Horror Movie ‘Late Night With The Devil’ Brings The Satanic Panic To Life
(REVIEW) In October 1988, a two-hour TV special would alter the American people’s view of the devil for years to come.
“Devil Worship: Exposing Satan’s Underground,” hosted by Geraldo Rivera, “exposed” blood-drinking Satan worshipers and rock music’s connection to true evil. The broadcast was a monumental moment during the height of the Satanic panic, which had many Americans believe that a powerful, devil-inspired underground was committing ritualistic abuse against children and others.
A new horror film, “Late Night with the Devil,” plays off the fears of the Satanic panic — and exists in a world where those beliefs are all true.
READ: Museum Exhibition And Short Film Highlights Influence Of The Satanic Panic Four Decades Later
The movie is of the found footage genre, a fiction film told with documentary-style video. It showcases a broadcast and behind the scenes footage from a broadcast of late night talk show “Night Owls” on Halloween of 1977.
A brief introduction at the beginning of the movie paints the bleak picture leading up to the show: Jack Delroy, host, began his show to great success — just not as much success as Johnny Carson. He never reached the top of the charts, and as a result his ratings only began to plummet. In the past year, his beloved wife died of cancer. This Halloween show is his last shot of recovering his ratings and becoming relevant again.
The list of guests are meant to fit the spirit of the season and to shock a studio audience — a spiritualist who can channel the dead, a professional skeptic and, most importantly, the sole survivor of a Satanic cult. In the film, a 13-year-old-named Lilly was rescued from a cult that worshiped the demon Abraxas after a standoff with the FBI. The group practiced blood and other cult rituals and was believed to be breeding children to participate in sacrifice.
Lilly is possessed by the spirit of one of the group’s lesser demons, and with the help of a psychologist she can control when it is present through her.
These guests are nearly a replica of the infamous real-life origin of the ‘80s Satanic panic — a 1980 book called “Michelle Remembers,” written by a psychologist who describes a series of therapy sessions with his patient who claims to recall being a victim of ritual Satanic abuse. Michelle’s story — and a majority of others who claimed similar abuse — were later debunked, as well as the therapy method used to “unearth” these memories.
But Lilly’s story, written about in the book “Conversations with the Devil,” is all too real. As the star of the show, she’s brought on to summon her demon and display it in front of the live studio audience.
The Satanic panic is a fascinating subject that’s ripe for creative adaptation and still relevant today, as harmful conspiracy theories run rampant and censorship of culture is ever-present. For that alone, “Late Night with the Devil” is a treat.
The movie at times is too on-the-nose, sucking the viewer out of the found footage ambiance. In almost every other way, however, “Late Night with the Devil” has the perfect setting on late-night TV. Bright, colorful and gritty, the set of “Night Owls” perfectly contradicts the gory summons of evil.
“Late Night with the Devil” is also a really fun horror film, pulpy and hair-raising in all the best ways. It takes a while to build up to the climax, but the payoff is more than worth it. And in the meantime, David Dastmalchian plays Delroy perfectly as a charming public figure driven to the brink of desperation; Ingrid Torelli is brightly uncanny as Lilly — when she’s acting as herself, that is. As the devil, she’s fiercely frightening.
It’s the summoning — and the aftermath — that really makes the movie, though. Not only is it the most bloody, it’s the most haunting. It invites the audience to believe in a world where children are regularly abused at the hands of cults and have demons living inside them. Worse, it suggests there is no God to save any of these people from the consequences of dealing with the powerful forces of evil.
The common phrase — popularized in “The Exorcist” but used traditionally in Catholic exorcisms — is “The power of Christ compels you!”
It’s used here too, against a demon whose power has been fully unleashed. Brandishing a tiny cross necklace, one terrified character screams the phrase — until the demon snaps his neck.
So what should you do, if there is no God and all the devils have possessed young girls? Don’t summon them on late-night television, for starters. Go figure. In fact, maybe don’t summon them at all.
The movie really speaks to the human nature of desire and how harmful it can be when it’s taken too far. It’s everywhere: In Delroy’s lust for women and fame and notoriety, in his producer’s desire for ratings and money and in the skeptic’s desire for intellectual superiority. It’s even the guiding principle of Abraxas’ cult, as the leader declares in footage that it’s more relevant than either good or evil.
Down the path of desire, there’s a point where it’s impossible to turn back. Delroy, by the end of the movie, knows that better than anyone.
Jillian Cheney is Religion Unplugged’s Senior Culture Correspondent. She writes about film, TV, music, art, books and more. Find her on Twitter @_jilliancheney.