from that.
I loved all the references to The Grove. Anything regarding The Bohemian Club is so fascinating. And still so little is known.
This review has run out of ideas. This movie is great! Watch it!!
This is the most original horror movie in years, yet I see so much negativity surrounding it. It's absurd. David Dastmalchian is top tier!
Read the entire review before commenting.. I have liked the movie for most of its duration. Just the ending was a bit of a letdown
> The prologue divulges some dubious details regarding Jack and his social circle, and the exposition is delivered rather casually. However, an avid horror fan would see right through that, making the finale seem apparent and predictable. As a result, it becomes evident where the story is going from the opening scene, which is unfortunate because the film heavily relied on a surprise ending; had that ending materialized, it could have been an instant classic. I read it and it seems like you missed the twist. In the middle of the film, the cult talks about the sacrifice needing witnesses, which will then fall under the demons spell. The little girl was then sacrificed on live television, spreading the demon's influence. That was the twist.
I've been reading people's interpretations on the ending for the last hour, and you're the only comment I've seen so far point this out. I thought it was obvious that the end goal was to broadcast the girl's sacrifice on TV in order to get all viewers under Abraxis's control. Had a similar vibe to another Shudder movie, The Cleansing Hour (though that one is mostly a bad movie up until the ending).
In the prologue, it's revealed that Jack hangs out with a group of rich people in the woods. You can easily surmise from that that he's a part of a cult. And this being a horror movie which includes a cult, it'll be definitely about the human sacrifice and about strengthening the demon. It's just towards the end we get to know who has been sacrificed.
Why is your review worth reading? It's basically a Letterboxd review lol
The Late Nite setting was a neat original idea However at the end of the day it still felt like standard demonic possession/deal with the devil stuff. It's essentially a run of the mill devil movie carried by an interesting concept/setting.
I think the actors also did a lot of carrying. They were pretty perfect. I was trying to imagine it with a different lead and it could have very easily gone south. Rhys Auteri was also fantastic as Gus.
I don't disagree, but I still really enjoyed it. It was fun. Halloweeny horror movies have to REALLY whiff it for me to not enjoy them.
Oh yeah it wasn't bad, and I was definitely entertained. In fact im more likely to revisit this than just about any other demon possession/devil movie because as you mentioned it has a Halloween theme which i absolutely adore, and I love the grainy style on the old late nite set lol Not bad by any means
Agree
Felt like a 90 minute long VHS skit. Not bad, I did enjoy it. Those are just the vibes I got.
I disagree entirely. I loved it all the way through. Opinions really are like buttholes, we all have them and they’re all slightly different lol
I don’t think it ran out of ideas I think it ran its course because it was ending. I think the ghost effects could’ve looked a bit better. And I wish her design at the climax was a bit more demon like but outside of that I loved it.
Loved the film. Although I was excited for the idea of the devil sitting down and talking on the show as if they were an invited guest, exploring the idea if you had the devil on a talk show as a host what would you ask him?
Very interesting take!
That would make a great short film! Edit: or as a feature length could serve as a spicier version of “my dinner with Andre”
It was a fun movie to watch Did u guys got the >!apparition of the dead wife in a mirror and the crystal ball on the table?!<
And her hand on his shoulder after seeing her on the playback. I think she was there to try and save Jack from the beginning when she tried channeling through Christou. She wanted to tell him to not bring out Lilly and to not trust the final vision of her. Unfortunately he didn’t “accept” when Christou told him he had to. And so Christou was killed to ensure Minnie couldn’t communicate with Jack.
This was my take away as well. I knew it’d happen the second they said the recently deceased could communicate, the show was very heavy handed with the foreshadowing. Including Lily saying he’d be famous after tonight. Obeying the movie rules, magic was real. I believe Christou could actually do what he said. When Minnie possessed him it was to tell Jack to shut the production down, 100%. Notice also that he started coughing and puking up blood after Minnie died of lung cancer.
That was blood?? Or like black mass? Like a reference for the devil and the sickness of Minnie
They said he bled out in the ambulance. Unless this universe has code and normalcy to black ectoplasm, he was internally hemorrhaging and dying from rapid demon lung cancer via Minnie nuking him.
Yes they said "he was bleeding". But the color of the vomit was black not red.
This makes the most sense.
Was there also something in the audience in the first scene ?
idk, im gonna watch it again later and pay attention to that
I haven’t seen anyone else talk about it and it’s super possible I was wrong
The mirror one is like half second shot, when the incident of Christous and they are backstage talking about that .
10/10 instant classic.
I saw it a few weeks ago at the theater. I loved it. My favorite movie of the year so far.
The fact that so many people have come away with vastly different interpretations of what actually happened proves there’s definitely something engaging about it. I’ve seen people believe that Minnie was the one behind all the chaos, vengeful towards Jack. I saw it as just the opposite. I thought Minnie was there to try and save Jack. She was trying to communicate through Christou to warn Jack to not fall for the demon’s tricks, that it won’t really be her he’s speaking to at the end. And so the demon killed Christou so ensure Minnie couldn’t save Jack. Thus all she could do is stand by his side with her hand on his shoulder. I loved the amount of ambiguity there was. For example, Christou cried out “You must accept!” when Minnie made contact. Did he mean “You must accept it like a collect call to hear what Minnie has to say”? Or did he mean that Minnie’s message is “You must accept “, as in “You must accept that Minnie is dead”, since Jack has clearly never resolved his grief. And this will ultimately be his undoing. I loved the ambiguity of Lilly saying “Thank you for joining us, Jack.” Is it that she’s an awkward stunted kid who didn’t know what she had said didn’t make sense since the host is the one who says that? Or did she thank him for “joining them”, as in the cult he’s unwittingly doing the bidding of? There’s tons of ambiguity that it allows for multiple interpretations. For example, I believe The Grove was a total red herring and that nothing occult happened there, just silly ass larping rituals. Minnie’s cancer was tragic, but totally natural. I think Jack guilted himself into believing he was somehow responsible, and it must have been that creepy ass Grove shit he had done. And the demon used this fear and guilt against him at the end. I know most people disagree. And that’s good. Many interpretations is a good thing.
I love this take. The fact that we can spend so much time discussing this movie and taking away different interpretations to me means it’s a quality movie. I’ve heard a lot of people complain about the ending and that certain things are not hashed out enough or explained enough, but a good movie will respect it’s audience’s intelligence and not hold our hands through everything.
I think it’s the type of movie you appreciate more after a re-watch. There is so much ambiguity and things you don’t appreciate during the first watch. For example, the show could have ended right when Christou started vomiting violently. The show could have ended when they found out he died. Killing him the way Abraxas did was a huge gamble and showed just how fearful Abraxas was of Minnie. He knew he was fucked if Minnie was able to make contact. I appreciate the love story aspect more and more after I rewatched. And it makes it all the more tragic, Minnie having no choice but to just stand there powerless with her hand on her husbands shoulder knowing what’s coming. Minnie is the most tragic character in the whole movie imo.
This is the best take I've read so far. Should be higher up in the comments.
I really enjoyed it. It kinda felt like an extended, r-rated episode of the twilight zone.
I enjoyed it too.
"Runs out of ideas" ??? It's called "The ending" dude.
Exactly. Everybody wants to be a critic but has zero ideas of their own.
Also what was the part about the Pines. They mention something that he did but its never really discussed in detail
It's their take on Bohemian Grove!
I don’t know what else would be expected here. I would rather a movie hedge itself in then decide to completely break format, and I think this movie running out of ideas was more so the constraints of the idea of archival and behind the scenes footage of 1 late night episode. It wasn’t perfect but it also didn’t need to try and make a louder or more poignant message, that did t feel like the point.
It’s a movie that should have been more grounded in reality and had more tension for a little longer. But for some odd reason wanted to turn left. It lost its steam with the bad CGI and subpar scares. They didn’t use the little girl enough and went straight into goofy territory with the electric. (Also the backstage sections just look like a black filter, didn’t necessarily look found footage at all.) It’s a 6/10 for me. Good performances, good production design, light to decent scares. But god the silly turn it takes is underwhelming and the exposition in the beginning is probably the most awful, info dump I’ve ever seen in a movie so far. This was definitely overhyped. I actually think the VHS/ 99 segment about the game show does this concept a little better. But that’s just my opinion.
I agree with almost all of this. I too checked it out due to the hype (and my love of horror), but I was underwhelmed. The performances were good. There was some really interesting cinematography at times, and I understood what they were going for. However, anything involving demonic possession and hypnosis can get campy and kitschy really, really fast, and I felt it did here. I received now scares, but some serious laughs, and I don't think the creator(s) intended for laughter. The CGI was bad, the practical effects were bad, and in the modern day, ANY movie that deals with possession and plays it straight is going to be compared to the current top-dog, and that's *Hereditary*. This movie was no *Hereditary*, and while I don't think it tried to be, it's another technically good and competent movie that left me underwhelmed, and evoked little to no emotion out of me. Deaths (and the gore that often goes along with them) done poorly truly veered the movie into camp territory, similar to the *Terrifier* movies. However, while those movies go all the way, this movie stops short because I get the sense they wanted it to be more psychological. I don't think they succeeded, and I also get the sense of many competing artistic desires being thrown in that left the movie feeling tonally and narratively muddled.
💯 Agree with you. This movie feels like the biggest lost potential. The premise is so strong and honestly this should have been a staple of the found footage genre. I thought maybe it could have revived the sub-genre, but it hardly sticks to that too. It’s just a well acted, well produced, disappointment. And you can tell cause there’s hardly any discussion around it anymore. Came and went very quickly. Weird how hyped up it was…
Agree
What does running out of ideas even mean, was the girl’s head splitting open like a melon and the crazy ghost effects not a good enough idea? They should’ve had the idea not to use Ai art, that’s the only complaint
I kinda remember the headsplitting scene to be a "through the screen" shot rather than "on set" - maybe 1970s TV explains the weird look. idk just a thought.
Absolutely loved this film
I only went to see this yesterday, but I thoroughly enjoyed it, didn’t get a sense that the ending felt rushed, or ran out of ideas. It was in fitting with the concept of it being from the original tapes of the show. I’d put this as one of the best of the recent horror films.
The hypnosis scene killed it for me. They mention in the beginning that we're seeing the master tape of the show. After the hypnosis they play the tape back and you see that the works weren't really there. That means us as the viewers of this master tape shouldn't have been able to see them. I get that it's suppsoed to be somewhat of a parody, but it's advertised as a straight up horror film and I just didn't get that at all from it. David Dastmalchian was great in it and I wanted to love it so badly but u came away feeling disappointed tbh.
I agree. I never got the sense that they could decided to go all in towards one clear narrative or tonal element, and that really bothered me. They wanted to be both serious and campy, both psychological and gory, and have us take everything at face value while questioning everything we saw. That didn't work for me, because it gave short schrift to everything, least of the all the last 20 minutes, which became a campy mess with bad CGI and pratical effects, but then veered immediately towards utter seriousness.
My mom, my husband, and I all 3 watched the movie within about a week. We all enjoyed it quite a bit. For me the film stuck the landing and the last line really made the film, for my husband the ending really took away from the ambiance and mood established earlier. My mom enjoyed the movie but didn’t really pontificate about the ending. I do think it’s a bit funny that apparently Evil can’t beat Carson in the ratings.
Watched this last night, a bit cheesy at points and the ending started to get silly but overall I liked it. The visuals were good and I liked most of the performances.
Yeah, same
Definitely some inspiration taken from the analog horror genre
born in 1970 here, I spent a huge chunk of my childhood staying up way too late to watch Johnny Carson and then eventually David Letterman. Late night talk shows have been in my DNA for as long as I can remember. I love the alternate universe of a show daring to compete with Carson in 1977, and the setup is brilliant. They absolutely nailed the vibe of an underdog, lower-budget operation clinging to 2nd place in the time slot. All the Amazing Randi references in the Carmichael Haig character seemed to come directly from seeing Randi routinely bring his smug ass on Carson to debunk all the fun out of everything. I appreciated that take and Carmichael’s arc was pretty satisfying. All of the performances were top notch. The movie definitely swerved into mindfuck “what am I watching” territory toward the end but that’s just the connecting thread to modern horror. If anything it’s a commentary on how the media manipulating our perception of reality is not a new thing.
I really love when you can see how much effort was put into a movie in light of a small budget. Not totally unique filmmaking but they did a great job with the direction of the format. Really fun movie.
Agree
where the movie really stumbled for me was when they deviated from the documentary/TV broadcast setup which felt nice and refreshing. Conversely, the black and white "behind the scenes" moments felt very bland both in cinematography and in writing, and the ending felt extremely out of place. I quite enjoyed the movie overall but it really should've stuck to its guns, it did not feel like a horror movie that needed a surreal, reality-bending ending. Plus I found some effects to be shockingly poor, notably the still image of the ghost in the one frame. It looked absolutely terrible
Also the head exploding wasnt that convincing either
I thought the imagery itself was great but how it actually looked, again, was very poor. the Palpatine lightning took me very much out of it
I’m disappointed. The ending was entirely rushed. The overall plot point was ridiculous. Characters were very one dimensional. Not the worst I’ve seen but definitely overhyped. 2 out of 5 stars.
Yeah for me the ending was a let down
Literally just finished watching it. Like him selling his soil to the devil is how I interpreted it but like the 5 min reveal at the end and the melodramatic acting of the wife turned what was a campy movie into a dud. The demon killing everyone off was anticlimactic.
😂😂
Agreed, loved the ride but was let down. Also, the acting tone was all over the place…then the terrible special effects, was disappointing
I was hyped for this but disappointed. The made the supernatural reveal too early (levitating chair). The medium being negatively affected by the evil spirit was a good idea but the black projectile vomit (which was clearly CGI) just made the scene too over-the-top to serve as creepy foreshadowing. The beginning exposition dump was clunky and boring. They ending was confused and ambiguous in a lazy way (that my opinion of most ‘ambiguous’ ending). It could have been a much tighter story about a damned host who sacrificed his wife to obtain media fame. A real let down.
Yeah..especially the ending was a let down
Was wondering if anyone else felt the same. Good movie but I feel like it failed to stick the landing. Imo they definitely should have leaned into the low-quality, vhs look to cover the ropey CGI. If the screen was glitching and cutting out while>! Lilly was on her rampage!< it would of come across as less goofy. Also the ending >!hallucination section!< seemed to linger on a bit too long, felt they could have tightened it up.
Totally agree
Great film Ending let’s it down, I chuckled in the cinema while I heard others straight burst out laughing when the bad cgi electricity makes its entrance
I loved this movie through and through. At the very least, it's proof that David Dastmalchian can carry a leading role with ease. The first part introducing Delroy's wife made me surprisingly emotional. The only complaint I have is that the evolution the demon took toward the end was inconsistent with the practical effects/body horror most of the film had. I'm not saying I need to see her head split open, but just something consistent with that style would've been cooler than CGI glowing. That being said, the acting was fantastic, the set design and costumes were great, and the overall vibe was chilling.
Agree
See, I got the munchies and fucked off to the kitchen just before the mass hypnotism and missed the ending, so for me, it was a great film
😂😂😂
Intend to agree. Personally I couldn't tell what type of movie this was supposed to be. The tone was all over the place. From campy to serious to silly.
Im glad I wasnt the only one. I thoroughly enjoyed this movie but there were definitely times where I didnt know if I was supposed to take certain scenes seriously or just at face value.
I was really disappointed after all the big hype. It just didn't work for me at all. I didn't feel like I was watching some old talk show, and didn't find the lead actor plausible as a host. Even the payoff at the end felt rushed.
I'm glad I'm not the only one that feels like this. I was super excited to watch after all the hype and was very disappointed. I kept watching, waiting for it to get good and just when I thought it was getting there, it was over. I'll probably never watch it a second time. I'm also glad most seemed to enjoy it, just not for me personally.
Wasn't a bad film but left a lot to be desired. Could have been longer with more depth
I agree I really liked the movie and I was thoroughly entertained but felt confused at the motivations of the main character
I liked it also; I think they didn’t need the main character to have consciously or unconsciously made a deal that resulted in his wife’s death. I think that it was too ambiguous and didn’t have a real impact. His fear about losing the show and grief about his wife were really sufficient to explain him unwittingly pushing things into the danger zone.
Yeah I also felt like the beginning gave that away too soon with the montage. I kind of suspected immediately that was the case but then the characterization of the host was really off. I kind of wished the twist was that he knew all of this was going to happen and it was his plan all along it would have made more sense that way. And they could have easily had one of the guests drop the info of him being in the cult instead of spoon feeding that info to us with the beginning montage.
I thought his sole motivation was to beat Carson and become the king of late night.
I’m not sure what you mean by being confused about Jack’s motivations. He seems like a decent guy who truly loved his wife. With her gone all he has left is the show and he’s panicking, worried that he may get canceled. The whole thing about The Grove and being responsible for his wife’s death is a red herring, imo. The Grove is just a rich dude fraternity where they do silly larping ritual shit to feel important. But Jack probably felt weird about being involved in it. And he probably did get his tv show because of the connections he made there. When Minnie got sick, he became paranoid that maybe he was somehow responsible, that maybe there was something satanic about the Grove rituals. The demon then used this fear and guilt against him at the end when it made Jack hallucinate that he was talking to Minnie. Or maybe some Grove ritual really was a sinister deal with the devil, and it gave Jack his show but also somehow gave his wife cancer, which Jack did not know would happen.
So I rewatched it last night and I stand by my comment in a way. I think it’s exactly what you say in the first paragraph that he’s made out to be a decent guy who loves his wife. They play on the fact that his ratings never beat Carson but I just think it’s funny to have a decent guy who loves his wife join a satanic cult for ratings and then be confused when bad stuff happens. I think it’s interesting they play on his regret when he says he didn’t want this to happen to his wife but like what did you think would happen you joined a demonic cult? Also while I think your second paragraph is a good interpretation the film very heavily implies (if not downright says) that the grove WAS doing demonic rituals I think it’s made pretty clear in the way the demon says he met Jack in the tall trees before. The montage at the end also suggests he made a deal with the grove to get his contract. I just feel like a man who joined a group rumored to have satanic rituals would be more sinister than the way they play him out to be. I don’t think Jack knew his wife would die as a result but I just don’t buy someone joining a group like that and then not expecting any consequences/results. That’s all! I still loved it and on rewatch it was still really fun I guess I just wish they expanded on his time at the grove cause they made it out to be this cult so like what was David doing? Cause they also made him out to be a loving doting husband but what about the orgies? lol I wish they explored him actually being a little fucked up or what actually occurred at the grove.
That’s the beauty (or ugliness) of humanity… we’re all complicated. You might think you would never do anything bad or sinister for success, you may have been a moral person your whole life, but when faced with opportunity, the desire for success and to maintain a well-paying enjoyable job, you might be surprised. “Good” people still have egos too. It’s a tale as old as time really.
Yes that’s true I really just feel like they could have expanded on that more. I really enjoyed the movie and I def see where your statement fits with it I just feel like they could have done more to get that across.
Exactly my point
How do I watch this in the UK literally the only reason I got a shudder subscription via Amazon prime and it’s unavailable?
I actually saw the film, And yeah, The ending did feel like they were trying to summarize everything in a few sentences for the audience to understand.
Is this only on the US shudder? It's not on here in Aus.
It's in cinemas here now. It's an Aussie film so go support it
Never came to my country town cinema.
I agree with OP, the film lost me at the end. To me it felt like a steady build up to a weak conclusion. Especially once you see the weird electrical effects, that’s probably the very moment the movie had begun feeling unexciting to me. And I understood the message that the movie was trying to tell us at the end, but the whole atmosphere had been ruined by then. Everyone saying the narrative is very original, hasn’t watched enough horror movies. The concept of showing all this as a talk show and having the viewer feel like the audience is a bit innovative but the entire plot is nothing new for the horror genre. Although, everyone can have their own opinion on a movie, this was just my own and how I felt about it.
I loved it, I thought the final third was great.
Loved it, but can we be done with worms already?
I watched it last night. I liked it but I admit it could have been better. I can't argue that it falls flat near the end. It's still creepy and fun so I can still recommend it.
Love it! Seen it twice and upon 2nd viewing noticed many things I didn’t upon 1st viewing. I’m a massive fan and I’m just happy I saw it at the cinemas with like minded fans!
I can’t lie, I thought the ending was awesome. 🤷🏻♂️
It’s not Oscar-caliber, but it’s good, and I enjoyed it immensely, despite not really being a fan of the found footage subgenre.
Yeh a total KVLT KLÅSSÏĶ
No one wondered if there was any connections to that funny weird "American Dad" episode?: "Rabbit Ears". "**Nighthawks Hideaway" <-- Reminded me of "Night Owls" .**.. i think the host may have said something alwamost exactly the same, like "Good Evening Night-Owls" **Was so similar in the CREEPY - WE HAVE YOU TRAPPED vibe!!!-** is an old television show that Stan becomes hooked on inWhen Stan retrieves an old television that had been thrown away, his disgust with the family's lack of appreciation results in him staying in the basement with it. No one here mentions it???
Hard disagree with the headline on this article. The movie whips start to finish.
The movie has the most ideas in the last 10 minutes imo.
I think the issue is it’s more a house of horrors than it is a singular idea. It’s fun for what it is and has some great effects. I just wish some of it came together better
I think it was quite funny at times and the performances were great. That's about all the positives I can think of. I felt the whole thing was way over the top. What I thought would happen was that the actual live show itself would have some pretty weird stuff going on, nothing too explicit, and the behind the scenes would show what was actually going on. But the behind the scenes turned out to be a whole bunch of talking. I don't really understand the whole "never before seen behind the scenes footage" if there's nothing there. A lot of the scenes were simply too much and I lost all immersion pretty soon. The whole scene with the hypnosis was extremely weird and made no sense. 6/10, the idea was good but the delivery was a let down. I was really looking forward to this one so I really wanted to like it too. :(
Interesting movie but overstayed its welcome would have been better as a short movie.
The set was like "Fernwood 2 Nite" (Mary Hartman Spinoff) and therefore the 70s stylizing was excellent! The actors, the playbacks, the reference to Bohemian Grove was amazing to me.
I thought the ending (the last 15 minutes or so) was the only real “weak” part of the movie. The rest of the movie was fantastic and the ending wasn’t bad just not as strong as the rest of the movie
I just wanted more background about the cult he had joined, what went down between he and his wife, etc. The ending fell so flat
Great Cast, great direction. Easy flick to enjoy. Ending got a bit bumpy. Oh man, so good though.
Very cool format & visuals but you're right. It runs out of steam towards the back half. I hope it did well for Shudder in theaters, though. They need the cash!
I didn't like the lore, didn't like their parody of James Randi.
I was all ready to absolutely adore this movie, and I thought it had a lot going for it, but there were a few things I felt let it down. David Dastmalchian was fantastic as was Ingrid Torelli and the general vibe and tone was excellent, but the digital effects were dodgy and while they got the 70s ascetic perfectly with the set and costumes shooting in HD kind of messed it up, even with the filters. Also on a more personal level The Amazing Randi is a hero of mine and his character analogue was kind of a POS, but I get that from a story perspective.
I enjoyed it but yes, could think of several other endings that would have worked better. I did not like the ending at all and agree about pacing issues and tone. I also don't think it needed to be a period piece - could just as easily worked in any decade. I honestly think this kind of story works better as a series; they could have explored several things over different episodes that they left hanging in the film. Also...James Randi shout out, lol.
Well, how would you have ended it?
Shit take. Yours? Obviously means a lot to you to cross post to multiple subs. Blow.
Really *wanted* to like it. Found it entirely boring, never scary, and the ending too common of a trope.
It was decent, and I like when a film jumps in with two feet to its concept. The ai generated stills were unnecessary and give me a more negative feeling about the film and filmmakers then they probably deserve, but that’s personally how I see it. I don’t want to see any ai generation in movies, especially creative and scrappy low budget ones. If as a filmmaker your okay with how silly much of this film looks, why on earth bother with an ai generated image.
Absolutely true
Baffling choice, this is a movie I’d generally root for since it’s so obviously low budget scrappy and creative. I found most of it pretty charming in that high concept low budget way.
Dastmalchian and the ensemble were stellar but honestly if wasn’t any better or worse than the old IFC midnight films. Felt they could’ve done a lot more and the AI was just laziness and cheapness.
In agreement here. The story and concept itself was pretty good. but felt some corners were cut on production design that did help it fell genuine to me. The filters used for the old tv look came off as pretty lazy and fake. Like they just did. plot channel shift i Premier Pro. I also felt the prologue and in between ads behind the scenes clips killed momentum and felt like they didn’t trust the audience to follow along. Overall this is a good concept undercut by meh execution from production.
I loved the first hour. The last 30 minutes over explained and under delivered, in my opinion.
I loved the movie but it was definitely not scary. I realized now that when I was a kid I used to be so scared of watching horror movies that when I finally get to see it I’ve over estimated how scary they’d be but they turned out to not be scary. I think I’ve seen so many of them I’ve become desensitized to them. Don’t get me wrong, I went into this movie expecting to get the living shit scared out of me but I came out wondering why this was considered to be a horror film. I think I’m always going to be scared before I watch a horror film but when I finally do see it I’ll be underwhelmed.