LATE NIGHT WITH THE DEVIL. After a brief, pleasantly surprising period of infatuation with modern, low-budget horror, my enthusiasm precipitously — maybe inevitably — declined. But as it has been, so shall it ever be, and the "breakthrough," every few decades or so, of a group of inspired, well-executed movies will typically be followed in short order by a glut of pallid attempts to cash in on a "movement." In fairness, fine examples sustain among the dross, but those of us not among the true faithful generally begin to stray, seeking out other, perhaps even easier avenues for our cheap gratification.

While it isn't among my dearest or most-immediate cinematic loves, I maintain a space in my heart for lo-fi horror. There is something about it that speaks to the fortitude and imagination that make the movies live on screen. And the immediacy of scariness, the lizard-brain tickling of tension and release, is something never better serviced than in cinema. It may speak to the dissolution of the species that we seek out existential terror for entertainment. Alas.

Anyway, even as the genre ebbs and flows in popularity and consistency, it persists as a low-stakes, often high-return option for filmic experimentation. At its best, it can provide a platform for art and artists who are not constrained by budgetary or structural limitations.

Late Night with the Devil may not be a jumping-off point for a movement or an announcement of a voice to be heard, but it at least speaks to those possibilities, reveling in its own self-imposed scale and spectrum of influence.

Opening with a Michael Ironside voiceover (the first of more than a few nods to Cronenberg), Late Night sets the stage, literally and figuratively. It's 1970s America: Panic and paranoia and occult fascination abound, as does the ever-escalating arms race of late-night TV ratings. At that intersection sits Jack Delroy (David Dalstmalchian), ever-aspirant, would-be king of the talk-shows destined to place second. After half a decade of personal struggle and dwindling viewership, Jack assembles a Halloween night extravaganza episode designed for his show's ascension into the pantheon of the unforgettable. It works, better and far more horrifically than Jack could have conceived.

The ubiquity of "found footage" was/is one of the most misused and abused narrative tropes in horror (maybe in any genre), and succeeded in alienating as many viewers as it has sucked in. Mostly it plays as lazy: an excuse to avoid the hard work of actually directing a movie for the camera. My attitude about the subject is reductive and probably snooty, but it is what it is. Apropos to the subject at hand, though, there are still opportunities for exploration, even in a technique that struck me as dead on arrival. And writer/director/editors Cameron and Colin Gaines have found a way through as knowing and imaginative as it seems obvious, like it's been hiding in plain sight.

Late Night with the Devil, after the documentary-style intro, is composed entirely of the "master tapes" from the ill-fated episode in question and of candid behind-the-scenes footage. It's a neat trick, even if we can see the trick from a mile away, executed with an adherence to its own rules and a surprising degree of self-control (no crazy '70s costuming or disco needle-drops). Most important, though, is Dastmalchian in the lead, giving perhaps the most balanced, substantial performance in a storied career as a character actor. Were he not able to carry the load of Jack's simultaneous pursuit of stardom and emotional turmoil, the movie likely unravels. Not to discredit the members of the supporting cast, all of whom do strong and convincing work, but without Jack Delroy as the (questionable) moral center, the rest would amount to a nice try, a cool technical exercise that never really came together. R. 93M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.

ROAD HOUSE. Look, we're all skeptical; well, those of us who care about Road House (1989). Admittedly, it wasn't a formative text but, later in life, the alchemical magic of Patrick Swayze as a philosopher/ass-kicker with whom an ER doctor (Kelly Lynch) would fall in love while he does battle — alongside a gloriously-maned Sam Elliott — with a villain named Brad (Ben Gazzara) and his monster-truck driving cadre of rural Missouri thugs became undeniable.

So Doug Liman (Swingers, 1996; Edge of Tomorrow, 2014) taking the whole thing apart and moving it to Florida with Jake Gyllenhaal as a troubled former UFC fighter was cause for cautious skepticism and not a little hopeful curiosity.

While I doubt this version will climb to the rank of classic, there is something in the proficiency with which it is made, the throwback moral simplicity and its winking silliness, together with the dislocating power of its fight choreography, that won me over. It may not be as ambitious or thoughtful as its predecessor (sit with that for a minute), but it works pretty well, either in spite or because of that departure. R. 114M. PRIME.

John J. Bennett (he/him) is a movie nerd who loves a good car chase.

NOW PLAYING

ARTHUR THE KING. Marky Mark teams up with a dog because I guess the drunk Teddy Bear and racist POS Mel Gibson are busy. PG13. 90M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.

BOB MARLEY: ONE LOVE. Biopic on the life of the legendary musician. Starring Kingsley Ben-Adir and Lashana Lynch. PG13. 105M. BROADWAY.

DUNE: PART TWO. More Zendaya in the second installment of the spicy sci-fi epic. PG13. 166M. BROADWAY, MINOR.

GHOSTBUSTERS: FROZEN EMPIRE. Remaining original cast members (Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson, Dan Aykroyd, Annie Potts) team up with a new generation. With Paul Rudd. PG13. 115M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.

GODZILLA X KONG: THE NEW EMPIRE. Bring back the Mothra twins, you cowards. PG13. 115M. BROADWAY (3D), MILL CREEK (3D).

IMAGINARY. Blumhouse horror about an imaginary friend bent on revenge after being put aside with childhood things. PG13. 104M. BROADWAY.

IMMACULATE. Sydney Sweeney stars as a nun in a very scary convent. R. 89M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.

KUNG FU PANDA 4. Jack Black returns to voice the roly-poly warrior with legend James Hong, Awkwafina and Viola Davis. PG. 94M. BROADWAY, MILL CREEK.

LOVE LIES BLEEDING. Romance between a bodybuilder (Katy O'Brian) and a gym owner (Kristen Stewart) is complicated by the latter's violent, criminal father (Ed Harris with the worst possible hair). R. 104M. MINOR.

ONE LIFE. The story of a young man who convinces the British Committee for Refugees in Czechoslovakia to rescue hundreds of Jewish children from the Nazis, and is reunited with some of those grown children 50 years later. PG. 110M. MINOR.

Fortuna Theatre is temporarily closed. For showtimes call: Broadway Cinema (707) 443-3456; Mill Creek Cinema 839-3456; Minor Theatre (707) 822-3456.