LATE NIGHT WITH OF THE DEVIL

Australia, 2023, 93 minutes, Colour.

David Dastmalchian, Laura Gordon, Ian Bliss, Fayssal Bazzi, Ingrid Torelli, Rhys Auteri Georgina Hague, Josh Quong Tart.

Directed by Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes.

From the early days of television, there have been popular programs at night, the popular host who builds up a reputation over the years, a range of guests, music and song, novelties, interviews, and an eager and applauding audience. Most of us know this from our own television watching experience, our favourite hosts.

The inventiveness of the Australian filmmakers, Cameron and Colin Cairnes noted for their horror-comedy, 100 Bloody Acres) have taken the Late Night popularity and mined it for making a horror film. And, very successfully. While the setting is the US, and the main star American, the film was made in Melbourne with an Australian cast.

They have used the found-footage genre, popular now for a quarter of a century. We are back in the 1970s. Johnny Carson reigns supreme on late night television. And this is a story of Jack Delroy, played very effectively by American character actor, David Dastmalchian, perfectly embodying the TV host – and, Australians with long memories, maybe remembering the host of the 1970s, Don Lane an American, but very popular in Australia.

The film offers a very interesting introduction, the ups and downs of Delroy’s career on late night, his program, Night Owl, and his not claiming the top in audience reach. We see scenes of his program, especially with his former-actress wife, who then contracts cancer and dies, leaving him bereft.

We are taken very easily into this television past. However, the introduction also tells us that we are about to see a Halloween episode of 1977 that never made it to air (and we see why). To make this episode more effective, intercut with the program itself are scenes, filmed in black and white, of what goes on during the breaks, the discussions, the tensions, the plans… All of which makes the film rather more credible than we might have expected.

So, we are prepared then for the Halloween program itself, Jack and his ambitions to do well in the ratings, some rumblings with his assistant, Gus, questions about the sponsors, pressures from the producer during the breaks. The guests have been prearranged with Halloween in mind, first of all a psychic, Christou, who performs mistakenly at first, but then with some eerie success. However, the next guest is a former magician who has turned into a major sceptic and committed to exposing frauds – with some dire  results in his confrontation with Christou.

But the key sequence is with a young girl, a survivor of a satanic cult (with some footage included of their sinister meetings, and the destructive house fire) along with her doctor, a parapsychological expert, who has the capacity to hypnotise the girl and make the presence of the satanic figure perfectly real.

Not a spoiler but this all comes to vivid life, with some horror touches!

Interesting is that after the audience in the studio and ourselves see the strange phenomena, everyone hypnotised, the idea is to check on the playback. And, it is all there!

There have been some sinister suggestions that Jack Delroy has been involved with a group of men meeting, allegedly a male camp, but with sinister robes and incantations.

Is all that happens on this program something diabolical, Jack and his group, Jack and his huge ambitions for popularity, a late night pact with the devil?

1. The title, late night TV shows, compares, staff, guests, audience? Fame, ratings? And pacts with the devil?
2. An Australian production, directors, cast, made in Australia? Australian perspective on late-night talk shows, memories of the past?
3. The setting in the 1970s, the famous hosts, the development of the decades, audiences familiar with this kind of programming? Following the careers of the hosts? Enjoying the guests and interviews? The novelties?
4. Popularity of found-footage films? Variations on possibilities? The episode of Night Owl which never went to air? The black-and-white footage of action behind the scenes? The blend of the two?
5. The introduction, memories of the shows, references to Johnny Carson and other contemporary shows? Ratings, competition? The appeal to older audience memories?
6. Jack Delroy, the performance and presence by David S Malki, embodying the compere, style, jokes, appeal to the audience, catchphrases, Gus and his support? Is ambitions, the ratings? Relationship with his wife, her actress background, her appearance on his shows, her cancer, her death? The discussions with Leo, the producer?
7. The reference to the men, the Grove, the visuals of the gathering, the satanic implications? Pacts? Secrecy? And the revelation about the satanic church, the visualising of ritual rituals, blood, violence, the leadership? The attack, the burning house, the deaths, Lily surviving?
8. The planning of the show, to have the psychic, the sceptic, the doctor and Lily? The audience and their response? The Halloween setting, the costumes, the atmosphere, expectations?
9. Chris two, his presence, personality, claims, the interviews, his accent, mind reading, Larry and his volunteering, and the expose and Christie’s mistakes? The change to the mother and daughter, the death, the communication, references to the door in the past? The effect? The connection with Minnie – Jack and his wedding ring? The introduction of Car, sceptic, the challenge to Christou, the sparring, Bristow and his spouting, the effect, his collapse, hospital, the news of his death?
10. Car, the past magician, his tricks, sceptic, the expose of Christou?
11. The buildup to June and Lily, the background, the visuals, Lily is a survivor, her age, looking at the camera, her intensity, friendliness? June, her qualifications, the two women and their clashes with Car? His condescension?
12. June, weary, not wanting the episode, pressure, the episode, the visuals of Lily, the Mr Recalls emergence, diabolical, her voice, split head, hypnosis? Her return to normal, the explanation of not remembering?
13. Car, his demonstration with gas, gas and his anxiety, wanting to quit, the news of Christou’s death, agreeing to be the subject, the hypnosis, his denials, the hypnotic state, the wound on his neck, the worms, his stomach bursting? Coming out of the trans? The audience hypnotised, the film audience and their equivalents of hypnotism?
14. The reality, the replaying of the scenes? Gas? Of Lily?
15. The atmosphere, the audience and their responses? Behind-the-scenes, the technicians, the news of Christou’s death, people leaving?
16. The finale, contortions, deaths, June hanging, Lily in the midst of it, car being burnt, Gus and his death?
17. The issue of sponsorship, the advertisements, the commercials throughout? The response of the public, the ratings?
18. Jack, his wife appearing in the replay, ghostly presence? The challenge about his being member of The Group? His going through his career, the replay of the scenes? His fame – at what price?
19. An effective horror film with the conventions? The found-footage genre? The critique of television, fame, audiences, ambitions? Pacts with the Devil?