Late Night with the Devil

 

There's a competition between rival TV stations to outdo each other with shock and controversy. A lot that is apparently an accident or gaffe is secretly a part of the plan, for example see: https://hpanwo-voice.blogspot.com/2022/03/that-slap.html. However, this can sometimes lead to a genuine catastrophe. Late Night with the Devil is a very unusual horror film that tells the story of a fictional massacre in the studio of a late night TV variety show in 1977. It is a "found broadcast tape" story, so to speak; an adaptation of the found footage horror genre. The presenter of the programme is a suave and professional individual called Jack Delroy who wisecracks confidently on screen, but deep down he is plagued by insecurity. He is locked in a bitter battle for ratings with a rival show that airs concurrently on another channel and his beloved wife falls ill; eventually she dies. In a desperate attempt to restore his television prominence as well as his personal self-esteem, Jack broadcasts a Halloween special in which he plans to shock the nation and upstage his adversary forever by conjuring up real supernatural phenomena. The results are cataclysmic and terrifying. One of the characters is a skeptic and is very closely based on James Randi. There is some humour at the end of the film where he tries to hand over his famous cheque, something he thought he would never do. There is also a powerful hint that Jack is more aware than he seems to be of the occult. He is a member of Bohemian Grove and is dating a parapsychologist who is rehabilitating a young girl who was a slave of a satanic cult. The cult leader is a man who looks and acts very like Anton LaVey. This is probably quite a low budget film. The cast are all B and C-list and it was an independent production based in three countries, but technically it is very slick. The acting is good and the script is cleverly polished. The style and atmosphere of 70's light entertainment TV is very well reconstructed. The result is surely the most original horror film for many years. It's a strange combination of Network, The Exorcist and Ghostwatch. It is pretty horrific though and therefore definitely not for the fainthearted. It is currently streaming on most major platforms for a few pounds rental.
See here for background: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2020/05/network.html.
And: https://hpanwo-tv.blogspot.com/2022/11/ghostwatch-30-livestream.html.
And: https://hpanwo.blogspot.com/2021/08/skeptics-portal.html.