I have a confession to make: I am an easy mark for possession movies. Even ones such as this - where possession is only a part of the overall film - have a tendency to get under my skin much easier than other horror films. So, given the positive reviews of this film, I was a bit nervous to see it. And, even watching it in daylight, it got to me a little bit.
Set on Halloween night in 1977, the film is part found footage, part documentary about the last airing of Night Owls with Jack Elroy, a fictional competitor to The Tonight Show. Jack Elroy (David Dastmalchian) is on hard times, and the show is a grand attempt to boost rating during sweeps and save it. So, he has an assortment of psychics, skeptics, and parapsychologists on to capitalize on people's need for scares. Elroy's wife has also died recently, and it comes into play during the night's events in horrific ways.
First off, having been a fan of Dastmalchian for awhile, it is great to see him get a lead role that he can tear into. He manages to shade this character in all sorts of interesting ways, especially as the night and the creeps start to affect him. Desperation weaved with cynicism mixed with longing and terror makes this one of the great performances of the genre.
I also want to mention Ian Bliss as the skeptic, Carmichael Haig. He perfectly plays someone who thinks the other guests are charlatans, and stubbornly refuses to budge even as evidence piles up that this particular instance is a most real one. It's an infuriatingly perfect performance of a secondary antagonist.
The 'lost footage' aspects is also done well - so much of it reads like an odd, but interesting late night talk show that when it goes 'behind the scenes' for the documentary aspect, it is seamless despite a hard shift in coloration (the documentary section is black and white) and stylization.
As the movie continues, it starts to get a bit surreal, and I can never quite pinpoint when it shifts from real footage to unreal(?), which is a great piece of editing. Without spoiling too much, things take a very dark turn - leading a very dark (but very earned) ending - and it is left ambiguous how much of what happens is caught on camera.
All in all, this is an absolutely spectacular horror movie. I'd recommend it to any fan of horror, and it might become a regular watch during future Halloween marathons.
8.5 out of 10
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