Late Night with the Devil (2024) #496

 

Watch the trailer here

Released with much fanfare, "Late Night with the Devil" came out in earlier this year, 2024, and proved that David Dastmalchian,(as seen in "The Belko Experiment"), has the ability and presence to take a leading role and run with it; he's engaging and fun to watch trying to keep the show going as it slowly grows more chaotic. With a solid supporting cast, including Michael Ironside as the Narrator, "Late Night with the Devil" is a must-see movie for Halloween!

Late night talk show host Jack Delory is burning out on trying to take the light night crown from Johnny Carson. Throughout the 1970's, Night Owls with Jack Delory comes close but never overtakes the master of light night tv. In a documentary form of exposition, the viewers learn that Jack and his wife had been making regular visits to The Grove, an esoteric cultlike camp for the elite and rich. Jack's wife is diagnosed with cancer, and her appearances on Night Owls brings in ratings, but after her death, Jack is too heartbroken and leaves production for a while. When Jack returns, the show has barely any ratings at this point, but he has a plan. During his sixth, and possible final season, Jack stakes everything on his 1977 Halloween night special, hoping that this will be enough to save the show and finally fulfill his dream of being number one. 

Ensuring his show is perfect for Halloween, Jack has prepared a full-on Occult Themed show which includes a psychic, and supernatural denier, and a girl who had survived a death cult that worshipped the demon Abraxas. It’s a full hour of pure entertainment, or so he and his producer believe. What could possibly go wrong?

The show begins with a standard opening monologue from Jack before he introduces the medium Christou, who performs some simple speaking with the dead tricks. Then Carmichael Haig is brought in, offering a hefty check to any who can prove that magic and the supernatural are real. Haig then begins to dissect how Christou act is fake. Christou then becomes unusually sick and is rushed to the hospital where he is pronounced dead. Not letting that, or weird connections to wife deceased wife, will stop Jack from the big event, the cult survivor Lily and Dr. June Ross-Mitchell. Using Lily as a conduit, will they be able to contact Mr. Wiggles, the demon that supposedly is possessing young Lily? What harm could come from that?

"Late Night with the Devil" has a narrative that is peppered with little hints and clues throughout, making a second or third viewing just as enjoyable as the first. Everyone has something to gain from someone else, and no one is really much of a saint in this film. In the end, who, if any, do we really feel sorry for?

Scanners (1981) #392

"Scanners" is a clever, original horror film that was written and directed by a young David Cronenberg. Unlike some of his other films from the 1970's and early 1980's, While "Scanners" is pretty tame compared to Cronenberg's other films, it still has it's wild moments which include Micheal Ironside doing what he does best, acting completely terrifying and insane. The film is about a handful or telepaths and a research/government agency that tries to control and use them. The agency refers to them as scanners because they can "scan"  and control other people and even computer systems. Like other movies in the early 1980's that deal with telepathic powers, the people with these gifts don't always know how to control their powers. In the case of "Scanners", the telepaths are social outcasts, often times unable to block out the voices of the people around them. Those few who have mastered their powers are formidable and deadly.

Cameron Vale is the latest telepath to be rounded up by ConSec, a mysterious agency that trains telepaths to work for them. After their last remaining telepathic agent is killed by a rogue scanner during a conference, Mr. Vale is trained to act as an undercover agent. Vale is able to infiltrate a group of former ConSec telepaths and track down the rogue telepath, the murderous Daryl Revok.

Favorite scene - The telepathic showdown between Vale and Revok. This scene would one day inspire an epic homage that would appear on "South Park".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22Tj_l4PcPs

The "V" Word (2006) #388

I must admit that I thought that the "V" word was going to be video games because that seemed like the focus at the opening of the this episode of "Masters of Horror". But I was wrong and halfway through the piece I realized that it stood for vampire, and I was sorely disappointed. The first half was unique and different; focusing on two friends who grow bored of playing video games and decide to find something more thrilling to do in real life, so they break into a funeral home and run quickly run into trouble. The second half wasn't nearly as interesting and readily fell into typical vampire territory, with one friend embracing the change while the other struggles. I was also disappointed with the small role the Michael Ironside was given, although he did a great job with the time he had.