Late Night with the Devil (2023): VersaScares Review

Today’s post will be a review on the film Late Night With The Devil. You can find the trailer here. If you have not had the opportunity to see this movie, I highly recommend watching it before reading this review. It will contain spoilers.

This post is a little long-winded, so if you make it all the way through, I applaud you. 👀

Late Night With The Devil is a film that takes place in the 70s and follows the career of Jack Delroy, a late night TV host. He struggles throughout his career, reaching moments of highs before experiencing lows. When his show is doing relatively well, he is offered a contract and shows no hesitation in signing away.

Jack has a loving wife who has always stuck with him through his good and bad moments. His show begins to tank and headlines question whether he should continue. Jack’s wife becomes very sick some time after Jack signs his five year contract and passes away soon enough. He takes a month away, presumably to grieve, and comes back to host a special Halloween episode.

Jack takes it up a notch by inviting a medium, a magician (and a skeptic of those who claim to be a medium and anyone studying anything involving the paranormal), a doctor who researches the paranormal and her research subject who is supposedly possessed by a Demon.

This is the final episode of Jack Delroy’s show. (This is also the final sentence that you should read before continuing on, if you haven’t seen the movie and are interested, stop now and return later.)

I have thought about this movie a lot after my initial viewing. It tackles the vibe of a 70s late night talk show through comedy segments, scary vibes, and is even filmed like it’s from the 70s. I enjoyed that latter aspect, especially because horror, suspense, and the shock of some events are mixed pretty well within the hour and half long film.

The format was interesting because the film begins with Jack's life as a TV host, leaving the viewer with a better understanding of the character and the desperation he underwent to keep his show alive. It then centers on his wife, highlighting her support for her husband until her unfortunate end. There was a moment that was a little weird, talking about his possible involvement in a men-only cult. Apparently, during the summer, there is a “camp” that seemingly rich and powerful men go to in the woods… It was a really interesting tidbit. When Jack finally signed his five year contract, a question that stuck out to me was “What did you have to do to get to this point?”

Fast forward to his special episode. I had to watch this film a second time to fully grasp the entirety of it. The first watch-through left me feeling empty because the ending felt underwhelming. The issue wasn’t with the movie.

It was my inability to look deeper into what was being shown.

The second watch through, a few small things were pointed out to me that helped me put the pieces together. But, that will come later.

Jack invites a medium onto his show, Christou. He attempts to channel the dead, though his first try is one that would leave anyone skeptical. He ultimately makes contact with a spirit belonging to the son of a family that’s sitting in the front row. The experience is heartfelt for a moment before Christou is contacted by a spirit that Jack later believes is his wife. During Christou’s “attack”, Jack doesn’t seem entirely concerned.

I criticized his lack of empathy towards his guest. He commended him, instead on his demonstration and it felt weird because Christou was visibly shaken by the final spirit. He looked unwell and any sane person would have properly checked on him. Christou tries to leave the show but he is persuaded to stay, again, without anyone checking on his well-being. The medium is sweating, seemingly close to a panic attack, and is irritable. I'm no expert on anything in regards to a panic attack, but he is clearly struggling.

Carmichael Haig is invited on after Christou's demonstration. Carmichael is a man who is hell-bent on proving wrong the people that claim to deal with spirits. He believes they con their clients. Most people can’t be in Carmichael’s presence and while I see his side of things, I also see their side of things. He is an arrogant man and it seemed like he thought he was better than everyone in the room. I like that there is a character that heightens the emotions of everyone in, including the viewer. There were moments throughout the film where all I wanted was for him to sit down and relax. Carmichael is a man only interested in himself even after Christou vomits a strange, black liquid, even after news of Christou's death reaches him. No one seems particularly concerned about this man upon finding out and it felt grossly inappropriate. (Christou had been taken away in an ambulance during the show. He deserved better.)

Jack, as one would quickly notice, is the same as he is often seen sitting off to the side as things are happening. But, during commercial breaks while there are touch-ups, set changes, and people putting themselves into the correct stage areas, he is focused solely on ratings and how the show is doing. He is unable to show an ounce of empathy for those around him and at first, this frustrated me. It seemed like he had no care in the world for anyone around him, he only cared about himself and how the show was doing. He feigns care for Christou to an extent, but he doesn't truly reach out to make sure his guest is okay.

Later, he invites Dr. June Ross-Mitchell on. She joins Jack and Carmichael with a young girl accompanying her, Lily. The girl was only 13 and had gone through a lot in her short time. She’d been born into a cult that’s sole purpose was to summon a Demon. After sometime, the cult leader convinces everyone to self delete, resulting in their home burning down. Lily survives, but the question of whether her survival was intentional or not is brought about. Lily’s presence on the show is unsettling, though no one seems bothered by her clear lack of social skills, the inflections in her voice, and her strange behavior as she settles into this space.

While hearing her story, I felt as though Lily was meant to survive what had happened to her. It seemed purposeful only because of the fact that she was the only survivor. Maybe there had to have been a mass self-deletion in order for this Demon to be summoned? And maybe it needed a vessel. For some reason, children are always chosen to host demons. Why is this? (Maybe a future deep dive?)

June had been conducting research on this girl, questioning the Demon residing inside of her. She spoke about her discomfort at having Lily there, in an uncontrolled space, though no one seems to listen to her. Apparently Lily had acted unusually the night before, but everyone wanted to see what Lily could do. What would become of her once this Demon was brought about?

Honestly, I think that her stating her clear fear of having Lily on set was valid. Should she have traveled there with Lily if she had been having second thoughts? I don’t think so, but Jack’s behavior upset me because he overpowers her when she pulls him aside to talk about her fears. Jack constantly talks about how she promised to be there, how she won’t back out, etc… He also says that it’s essentially her big break, but I think that he was talking to himself when he said these words. Ratings would only go up if he had a possessed girl on set, right? His character is consistent throughout the film so far. He only cares about himself and his ratings. When things really start to happen, he seems to disconnect and show no empathy towards anyone who is in need of it.

June was eventually convinced to conduct a small demonstration for the audience. It’s quite disturbing, especially when Demon Lily turns to talk to Jack. She talks to him in a familiar way and Jack, confused, tells the Demon that they don’t know each other. The Demon corrects Jack, saying that they met in the woods, under the trees…

…. Oddly sus Jack… oddly sus. Now, I knew there was a reason as to why there were talks about his cult activity. It was interesting to see Jack's reaction to this Demon's thoughts. He, at first, seemed quite confused. But, I think that maybe he didn't want to think about it, or he didn't want this news to get out.

The demonstration leaves the audience shocked for a moment as lights flicker and Lily begins levitating… But, fast-forward to Mr. Carmichael, the skeptic. He believes that Lily was just under a sort of hypnosis and makes an attempt to prove this. He uses hypnosis on Jack's co-host, Gus, and manages to hypnotize everyone in the room. Gus is the main target and Carmichael has him engage in some pretty embarrassing things. Everyone is a witness to it and it seems horrifyingly real until…. Jack has his crew run the tape back (after the hypnosis, and live so everyone at home can witness as well.) Everyone was absolutely under hypnosis, and what they had seen before, didn’t actually happen.

This scene was interesting, though a little ridiculous. The idea was amazing because it showcases Carmichael's skill and one can easily discern why he is such a skeptic when it comes to people who claim that they can contact the dead or do magic or predict someone’s future…. The scene was gruesome and I squirmed in my seat at all that happened because it can easily make someone’s skin crawl, and the gore that is shown is a little much, but absolutely warranted. Gus has a fear of worms and the scene is honestly gross as it involves worms crawling under his skin until they find their way out… Think Creepshow’s “They’re Creeping Up On You” segment. It’s the ending of his demonstration that pulled me out of it and I did chuckle at how ridiculous the gigantic worm looked.

In order to prove Carmichael wrong, Lily suggests that they run the tape back from her demonstration. It wasn’t hypnosis. The demonstration was very real. Jack has his crew go through a moment scene by scene and he happens to see an apparition of his dead wife. Carmichael is still a skeptic and Lily questions why he’s this way before everything hits the fan.

Lily’s Demon takes over, killing everyone who tries to interfere with banishing him (the Demon), and then the viewer is transported through moments of Jack’s career. The entire movie intrigued me, but the ending is where the most attention is needed.

The important moment is when Jack signs the contract. I interpreted it as him signing his life away. He signed away his soul to the Devil (the Demon taking over Lily). I’ve come to this conclusion because at the beginning of the movie, someone asks Jack what he had to do to get here (essentially). He clearly had to sacrifice something. So fast-forward to the end when he’s signing the deal, and he is led away to a group of people who look familiar. One of them is the cult leader that convinced his followers to self-delete by fire, causing his house to burn down. The very same house that Lily survived…..

The camera pans over to the audience as Jack is continuing with cult activity and there are few people in this audience that were in the studio audience of Jack’s show. Maybe Jack is going through his own personal hell. He is not a happy man and seemed so focused on his show. I think that Lily made an appearance (being possessed by this Demon) as a way to remind Jack that he is a part of this cult or as a way to remind Jack what he signed away his soul…

After the pan over to the audience, Jack walks into a room that is set up like a bedroom and his dying wife is sitting on the bed. She is not looking well and she essentially tells him that his signing of this deal, his obsession with his ratings, cost her her life. While he signed away his life, he simultaneously put his wife’s life on the line. She tells him to finish the job (put her out of her misery…) and he does so, but the scene changes back to where Jack’s guests are all lying dead on the floor. He had used a knife to take out his wife, but in this scene change, his wife is replaced by Lily.

I’m still unsure of how to interpret this ending, but I do believe that he is in his own personal hell. Or maybe… it is a metaphor for him losing everything to gain popularity or fame….

If you’ve seen this movie before, what’s your take on the ending or the movie as a whole? Is there a true supernatural element to this film or is it one big metaphor? Is there a lesson to be learned here?

After the first viewing, I gave the film ⭐⭐1/2 stars. I had not yet understood the ending of the film. I still feel as though I need to give it another watch to fully form an opinion on its meaning, but I have changed my rating to ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐. (You can check out my Letterboxd here.)

If you’ve read this far, but haven’t seen the movie, does this review make you want to watch it? If you do, make sure to come back and share your thoughts!

Also, if you’ve made it this far, thank you so much. This was a long one. I would love to discuss this film and see if anyone else has interpreted it differently.

Thanks so much for reading through this. I'll see you next week with another post, featuring children in horror. If you haven't had the opportunity to read my last post, showcasing some upcoming films, check it out here. Also, be sure to subscribe to the blog in order to be notified about new posts!

Until next time...

-Versa 🔪

Edit: This post hasn't posted yet, but I watched an "ending explained" that goes through the entirety of the movie and it may have helped clear a few things? I absolutely recommend watching the movie in its entirety before watching this Film Analysis, but if you're interested, click here.