Here’s a sometimes-fun found-footage riff on that time, on Halloween Night of 1977, that a failing late night talk show “communed with the Devil” as a stunt for ratings.

I’ve said it before and I can’t stop repeating it — the ’70s, man. You had to be there.

In “Late Night with the Devil,” character actor David Dastmalchian plays talk show host Jack Delroy in a darkly-comic skeptics-vs.-believers-vs-Old Scratch himself thriller.

I wasn’t as enamored of this overreaching, choppy narrative about a live TV broadcast gone supernaturally wrong as many others reviewing it. I think it’s because I remember too clearly the very similar but more harrowing and suspenseful “The Cleansing Hour,” which has more pathos, higher stakes and surprises than “Late Night.” But the lighter touches, the reasonably-accurate spoof of the medium it sends up, make this worth a watch.

Dastmalchian plays a ’70s chat-show host, one of the legion of “also-rans” our narrator (the unmistakable voice of horror icon Michael Ironside) reminds us, a flip and (kind of) funny host willing to try most anything to get his ratings up.

Delroy is blandly representative of a type — a little Dick Cavett wit, a chunk of Jack Parr self-pity and self-importance, a Phil Donahue level of credulity and an uneasy smile that hides not just the loss of a recently-deceased wife, but the feeling that this is all just an act, a very hard one for him to keep up.

It’s difficult to decide if former radio talker Jack was ever all that funny, with his strained, lame monologue and Reggie Jackson (the Yankees had just won the World Series) and Jimmy Carter and Billy Carter jokes.

Of course, Carson got rich off material not unlike this, back in the day.

Delroy’s comic sidekick and sometime verbal punching bag (Rhys Auteri) might be somebody who realizes this “all an act” pose.

On this night, the guests begin with a medium (Fayssal Bazzi) named Christou, whose act is so bad and unconving that the studio audience can barely contain their groans. Their giggles? They can’t hide those at all.

But something happens, something that delays at least one commercial break. Christou may have actually “made contact” with somebody or something real. The fact that he projectile vomits black bile almost sells it.

Inviting an Amazing Randi-style professional skeptic (Ian Bliss) on the “Night Owls” show to debunk the “charlatan,” pretty much to his face, may be the most ’70s-savvy bit of pop culture spoofing that writer-directors Colin and Cameron Cairnes (“100 Bloody Acres” was theirs) conjure up.

This “Carmichael” debunker knows his stuff, and he’s insufferable. But Christou? He’s having a mental health crisis, or something. “This isn’t right,” he protests, slipping into shock. But is it supernatural?

Paranormal researcher Dr. June (Laura Gordon) and her star patient Lily (Ingrid Torelli) endure the skeptic’s skepticism when they show up. But when Lily jolts into a demonic alter-ego trance, we at least start to wonder if this Carmicheal debunker might be wrong.

Delroy has to be chilled when Lily seems to note his “sweeps week” despair of ever improving his ratings. “I think you’re gonna be very famous — soon.”

Dastmalchian, the most recent screen version of “The Boston Strangler” (he was also in “Oppenheimer”) isn’t the most credible chat show host ever. The larger-than-life personality, the ability to switch “on” seem lacking. That hampers “Late Night with the Devil’s” ability to make that sale. This is like an imitation of DeNiro’s dispirited wannabe talk show delusions in “King of Comedy.”

But the haunted side of Delroy fits this veteran character actor’s persona like a glove.

Bazzi is amusingly inept as Christou, a guy who loses his exotic Spanish/Gypsy accent the moment things start to get “real.”

Auteri serves up a venomous, spoil-the-peanut-gallery’s-fun drollery in this part, a smarty pants who relishes bursting bubbles for the boobeoisie.

And Torelli and Gordon are convincing enough before the fireworks start. And once they do, “convincing” stops mattering as much.

The filmmakers’ generally accurate recreation of how such a show might have gone down — “A television first, we attempt to commune with the Devil…but not before a word from our sponsors.” — breaks up the flow of the story so much that the finale is the only place where there’s rising action and heightening suspense.

But they’ve tapped into a fun angle to visit the “Devil, real or unreal” thriller genre, a “master tape” that comes close enough to broadcast standards to pass muster, and goes over-the-top enough to be fun enough to recommend.

Rating: R (Violent Content|A Sexual Reference|Some Gore|profanity)

Cast: David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Fayssal Bazzi, Ian Bliss, Rhys Auteri and Ingrid Torelli, narrated by Michael Ironside.

Credits: Scripted and directed by Colin Cairnes and Cameron Cairnes. An IFC/Shudder release.

Running time: 1:33