🎬 Late Night with the Devil (2024)

📹 The Setup

A late-night talk show host hits his breaking point during Halloween sweeps in the 1970s—and decides to go full spectacle. Paranormal guests. Hypnotists. Psychic children. A live studio audience. And one infamous book called Talking With the Devil. It’s all supposed to boost ratings. Until it turns into something a little too real.

🎥 The film plays out like a behind-the-scenes broadcast, blending on-air drama with backstage descent. A slow burn where the lines between suggestion, possession, and madness start to blur.

🎥 The Format

A “found footage” horror setup staged like a retro talk show, complete with broadcast transitions, commercial bumpers, and live-audience chaos. Everything starts tongue-in-cheek—and ends with a demon on stage.

✅ 70s live TV setting

✅ Studio crew walkouts

✅ A hypnotist with too much power

✅ Ratings-obsessed host spiraling

✅ What Makes It Work

• Incredible set design: The production nails the 70s aesthetic. From the studio layout to the graphics, every visual detail adds to the eerie realism.

• Clever broadcast framing: Black-and-white shots signal backstage moments, while vivid color captures live TV. It helps guide the viewer through what’s real—or at least what’s being aired.

• • Strong central concept: The idea of desperation pushing someone too far on live TV is compelling. You want to buy into the stakes.

  
  

  ⚠️ What Doesn’t Land

  • Storyline feels muddy: Too many angles (grief, demons, cults, ratings, hypnosis, ghosts) without any clear message.

  • Performance tone is confusing: Acting veers between campy and deadpan with little emotional core to hold onto.

  • No emotional payoff: For all the buildup, the climax and ending feel confusing rather than cathartic.

• • Too many ideas, not enough execution: Some scenes (like the ghost wife, worm hallucination, or cult hints) felt like art house distractions rather than plot progression.

  
  

  💸 Should It Have a Bigger Budget?

  No, the budget worked for what it was. The visuals and production design were strong. It just needed a tighter script and clearer emotional arc—not more money.

  
  

  🎯 The Verdict

  Cade: 3.0
  Kit: 3.0
  “We liked the set. That’s about it.”

  If you’re big into 70s aesthetics, you might appreciate the vibe. If you’re looking for horror with substance—or even just coherence—this probably isn’t it. One of those “the trailer was better” situations.

  
  

  📺 Where to Watch

  Streaming on Shudder and select platforms. Not a Shudder original, but part of their catalog.

  
  

  🍿 Pair This Movie With...

  • Snack: Half a granola bar (because you won’t be hungry after Act 2)

  • Drink: A lukewarm coffee from a Styrofoam cup

• • Activity: Reading Reddit threads about movies with “great concepts, bad delivery”

  
  

  🎧 Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2kaH2BpUcEouX5LWCUQ7ed?si=ff1e2b355c5944e1

  🍏 Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cade-and-kit/id1771553610

  📸 Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/cadeandkit

  https://Blog.cadeandkit.com

  info@CadeandKit.com

  Publication: https://imherewithmagazine.com

📹 The Setup

It’s been thirteen years since the last Final Destination film—and now, death is back on the big screen. We caught Bloodlines at our local Cineplex VIP theater in Calgary (shoutout to the Uni District team, who always treat us well). Expectations were high, the theater was packed, and yes… we made sure not to drive behind any logging trucks. Ever. Again.

🎥 The sixth installment in the franchise manages to be both a tribute and a reboot, bringing back the dread, the algorithmic unraveling of fate, and the kind of creative kill sequences that made this series iconic in the first place.

🎥 The Format

This one follows the franchise blueprint: a narrow escape from death kicks off a domino effect, as those who “should’ve died” start getting picked off one by one. Only this time, the curse is generational—and the original event dates back to the 1950s.

✅ Premonition

✅ Family Trauma

✅ Isolated Grandma in the Woods

✅ Death’s Algorithm Returns

✅ What Makes It Work

• ​Standalone but still loyal: Even if you’ve never seen a Final Destination movie, this works on its own. If you have, the callbacks are satisfying but never overdone.
• ​Genuinely good story: The multi-generational thread, journal of death patterns, and dream sequences added actual emotional depth to the formula.
• ​Inventive kills: We’re talking “never-seen-that-before” territory. Suspenseful setups, sharp timing, and clever payoffs. Cade nerded out trying to figure out how they pulled them off.
• ​Excellent tone balance: There’s comedy, dread, and chaos in all the right doses. You feel the audience waiting for that next death to drop.

⚠️ What Doesn’t Land

Honestly, not much. If you hate jump scares or the build tension, release with blood formula, this isn’t going to convert you. But for genre fans, it’s a tight, respectful return to form.

💸 Should It Have a Bigger Budget?

Honestly, it looked great as is. This didn’t scream needs a Marvel budget. The effects, especially the practical ones, were sharp. That said, if there is a seventh installment, we’d love to see them really go for it in terms of set pieces and broader scope.

🎯 The Verdict

Cade: 7.5Kit: 7.5“A complete, entertaining return. We’d watch another.”

This was smart horror that didn’t take itself too seriously but didn’t get lazy either. A film with strong genre roots that somehow still found new tricks to pull out of the bag. Definitely recommend seeing this in theaters—especially with an audience. The shared gasps and laughs were part of the fun.

📺 Where to Watch

In theaters now (VIP if you’re lucky enough to have one). Not yet available on streaming.

🍿 Pair This Movie With...

• ​Snack: Sour Cherry Blasters (they look like blood clots—perfect)
• ​Drink: A crisp fountain Coke with too much ice
• ​Activity: Scrolling Reddit threads about the worst Final Destination kills (while safely on your couch, nowhere near sharp objects)

We’re real people. Doing real reviews. And this time… we sat nowhere near glass, scaffolding, or rollercoasters. Just in case.👋 Until next time, stay alive out there.

🎧 Spotify: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://open.spotify.com/show/2kaH2BpUcEouX5LWCUQ7ed?si=ff1e2b355c5944e1

🍏 Apple Podcasts: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/cade-and-kit/id1771553610

📸 Instagram: ⁠⁠⁠⁠https://instagram.com/cadeandkit

https://Blog.cadeandkit.com

info@CadeandKit.com

Publication: https://imherewithmagazine.com