An Alternate Reality: I saw Late Night with the Devil

What if The Exorcist got filtered through Rod Serling's Night Gallery, with a thread of Videodrome, Scanners and Network woven in? The result would be Late Night with the Devil, a 2023 experiment that takes place in 1977, fashioned by the writers/directors of The Mule, Cameron and Colin Cairnes. (The movie is now available via streaming.)

For this particular, "found footage" event (narrated by the resonant Michael Ironside and in thematic sync with the fabricated WUNF Halloween Special), we're introduced to Jack Delroy, a Johnny Carson rival who's cut from a Bill Boggs/Tom Snyder cloth, portrayed by David (The Suicide Squad/Oppenheimer/Count Crawley) Dastmalchian. We learn that Delroy is a relatable enough guy who rose fast from his radio roots to become the host of Night Owls, but has since sank in the late-night ratings war. His sad relegation may be partially due to his wife, Georgina Haig's Madeleine, who passed due to a mysterious cancer, but he's now set for a comeback on Halloween night, when the rating sweeps start. (Rhy's Ateri's concerned Guy McConnell acts as Delroy's Ed McMahon, and Josh Quong plays his high-strung, production manager, Leo Fiske.) 

Delroy has enlisted a divergent roster to draw viewers. There's Fayssal Bassi's Christou, a Criswell/John Edwards/Kreskin sort, who claims to channel the dead; Ian Bliss' Carmichael Hunt, a magician who debunks occult-professed gurus, in the manner of Harry Houdini and James Randi; Laura Gordon's Dr. June Ross-Mitchell, a parapsychologist who's written a book about a possessed adolescent, Ingrid Torelli's Lilly. The youngster is positioned as the episode's centerpiece. 

It appears that Lilly was held by a satanic cult, said to have bred female children for sacrifice, before the estate and its members went down in flames after a standoff with the law. The cult's leader was Steve Mouzakis' Szandor D'Abo (perhaps Lilly's father, if only per cultist association and credit attribution), who held a Jim Jones/David Koresh control over his subjects and before his demise, might have assisted celebrities secure and extend their popularity. 

The Night Owl episode breaks down in layers, with Christou emerging first, followed by Hunt (the two sprawl some) and capped by Ross-Mitchell and Lilly. Weird signs seep through each segment, with Christou falling ill after his performance and continual, telecast malfunctions manifesting, much to the costumed audience's chagrin. 

Hunt keeps a skeptical scowl throughout, making valid points regarding how most psychic phenomena can be staged and offering a huge chunk of change to anyone who proves otherwise. This challenge falls upon Ross-Mitchell and Lilly, who introduce themselves with avidity and caution, in particular Lilly, whose mannerisms are ingenuous but chilling. 

A séance/possession demonstration occurs, followed by a Cronenberg-ish, hypnosis bit conducted by Hunt, but as the events deepen, it becomes harder to dismiss the phenomena, for their consequences are, to say the least, as stark as they're repugnant. 

To the naïve, Late Night could pass for the genuine article, though there are points where it bumps its course with black-and-white, behind-the-scenes breaks and a surreal, fright-fest finale. (The latter cements the fictional gist, much like The Mercury Theatre on the Air, which implants segued, non-journalistic dialogue for War of the Worlds' ending). Though the climax feels a tinge jarring at first, it works to the fable's benefit, emphasizing Delroy's desperate state. 

As far as Late Night's visuals go, its footage exudes a magnetizing succession, most elements never going too far over the top, but when things must get grotesque, no punches are pulled. The studio's ambiance also brackets the guests' interactions, giving a realistic, 1970s flavor to the budding terror. 

Late Night is a fascinating, character-driven opus, which will no doubt improve on repeated viewings and is open for further exploration. I trust that the Cairnes will consider such, since their alternate-reality path holds a myriad of imaginative possibilities.  

I saw The Last Voyage of the Demeter

The notion behind The Last Voyage of the Demeter (Universal Studios' second, Dracula movie of 2023) bounced around in roundabout development hell, or so the know-it-alls are quick to indicate, but in truth, the concept's proposal emanates much farther than that. The proof can be found in horror mags of decades past, which projected its making. 

The yearning to enact a full-fledged, Demeter (mis)adventure isn't surprising. The salty stretch has been touched upon in other Dracula productions, such as F.W. Murnau's Nosferatu, and even reached peculiar fruition in the spaceship-confined Dracula 3000; the claustrophobic strand also marks It! The Terror From Beyond Space, Queen of Blood, Planet of the Vampires and Alien, plus one can argue, The Thing/Who Goes There? franchise (and that would include its acclaimed variant, Horror Express). 

The official, fleshed-out realization of Dracula's trip from Transylvania to Whitby Harbour/Carfax Abbey now exists via the aforementioned title, from director Andre (Trollhunter) Ovredal, as scripted by Bragi F. Schult and Zak Olkewicz. The story's dire destiny is obvious and entrenched, unless the filmmakers were to have pulled a Tarantino, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood twist, but I assure you that they ... well, okay, maybe they do just a little bit. Even so, for the most part, the story plays rather like Ron Howard's Apollo 13, or John Guillermin and Peter Jackson's King Kong remakes, with suspense mounting, regardless of the anticipated outcome. 

No matter its debatable adherence to its literary source, Demeter's Prince of Darkness is what matters most. I saw the movie for that prime reason--for Dracula--and though the character is played like Max Schreck's silhouetted Count Orlok in certain sections and then Gary Oldman's man-bat for the rest, all rendered by horror veteran Javier (Rec/Slender Man) Botet Lopez, no less, it's still freakin' Dracula who dominates the movie's ominous, un-staked heart. Hurrah!

For the sake of his ravenous journey, Dracula creeps and springs mostly from the shadows, but that peripheral approach isn't a cop-out, for it gives the principals enough time to want to thwart him, as opposed to them only shivering as he stalks and feasts. 

Dracula's opponents consist of Liam (Dog Soldiers) Cunningham's Captain Elliot; Woody (C'mon C'mon) Norman's Toby (Elliot's grandson); David (Suicide Squad) Dastmalchian's Wojchek; Chris (Unwelcome) Walley's Abrams; Stephan (Deadpool) Kapicic's Olgaren; Jon Jon (Ratched) Briones' God-fearing Joseph; Aisling (The Nightingale) Franciosi's Anna (a desperate, stowaway snack); and (drum roll, please) Corey (Kong: Skull Island) Hawkins' Clemens.  

Clemens is most significant since he's the fable's motivating, rise-to-the-occasion John McClane and has been compared (even by those who haven't yet seen the picture) to Abraham Van Helsing. Perhaps he is a Helsing surrogate of sorts, but then if one were honest about it, he could just as well be a seafaring Carl Kolchak or Buffy Anne Summers. Mainly, he's a clear-headed bloke with doctoring skills, who realizes the need to stay alive and to do so, applies a sensible prowess to ensure such: yep, Van Helsing by any other name, and Clemens stands in lieu of Twain, and hey, we get the implication.

I must stress, though, that the supporting mortals are as respectable in their own specialized ways, behaving as I would expect the Demeter crew to behave, i.e., the way I believe Stoker would have rendered them, and in those other movies that may or may not have tossed a curious eye on the cursed, Russian vessel. No one is annoying, and each does his/her venerable, if not tragic part. 

And the movie's dank atmosphere (transfused with Bear [The Walking Dead] McCreary's operatic score and Tom [The Exorcism of Emily Rose] Stern's baleful cinematography) does a upright job underscoring the team's plight, defining something foreign and diseased: a clear-cut, Stoker motif. As with the spread of any alien infection (e.g. the recent pandemic), a sense of fear and dread infiltrate: distinguishing ingredients for any quality, terror tale, with Demeter being a solid case in point.

All the same, some haughty hotshots are saying that the movie is a lowly excuse to pluck another quick buck from another unnecessary, Dracula flick. I say, so what? Stoker's brainchild is too popular to fade from the global, cultural consciousness. Any product that perpetuates his allegorical villainy, even if shoehorned, is worth the coinage. I'm glad I embraced this one, and rest assured I'll revisit it, bloody time and again and without a droplet of apology, and yes, in hopes of a sequel, which in truth (give or take), already exists. 💧🙏