Sting & Late Night with the Devil - Review

Two indie horror films are out now and worth your time - I share my thoughts on the spider thriller Sting and the demonic found footage movie Late Night with the Devil
BOOK ME ON CAMEO: www.cameo.com/danmurrell
JOIN ME ON PATREON: / danmurrell
FOLLOW ME ON INSTAGRAM: / murrelldan
YOU CAN GET ALL MY SHOWS ON AUDIO NOW!
APPLE: tinyurl.com/t736rphc
SPOTIFY: tinyurl.com/u7p5pfk
AUDIBLE: tinyurl.com/yrffy95s
AMAZON MUSIC: tinyurl.com/9a278znb
STITCHER: tinyurl.com/4yzrntjs
0:00 - Sting
4:37 - Late Night with the Devil

[@skinoff89]

They really made a movie about a girl & a spider & named the girl charlotte 💀

[@Suzanne_sf]

I'm scared of watching scary spider movies, but I might watch this one on this fact alone.

[@wendyful]

I don't understand why using AI in this case is considered a mistake. It's a tool. The fact that they used AI doesn't mean a human, possibly a graphic artist, didn't work on it in some way, at least intellectually. I see it as a way to make the artist's work easier and probably work around budget limitations without reducing the product's quality. We need to stop the AI panic. I'm saying that as a graphic designer myself.

[@barelyprotestant5365]

David Dastmalchian said that the artists hired did tweak it afterwards. I'm not an illustrator, so I can't necessarily speak authoritatively on the legitimacy of using AI this way.

[@elklown]

I just found out about he AI controversy and I think that what a lot of people don’t take into consideration is that it doesn’t necessarily replace the work of an artist, rather it’s most likely being used by the very artist as tool that can make their work more efficient. People think you can just skip the artist and maybe in some instances you can but most of the time their judgment and expertise are more important than the tools they use.

[@adraino7345]

The young girl was great. She perfectly played it so I couldn’t ever tell if she was always possessed, willingly possessed, partially possessed.

[@LateCambrian]

Late Night With The Devil is my favorite horror movie of 2024 so far. I know it’s early, but wow what an immersive amazing experience.

[@dougfarrell7355]

Have you seen the trailers for Longlegs, Arcadian, and Cuckoo? They look promising, although I have high hopes for Longlegs.

[@stanwright4110]

I agree about how the movie begins like documentary and setting up the world and how I was dumbfounded when the movie didn't end with that same style. My thinking is that they may want to do a sequel where we see him being incarcerated, like where did the demon go? Inside him?

[@DanielSolis]

Aayyy, happy Dan in the thumbnail means some good flicks on my list.

[@TheBTSMACLVOR]

I love this double feature review. My partner and I saw both of these movies on the same night a few weeks ago (we watched an early screening of Sting) and I’ve been waiting for you to review them ever since.

[@4-kathryn]

Know Dan said the film's premise `Late Night with the Devil` didn't remind him of any other films and I agree with that but it did remind me of Alan Wake II (video game). There's a segment in the game that's a bit creepy or unsettling that takes place during a Late Night Talk Show. I now want to see that film, thanks Dan.

[@Stark3Mad]

Late Night with the Devil was great, it was really unique and David Dastmalchian brought it. Sting terrifies me because spiders are creepy, but I'll give it a shot because I know that fear will do most of the heavy lifting.

[@katevand]

Late night was great Ingrid the gal deserves award buzz

[@jaymacintyre1777]

Great Dan, as always. I am very interested in both of these, esp Late Night with the Devil

[@julioalmaraz09]

I saw late night with the devil last weekend and I had a great time with it. By the end, it was so weird in a good way. I will try to watch sting tomorrow when it comes out.

[@griswoldclark6835]

Im so hyped to watch this on Shutter in a couple weeks

[@timderuijter]

The itsy bitsy comment crawled up the little list... and the algorithm is apeaced once more...

[@riversan90]

I absolutely loved Light Night with the Devil, but, if I had one gripe, I would say it was about 5-10 minutes too long. The ending sequence before the credits roll, where it spoon feeds the audience the backstory of how certain events eventually transpired in the movie, imo, should've been cut. The movie does a FANTASTIC job laying out all of the answers prior to the ending, if you paid attention, and I feel the ending explanation scene was because the filmmakers were scared the audience wouldn't "understand". Small gripe, but otherwise a great watch.

[@neillcaiger7714]

Tx Dan! Both look like a lotnof fun!

[@clairebear10]

Late Night With the Devil was sooo good! Loved it!

[@maitaniyama]

I saw Late Night in the theatre. I really loved the atmosphere and acting, especially the lack of jump scares. The ending I definitely think was its weakest part. As an artist myself I’m not happy they used AI art, but going as far as to boycott discounting all the REAL people that put their all into it. Also, if the same person that did the lightning effects did the bumpers, AI might have been for the best

[@DoctorXander]

Late Night with the Devil was a fantastic experience, still can't get over how good the commercial break segments worked at building tension. One of those movies where I just had to know what was coming next

[@nicolasmoyano_]

Hope to see them some day!

[@juicewick]

Ur making me wanna see Sting. throwing it on my list of need to see now. Late night with the devil is very different kinda horror movie. theres nick picky things about throughout but i enjoyed it ranked 10th out of 55 so far this year.

[@vanessasilverstream2843]

I really wanted to see Late Night With the Devil in theatres, but it wasn't playing in my city at all. I guess I will have to wait for it to go to Shudder to stream it.

[@Amoraszune]

Thanks Dan

[@theunamiable]

I saw them both yesterday, so caught up with this review. I enjoyed both a lot, although Late Night was my pick, for more creepiness and originality. I agree that structurally the plot was a bit wobbly, but Sting also had issues with pacing. Interesting to see two Australian films both very firmly set in the US, but such is the world.

[@storywala88]

Exciting movies. Well put.

[@DirectedBy_ChristianRios]

Okay Dan, I need that shirt. Where did you get it?

[@JDotWill]

I saw & thoroughly enjoyed both of these films.

[@rubydown3329]

I thought the trailers for Sting looked kinda goofy, but now I'm kinda excited 👀

[@ExpertContrarian]

It's a disappointment

[@MrBeatenpath]

new sub here...thanks for the reviews..

[@dougfarrell7355]

Dan, I completely agree with you about Late Night, specifically the take on the retrospective stuff. The fact that it didn't do a post-show documentary made the end fall flat for me. It's my favorite horror movie of the year thus far, but I would probably put it in the lower end of high-tier or upper-mid. Side Question: What's your take on the upcoming Alien movie? Personally, I'm there for it, but I'm also rolling my eyes at it because I think the franchise needs to stop.

[@ShaneyBright]

Gen X here. Saw Late Night (WTD) in theaters and it was so surreal. It felt like an authentic late night show of the time. The creep factor for me was not being able to "turn the channel." No TV knobs, no remote. Just stuck there watching as the horror unfolds. Great film and the show theme song was so good. Edit: I'd love a sequel.

[@portable8223]

i. kept thinking of shadow while watching sting since that girl plays maria in sonic 3

[@charvolth]

Saw both. Sting was the better executed exercise. I caught Sting initially as a Monday Mystery Movie, and want to see it again next week. LNwtD had great production design, the performances were great, nice build up, but I was hoping it would be more ambitious with the ending. The ending felt rushed to me.

[@brianng8350]

Late Night With The Devil might be top 5 for the year so far. No real jump scare and well lite studio - unlike so many horror movies.

[@c.d714]

Lead was fantastic, girl was very creepy. Nice concept. Would recommend a watch but nothing more.

[@DueceSpice]

LATENIGHT WITH THE DEVIL WAS GREATLY DONE..ENJOYED THE MOVIE VERY MUCH

[@teruphoto]

A Double Dan Review...and it's not even Friday yet.

[@zachlikeswrestling]

Preach

[@KaleCox]

The reason you shouldn’t boycott a film like this is two-fold: 1) It’s a small usage (though i’m still against it) of AI. If we only focus on that, it discredits all of the REAL work everyone else on the film did. 2) It’s not a big studio film where everyone will live if it doesn’t perform amazingly. These are smaller actors who need to have people see their work so they can get future jobs. If films this small and creative are pushed aside, no matter the reason, it affects EVERYONE who worked hard on it.

[@mckinleyostvig7135]

It's one of two images now but if we're not loud it will be one or scenes next time. And then one or two character designs. And then one or two scripts and the backgrounds and all the visual assets. No ground must be given. AI art is soulless theft and deserves to be boycotted.

[@amjiva]

Is it just Sting, or do The Police show up?

[@godspeedrebirth]

Dan's tshirt is so good!

[@strawberrylime33]

Do films like Sting have more opportunity to avoid corporate interference, focus groups and rewrites, thus allowing the film to be more original?

[@crashingimpulse]

Late Night was a great surprise and would keep it in my horror film rotation

[@WakeUpMissoula]

Late Night with the Devil is by far my favorite new horror of the year because of the tension in the air throughout the film. plenty of great moments and learning about Ai is concerning, but the storytelling and format were brilliant.

[@travisspazz1624]

I didn't find out about the ai until after I saw it, still thought it was just ok.

[@NoCountryforBadMovies]

Late Night With the Devil is fantastic and definitely worth a watch for any horror fan

[@Ian-ky5hf]

What about the group of horror film creators who want to make a deep layered cinematic masterpiece?

[@mywalkabout40]

Spiders creep me out, but glad you liked Late Night with the Devil! Saw it a few weeks ago and I still think about it 😂

[@jonathanortega753]

Sting? Not a biopic of The Police 🤔

[@scottaleman2577]

Why is everyone getting upset about AI do those same people get mad when directors use CGI? it’s the same shit. If they want to use new technology to benefit them or their movie that’s their business.

[@cgrescueotter8640]

If you like Late Night with the Devil I recommend Ghost Watch and WNUF Halloween Special

[@uosdwiSrdewoH]

It's certainly a coincidence but it's hard to miss the similarity regarding the look of the titles for 'Sting' and 'Abigail'. Especially given how close together they're being released.

[@OliverTheRicketts]

Late night with the devil is my favorite film of the year so far. Great review!

[@DarthHomercles]

I couldn't quite figure out why the ending of LNWTD didn't sit right with me, but Dan nailed it. There is a lack of closure by breaking the format the first 3/4 of the movie adhered to. Still a good movie overall, but yeah, I wish it came together a little neater at the end.

[@garthTurningCranks]

Late Night with the Devil is on the watch list! No spiders though. thanks.

[@d.a.baracus1438]

Should've reordered the movies. It could've been: Late Night with the Devil & Sting.

[@domingosjunior6805]

Late night with the devil and winnie the pooh 2 are my favorites movies of the year soo far

[@thenerdwithoutfear8378]

I get what you say and try to achieve but in the case of Late Night with the Devil the boycott is very easy: You vote with your wallet. If movies with AI Art in them succeed financially studio execs will just continue to shamelessly use that. Now is the time to not only start a discourse but actually do something that changes things like not giving a movie your money that uses AI Art, AI scripts or Deepfake easy as that.

[@DanMurrellMovies]

This isn’t a studio film. By boycotting the movie, all you’re doing is making it harder for indie films to secure distribution and an audience. It’s been made abundantly clear how unhappy the audience is about the AI art. What changes if the movie is boycotted, other than the same mistake being made and the outstanding work done by the actual people involved being shunned and ignored? There has to be a middle ground. Responding to everything in the most extreme way only leads to more problems.

[@Carvaka]

boycotting over ai art is so stupid

[@lovepurple83]

Just watched Late Night With The Devil and saw two hidden images. I know there must be many more. All I can say is pay attention to the mirrors! :0

[@naveerakhan9622]

:0

[@Fizzgig73]

late night with the devil was a letdown. it was almost never scary, and the end was a mess. I liked Paul F Thompkins as Gus tho...

[@egoborder3203]

Late Night with the Devil was a lot of fun. Not as scary as I might've wanted, but I think it will become a cozy Halloween tradition for a lot of horror enthusiasts. I suspect it will do great as a rental

[@BishopBrown-ng2ns]

It wasn't a mistake to use AI. With film making costs being so expensive, any small studio needs all the tools available just to compete.

[@btmn80085]

The Sting poster alone scares me

[@ajm1352]

I think sting is gonna be Gen Z's and gen Alpha's Arachnophobia Arachnophobia gave me borderline arachnophobia. Ive worked on liking spiders/accepting them more Through science, and intense hatred of flies and mosquitoes. However if I see this movie it finna set me back years of psychological work.

[@cccant26]

Goated double review

[@eliasmochan]

I just saw Late night with the Devil. I was a bit bothered by the scheptic character. It's a caricature of James Randy, who did very important work in unmasking big frauds and pseudo-sceintists. I felt very uncomfortable by the fact that his character was painted as a bigot. I liked the movie, and I understand that you can't have the scheptic be the hero in a demonic possession movie, but it was just too direct of a reference, and it feels like an attack to a person who had the best of intentions.

[@jordancollins444]

Totality now a fixture in Dans vocabulary

[@ryanmarkley1979]

Adobe products (like photoshop) now has a generative AI included, are you going to boycott a movie if the poster used that to assist the artist? I use it at work to shave off time for tasks that would have taken a few extra minutes.

[@iheardyourprayer2599]

Space Spider sounds like such a good premise but I could never watch it lmao

[@LaddRusso91]

You're also scared of spiders?

[@VioletCobraEtc]

An A.I. image has got to be one of the stupidest reasons for a movie boycott. It sounds so petty and privileged.

[@sosarene]

Why this late to late night with the devil, is a great movie that has been ignored....this is the type of movies that must be supported.

[@solvseus]

Blood and Honey was one of the worst movies I've ever seen, and even though I saw it for free, I'm still angry about it.

[@redcomet0079]

Finally saw Sting yesterday, and found it underwhelming. The acting in this movie is really really bad. The guy that plays the exterminator is the only decent actor. That said, the cgi is alright

[@mumsageek1883]

Always get a little disappointed when Australian movies use American accents. Lovely to see Noni Hazelhurst though!

[@HighSnobbery]

The crazy thing is that I didn’t like either movie 🫣

[@popdebris]

I saw the Sting trailer in front of Late Night With The Devil a couple days ago. I loved Late Night, and was super excited to see Sting. I’m glad to hear that I should.

[@dontgivetwothwips3615]

Late Night with the Devil sounds very intriguing. I hope I’ll be able to watch it down the road. To piggy back on the ai controversy, its use in this movie is exactly what concerns me most. Smaller creatives in the entertainment and artistic spaces feeling the pressure to use ai to keep up. The seemingly rational take that it’s just a tool can quickly become use-as-a-crutch that dilutes creative endeavors across the board. Take the DnD monster art issue from last year. A very skilled artist used ai to create, at least partially, a creature for a book that was published. Unfortunately, the ai generation was sloppy and the obvious issues were missed by the artist and editors. Most likely, time crunch and maybe some laziness lead to bad work being sold to buyers unknowingly. I googled Pokemon art to find a new background for my phone. AI images have so quickly flooded the internet that finding human created work is, well, near impossible. As we all know the internet is forever, and now finding genuine images of anything is forever tainted, like a toxic waste spill in a pond.

[@aaronnicholson6097]

That is a perfect analogy and now I’m even more depressed about it. My only hope now s that artists will strive to put even more of their humanity and uniqueness into their art, be transparent about their process (if they want to…I see this a lot on instagram lately and really enjoy it), and that good people will seek out and lift up that kind of art.

[@jamesangel4366]

Charlotte's Web

[@sedi2066]

This movie was so underwhelming. But hey i guess this is one of those times where im not in the majority

[@keepcalmandre-roll5480]

I absolutely loved Late Night With The Devil. Such good attention to detail and utterly gripping

[@stephanielitz4056]

I don’t care how good Sting is - Spiders = NOT HAPPENING 😢

[@ExpertContrarian]

Sting is absolutely terrible. Feels like it was written for children and that it was written by a child

[@BiLLz66614]

We cant like Late Night With The Devil though. Because they generated 3 whole images with AI. How dare they? The whole movie is hogwash now . AHHHHHH! jk ... Because i'm not mentally challenged. It was awesome. and well worth the wait. Just watched it yesterday and loved it.

[@oceaninks]

Dan i completely disagree with you about AI usage. It starts with one. You allow it here, allow it there. One at a time and then its normalized. Artists and creatives should be paid for positions and projects, AI usage is going to kill this. Its not ok and I won't support any film that uses it. I was super excited to see this too, but I won't support it. There are other options, Marquette, bigatures/miniatures, costumes, makeup etc. There are other cheap options than using AI. What if they started using AI for movie reviewers? An AI could essentially tell me whether a movie fits within my tastes and interests. Then I have no need for people. See the point? AI can be adopted for anywhere/anything. We need to be drawing a hard line in the sand of what we'll accept and what we won't. This for me is a hard line in the sand.

[@DanMurrellMovies]

I guess the point I was making is that the AI has already been used and its use has been called out. I think it's crystal clear to everyone involved with the film that there's a very negative response to it. It's not like they "got away with it," so to speak. It sparked a discussion that I think is healthy around any emerging technology. But it's a very small part of the movie - I think you can note and discuss the few pieces of AI artwork without discarding the work done by the scores of other people involved in the film. If the movie's boycotted, aren't they also punished along with the people who greenlit the AI? If someone believes that AI can replace film critics, then they're free to try. I don't think most people watch reviews just for the consumer angle. Maybe I'm wrong. Now, if the artists and studios continue to use AI knowing that people have such strong objections, that's a different story. But it's early in this process and I don't think seeing the movie and accepting its use of AI are the same thing, just as I don't believe that one problematic actor can discredit an entire cast and crew. There must be a middle ground somewhere or we will be locked in a never-ending cycle of extremist reactions with very little progress.

[@oceaninks]

@@DanMurrellMovies i see your point and I think perhaps I may be coming on too strongly. I am very passionate about bot using AI in movies or other creative avenues. And youre right, we listen to reviewers like you because of your style, personality and opinion. I love your reviews and I think youre very fair. I love Dastmalchan and the premise and execution looks great. I am just so against using AI because of how it effects humans. I do think youre right though that it shouldn't be to an extreme. Thank you for reminding me of that. Why couldn't they have made a foam creation/prosthetic? I appreciate the perspective as always Dan. Just curious, was it pretty noticeable in the movie? Seemed like you could spot it but I wasn't sure how it looked.

[@codynoth4183]

I'm waiting for the ensuing hilarity of individuals who are unable to draw or have that artistic ability to come at these people whining about AI Art (mostly liberal individuals I'm banking) saying that criticizing AI art is ableist and is discriminatory.

[@jarrodjones6990]

we gotta quit with the horror snobbery -- cheap, exploitive, cash-snatching horror has its place! sometimes it's dreadful (often it's dreadful), but there's still something to glean from even the dreckiest of dreck. it's a wide tapestry, Dan! the ugly spots are there to beautify the rest.

[@DanMurrellMovies]

It's not snobbery to call something I think is a cash grab what it is. It would be great if all filmmakers were making horror movies for the love of it, across all budgets, but that's not how the genre works.

[@jarrodjones6990]

@@DanMurrellMovies I mean, it's a genre where we have guys like Charles Band who have made some dubious stuff at best, yet there's fun to be gleaned from all of the things he produced. (your mileage may vary, etc.) I'd argue the Asylum crap that got churned out also has entertainment value, regardless of why they're made. all movies are, in a sense, cash grabs, particularly studio features. it's not such a fine line -- at least not how you sum it up.

[@PranavanathanYoganathan]

Late night with the devil was fantastic. Letterbox is full of pretentious keyboard warriors

[@TheClockchan]

I’d love to check out both movies soon! I was genuinely disappointed in the use of AI art however. Knowing that it’s there and honestly looks like AI art to someone who is even slightly looking really is going to take me out of the moment when watching it. Which I feel like is a good enough reason not to touch it in a movies especially one that’s trying to be a period piece.

[@DanMurrellMovies]

Honestly - if it hadn’t been pointed out, I never would have noticed

[@clairebear10]

@@DanMurrellMovies same!

[@joseloco]

AI is not going away… it will only serve to decentralize the existing entertainment industry and it’s starting at the edges. As a developer and consumer of these technologies and in this particular market, my message would be as follows: The Luddites chose to fight the textile looms; that didn’t go well. Either adapt and adopt, or be left behind or left to niche markets. Learn something new for once and stop just living to pay your bills. We should be focused on teaching others how to augment their abilities and accelerate their creativity… through adopting AI. Long live the rebellion and I look forward to the rise of independent thought and artistic expression from the masses.

[@derricklong8252]

It’s a low budget horror film and a great one at that, I think they definitely justified using AI. It was only a still image and people are acting it made the damn movie.

[@atlasrises4]

I think good art should be supported, but if you are against something like AI boycotting is also fine. We talk about supporting and not supporting the type of films we want and unfortunately for this movie despite quality, it is in a camp of film I don't want and don't want to encourage in the industry.

[@DanMurrellMovies]

And that’s fine - but calling for everyone to hold the film by your standard and make the same decision you did would be a step too far.

[@BatAmerica]

Great video, and I appreciate you going out of your way to spotlight quality storytelling. However, the problem with AI Art is that, unlike when this movie was filmed, replacing humans with AI is more realistically possible. Yes, I understand a small budget, but the short-term tradeoff of saving a few bucks at the release compared to the long-term detriment of sacrificing artists' ability to find work in the major motion pictures due to these programs unethically scraping their work is not something to encourage. That's why people are upset.

[@DanMurrellMovies]

I completely understand why people are upset. I was addressing the concept of boycotting the movie over it.

[@BatAmerica]

@@DanMurrellMovies Fair enough, I respect your opinion.

[@daveandreahoward8203]

I was really with Late Nite until the last act, about the time the worms showed up. Then it became some high school kid scribbling super cool horror beats all over his math text book cover.

[@Nobody-we7kl]

Nah

[@sleepybandit23]

Regarding the AI - as extreme as the reaction was, how exactly are any lines going to be drawn for this type of thing if the creators pushing those ethical boundaries don’t experience any actual consequences as a result of cutting corners? Audience outrage alone is loud but ineffective - on a studio level, why would they care about the concerns with AI if it’s clear that people will still watch anyway?

[@Nobody-we7kl]

Liked late night a lot, no sequels it was good as it is. Don’t like their use of AI tho that’s WACK

[@TheMorrigan333]

Late Night was so disappointing lol the idea is great but the way it’s executed and some of the writing is just horrible. I figured the first half would be somewhat slow and the second half would be a banger. Not only was it slow but it was barely watchable lol I know they needed to give the vibe that it wasn’t a good talk show and that’s why it was getting cancelled but come on! lol they went too hard that portion. I was legit bored. Things started to get interesting but then it went into fantastical territory and ended with not much resolution which didn’t do anyone any favors. There were moments that were very cringe that I hoped they were going to make up for but didn’t. Wish I hadn’t seen it in theaters.

[@elise4287]

It should be pushed to the margins. It wasn’t just bumpers, the art was used throughout. Did we not just strike about this? Put another indie film in the spotlight instead. There’s so many others out.

[@DanMurrellMovies]

Where else was the art used?

[@elise4287]

@@DanMurrellMovies It’s parts of the set and backgrounds.

[@isabeljimenez6067]

I'm sorry to disagree, but Late Night With The Devil was garbage. Horrible acting, anti-climactic, and really just boring.

[@jonathanortega753]

I'm glad I don't see late night with the devil becouse of A.I.