Late Night With The Devil
00:36:47
About
We go back in time to remember a Halloween past, and become embroiled in a diabolical ratings war as we watch “Late Night With The Devil”. A film in which we learn that Scoleciphobia and Hypnosis are a very potent mix for light entertainment; that a TV producer can invoke more terror than an actual demon; and that the owls are not what they seem. Drawing from a number of real-life sources for its world-building; along with a pitch perfect recreation of 70s American TV, this film, certainly initially, could easily pass for a real piece of archive television. The writer/director team of brothers Cameron and Colin Cairnes have assembled a cast and crew who absolutely bring their fantastic vision to life, with the linchpin being David Dastmalchian’s spot-on performance; his Jack Delroy has both the superficial charm and charisma of his on-screen persona, as well being a very real and genuine flawed human when the cameras are off. This film surely deserves to become a classic, its richness bears repeated viewing, and is already spawning multiple discussions over both its influences, and its own mythology. Watch (or re-watch) to avoid spoilers and join us.
Transcript
Show full transcript
LeeGood evening and welcome to Horror. I'm Lee.
ChrisI'm Chris.
AdamAnd I'm Adam.
Leeand we're joined this evening by a special return guest yet again, Lady Jennifer is with us.
Lady Jenniferbecause she also likes this film and wanted to be involved. Can't stop returning, it's all good.
ChrisHello.
ChrisI was just going to jump in and say, Adam looks like he's doing something, but we might have to make some adjustments.
ChrisBecause it looks like he's waving his hand around in the air and it, the thing that he's got is slightly blurred out.
ChrisAnd also I don't think it's transmitting.
Lady JenniferYeah.
LeeNo.
Lady JenniferI think I know what it is.
LeeI can't hear it.
AdamNo.
ChrisBut you do, you do look very nice just waving your hand around like that. I think you should do that with the time.
AdamWell, I don't know why, I don't know why you're not picking it up though. There is my theorem.
ChrisThere, there is an option in Zoom for something like original sound. It might be trying to apply a filter.
Lady JenniferIt thinks it's annoying background noise when it isn't.
LeeOh, oh, there we go. We got it.
Lady JenniferDo it again.
LeeNo, it's gone again.
Lady JenniferNo.
AdamNo.
LeeIt's just like that one note.
Adamfair enough.
Lady JenniferThe spirits are coming through.
LeeYes.
AdamI love spirits.
LeeSo there will be spoilers, there will be swearing, unfortunately there won't be theraemin.
Leebut we are here this evening to cover 2023's Late Night With The Devil.
AdamYes.
LeeWe haven't done a run down of what the films are about and every time I accidentally listen to one of our episodes, because I never intentionally listen, I always think, we don't do that, so for anyone who hasn't seen the films, they're probably going, I don't, I don't understand.
LeeSo just a very quick run down as I would like to start doing this again.
Leeso it's the idea is it's found footage from a television broadcast from 1977 of a late night TV show, Halloween special where they bring on a few spooky themed guests and a possessed girl.
LeeAnd unsurprisingly.
Lady JenniferYeah, and shit now.
AdamAnd shit go down.
LeeYes, exactly.
Leeso Chris, as I believe you're the only one of us who hadn't seen this movie prior to this week.
LeeWhat did you make of Late Night With The Devil?
ChrisI think it was a film that knew what it wanted to do.
ChrisIt planned it well.
ChrisAnd you weren't shocked at the end, but throughout you were pleasantly you know, taken on a a nice, somewhat mysterious, journey.
ChrisYeah, and you get to the end and you're like, yep, you did that well.
Lady JenniferYeah, that's fair.
Chrisall of the characters are great, they all work perfectly.
ChrisIt's a great blend of entertaining, sometimes funny, and then sometimes sinister, then sometimes very sinister.
LeeYeah, I think that does encapsulate.
LeeI mean, it's one of the things that particularly stands out for me for this film is just the look and feel of it.
LeeLike it's got that 1970s.
ChrisIt's great style. Yeah.
LeeLate Night TV show just down to it.
ChrisIt could absolutely be.
Lady JenniferYeah.
LeeFrom then.
Lady JenniferThe way they did the cuts, the adverts and the little snippets of like bits back in again, yeah, it's very clever.
AdamIs that it, it has that same feel as like look around you?
Lady JenniferYes.
ChrisYes, just so.
Lady JenniferYes.
AdamPerfect.
AdamI mean it's a look around you is a totally different thing, but it's just that sort of absolutely sort of perfect like the, the look, the design, the way it's filmed, the warmth, fuzz of the videotape, you know, just everything is.
AdamIt's basically until a certain point, or actually until you go to an advert break and you see the behind the scenes bit, you could probably, you, you could persuade someone it was a bit of archive television.
ChrisYeah, which that was nice.
LeeOh yeah, definitely.
AdamYou know, you could, you could just put it on and, and, and that would be the point that that spell would be broken, but basically, yeah, you could sort of, certainly the first sort of like five minutes of it, you could just people would just assume that it is for real, just something.
AdamYou know, especially over here, because obviously, although we were aware of American talk shows and stuff like that, they would, they weren't sort of imported to us, we had our own ones.
AdamSo, it sort of, yeah.
ChrisIt did it even take a bit of a, like it, it built it up, it, it did play as if it was the the TV show for quite a long time at the start.
ChrisSo it really did draw you in completely, almost you forget you're watching a horror film.
ChrisWhich some, some films we've seen have done that.
Chrisand then what I really liked was the fact that the first guy who seems like he's going to be the main event isn't exactly.
LeeYeah.
Lady JenniferHey.
LeeHey, Chris, too.
Lady JenniferYeah.
LeeYeah, his performer and that's the thing, the other thing I love, the performances in this, obviously David Dastmalchian as the as the host was excellent, but yeah, the psychic who comes out at the beginning who is just a slimy, horrible piece of shit, was it was played perfectly and then of course you've got the skeptic who is just obnoxious, the performances just rang so true, it was amazing.
ChrisYes, obnoxious.
ChrisYeah.
AdamIt's it's one of those things where I, I watched this, I actually got shout out to former guest Drew, I went to the cinema with Drew and saw this.
Lady JenniferOh.
AdamAnd it was, yeah, just I just afterwards I was just like, fucking fizzing with like, oh, that's like, you know, that he's like James Randi and this one's like, you know, it's.
ChrisI mean, I I think I think he was not actually quite like James Randi. I think James Randi was probably.
AdamWorse.
LeeYeah.
ChrisNo, no I imagine him to be nicer than that.
AdamJames Randi, James Randi definitely was would be, was a lot nicer, I would say.
AdamBut I tell you I tell you what, because right, this is the bit that's possibly going to blow your minds if you've not looked into the making of this.
Adamthis was apart from David Dastmalchian, this is like everyone else in the cast Australian and this was made in Melbourne.
LeeWow.
Lady JenniferOh.
LeeYeah, didn't know that at all.
AdamNo, seriously, like pretty much every, I think pretty much all the other actors are like Australian or Australian based and like there.
AdamYeah.
AdamSo, what, you know, just from that point of view it was like, wow, that's just pretty fucking incredible when you said.
AdamBecause, because it was because when I was looking at like the cast list, mostly because I was like, right, I want to see everything that this person's done.
LeeYeah.
AdamYou know, and, and, but the majority of them it was sort of stuff that I'd never heard of or they'd been in it much. I, but yeah, they're like sort of, so most of the most of the cast is Australian. it's only David Das Malchen who's the who's the only American actually like with a speaking part basically.
AdamSo, yeah, it's sort of just that is incredible to me as well, because it's just so perfectly.
Lady JenniferI think that works, doesn't it? Because they're not well known actors and again, sometimes I think that works better in this sort of show because you want to believe this is just a TV show.
AdamOh, absolutely, yeah.
LeeYeah, it's got to be and you know, you can't not draw the the the similarities between this and Ghostwatch.
AdamYeah.
Leewhich obviously a favorite of all of us.
AdamI've seen a lot of people saying it saying that online. I think that and I think that's mostly because a lot of people who are now watching Ghostwatch, it is archive television.
AdamWhereas obviously the essential difference was when Ghostwatch came out, it was, that was the tele that was now.
LeeYeah.
AdamThat was the current that looked like current TV, that was why it worked and why it scared shit out of.
Lady JenniferBut you think, but you think now it still.
Lady JenniferYeah, does it still work going back to it and in fact you said you went to see it with Drew, who is slightly younger than us?
Lady JenniferLike, not that we were really around in the 70s, but you know what I mean, did it still work for him?
AdamOh, no, it still it still worked for him and I think that's the point is, because I think now it just works it.
AdamBut then that also then led me into some weird idea where it was like, well, if I can get hold of a time machine, I could go back and show this and possibly like mentally scar a nation.
Lady JenniferWow.
Lady JenniferAnd not making money out of it.
AdamMake them believing that this actually happened.
AdamBecause I mean, you know, if you were to take it back with modern effects, which I mean, there's a fairly modest, you know, it's only towards the end that it really starts getting you know, any any special effects elements come into it particularly.
Adambut yeah, you could you could just destroy a a fucking nation by just putting that on one night.
Lady JenniferAny nation, Adam, particularly that you would destroy?
AdamWell, it would it would have to be America, certainly, because I think you just wouldn't translate anywhere else, but yeah.
Lady JenniferAmericans are worse.
Leeyeah, the other thing I I I really liked that I'd forgotten all about, yeah, was like the link to Bohemian Grove.
LeeI'd forgotten all about that element of it, because I'd only seen it the once when it first came out.
LeeAnd as much as I loved it, because as soon as it came out and me and Adam discussed it and said there's no way we can't do an episode on it.
LeeI purposefully left it alone and didn't come back until this evening.
Leeyeah, so I'd forgotten the whole Bohemian Grove bit and the whole,
LeeBecause of course they mention it slightly at the beginning.
AdamYes.
LeeKept my interest and then it comes back in obviously later as a much bigger bigger element.
Lady JenniferThe tree is the hint to that, right? Yes.
Lady JenniferI thought that was only familiar, but I'm not quite as you know obsessed as you are.
AdamAnd the, the owl.
Lady JenniferMaybe being female, you know, because, you know, we wouldn't get invited.
LeeWell.
AdamYeah, that's true.
AdamWomen, women and other guests have to be out before nine.
Lady JenniferThat's it.
Lady JenniferMen and women.
AdamJust in case you saw Richard Nixon piss up a tree.
Lady JenniferYeah.
LeeIt would scar you for life.
AdamBecause that, I mean, that was the thing as well is it was just again, that was another one where I was like, oh, there's, there's like Bohemian Grove in there, there's all these sort of elements and it's kind of like, you find all these real things.
AdamAnd then put them together in a way that actually it's sort of like the history that you want from that exciting movie.
LeeYeah, absolutely.
AdamIt's it's like, you know, it's it's basically sort of like it's the stories you want to be true of all these things because they'd be far more exciting and everything else like that.
AdamAnd.
LeeJust a load of rich twats going to take drugs and have all G's in the forest where no media are allowed and their wives aren't allowed to go effectively, I think is what it seems to be.
AdamWell, because I went on a bit of a, I went on a bit of a deep dive and bless Claire was sat next to me watching, through the week.
AdamBut I went back and I watched, like there's I was watching, there's a a really good James Randi like produced documentary on, on YouTube, which was just it was just an episode of a current affairs show.
AdamBut it's him talking about all the people he's exposed and obviously like Yuri Geller and how they set Yuri Geller up on the Johnny Carson show.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd there's clips of that up there and I went back and I watched, the Jon Ronson's Secret Rulers of the World where they where where weirdly enough, he goes to Bohemian Grove with fucking Alex Jones.
AdamYou know, freaking frogs are gay.
AdamBut this was before, I mean, I mean this is the thing, at one point they go and here he is, he's only 26.
AdamFuck off.
Lady JenniferNo.
LeeNo.
Lady JenniferOld.
Adam90 red bollocks.
AdamBut admittedly, this was the 90s, he probably was about 20 odd, but it's just yeah, he's just permanently got that old angry face.
AdamAnd but yeah, and and sort of so I was watching that, I watched, because the opening bit, I love the documentary sort of that feel of that opening sequence.
AdamWhere it's just that's like every documentary that I've watched very late at night in an altered state.
AdamIt's just like, yeah, let's talk about the seventies, there we go, right, Vietnam, there we go, Santa, right, okay, Bundy, right, okay, we're getting all in.
AdamWhereas all these sort of.
AdamAnd the,
AdamLike, so I watched Killing of America.
LeeI was just about to say it made me feel like watching Killing of America.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd actually, if you notice, the title card is the same like font and lettering as Killing of America, so it's like the red, white and blue when you watch Killing of America, you'll see it come up, it's the basically the same as the title card for this.
Lady JenniferNo.
AdamBut yeah, Killing of America is like.
AdamSo we watched that, so that was a that was a cheerful, that was cheerful.
Adambut and there's like the a documentary Witchcraft '70, a lot of this stuff's all up on YouTube and it was really sort of, yeah, just wanting to sort of.
AdamAnd funnily enough, watching because me and Claire watched it previously like when it first came on Shudder.
AdamAnd at that point, but so when we were watching it back, Claire was like, yeah, I did wonder why we were watching Alex Jones walking around fucking Bohemian Grove.
AdamBecause it's.
LeeYeah.
AdamI couldn't because that element because a lot of it's all these elements that are just there, they're little flavors of bits of world building.
AdamThat kind of, they're brilliant because you can go down a rabbit hole with them, but they're also brilliant because you don't have to have that knowledge there.
ChrisYeah.
Lady JenniferTo enjoy.
LeeYeah, I was going to say that to Chris, obviously not knowing Bohemian Grove and that type of stuff.
Lady JenniferHe knows he does.
ChrisDoesn't detract.
Lady JenniferIt's in the know. It's in the know.
Lady JenniferYou know, he's been this week, don't you?
LeeHe's got an electric car.
Lady JenniferExactly, he's in the know.
Lady JenniferDon't you worry.
ChrisThe devil is, is after me.
Lady JenniferHa ha ha.
LeeBut yeah.
AdamTell him to wait his turn then.
LeeHa ha ha.
LeeBut yeah, I assume that you know, even not being steeped in that kind of I suppose because it's only a small trigger to the film so so even if you don't know that stuff, it it doesn't detract from it, you don't feel like you missed anything or it does now. They told him.
AdamBut you get the, but that's the thing you get the gist and then I'll send you my YouTube playlist, Chris, because I've got my.
Adambecause that's the thing is like you like Killing of America and Witchcraft '70 are these things called Mondo documentaries, which sort of they're just basically.
AdamI mean, so Witchcraft '70 is basically was like an Italian documentary, which was basically sort of like, how many people can we get to get their tits out in the names of weird ceremonies?
AdamSo you've got like Anton LaVey and the Church of Satan in there, which is obviously very much like the Abraxas cult.
AdamAnd but then you've got the Abraxas cult setting fire to the place, which is very Waco, like the Waco siege and things like that.
AdamAnd it's yeah, there's just sort of all this stuff in there and but yeah, I don't.
ChrisSo, so this film's like a good primer to, you know, get into a lot of that.
AdamAbsolutely.
LeeIt is, it is a fun rabbit hole.
LeeBecause although it's 100% real when everyone knows it definitely's not a conspiracy in that, you know, nobody knows it. It definitely really is a thing that exists.
LeeAnd it's a secret club.
ChrisSecret, not not so secret.
LeeBut very few people know about.
AdamWhat.
LeeYes.
AdamIt's, well, it's more the thing that builds up the whole mystique around Bohemian Grove.
AdamSo for anyone who's not aware, Bohemian Grove is basically a area in California where it's an exclusive men's club, like the I think they've had four honorary female members and I think like the last one died in like 1928.
Lady JenniferSo.
AdamSo, you know, it's been, it's been a, it's been very much closed off.
Lady JenniferThey killed her. Is that what you're saying?
AdamNo, no, not not that I would not that I would swear to it, but who knows.
AdamBut basically, yeah, so it's this sort of space where and like I say, there's this really good documentary, it was part of a series called Secret Rulers of the World and it's Jon Ronson looking at Bohemian Grove.
AdamAnd he talks to not just Alex Jones who infiltrate with a camera and sort of takes it, but he speaks to other people and even like oh Harry Shearer from The Simpsons once went just because he knows someone.
AdamBecause it's not just politicians, it's also actors and musicians.
AdamAnd really, it's.
ChrisAnyone who wants success, powerful, rich men.
AdamExactly, yeah.
AdamWell, the amount, I think the weird thing is with it is the amount of, because the thing that brings it up is there's loads of presidents like former and future presidents have been cited there and everything else like that.
Lady JenniferBut they let Trump in, so they have, that totally ruins it all.
AdamProbably, probably.
Lady JenniferNo, no, no.
AdamBut the but the weird thing is I also think that says a lot about how if you've not had a class system for a very, very long time, America is a relatively young place, that they don't understand like we have prime ministers who all went to fucking school together.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd it's much the same thing, it's like, yeah, they're all former presidents there, it's not because there's a massive conspiracy, it's because they're all rich fucks who all hang around together.
AdamAnd they're probably, you know, they're they're only sort of like three degrees of separation from each other.
ChrisDo they all go to the guest list of people who get to be president?
ChrisBecause anyone, anyone who has great success but didn't go to it, all the people that did go to it might be questioning like, hold on.
LeeYeah.
ChrisWhat have they got?
LeeI mean, it's one of those there's, so it isn't easy to find out who has and has.
LeeSome people have and have openly said it.
Lady JenniferYeah, their name's on the thing.
LeeBut equally, or there have been people who have been there who definitely have been there who have denied it, and the whole thing is shrouded in secrecy.
LeeBut the thing that we do know is they have a a big ceremony on like the Saturday night, which culminates in a thing they call the Cremation of Care, which is like a 100 foot high wicker owl that they all wear robes and chant around and set fire to at the end of it.
AdamIt's a big owl, it's a no, the Cremation of Care, they burn an effigy, but in front of a big stone owl with speakers in it that can it's a lot of theatrics and a lot of and I'm not denying it, because I do think that yes, it is the place where the fuckers who run the world probably get together and out of the sight of people and make plans that are going to make our lives fucking dreadful.
ChrisOf course.
Lady JenniferWell, they're rich.
Lady JenniferIf there's a lot of rich people, rich people and actors, get them together, what are they going to do, put a show on, surely.
AdamExactly.
AdamThis this is what it is, this is like this is a these are all the failures who've had to go into other things who are like sort of, you know, well, actually, I really could have been a great director, but I've ended up having to be the head of this bank.
Lady JenniferHa ha.
AdamIf I'd have been given my opportunity, my Hamlet would have been fucking amazing, so it's just all these but but now he can conscript the Rolling Stones to do the fucking music and get Clint Eastwood to play the ghost.
LeeDo you know what I mean?
ChrisClint Eastwood.
AdamIt's like it's all these sort of.
LeeClint Eastwood has been and openly. Oh, would he? Oh.
Leeyeah, I think he was very negative about it from what I remember.
Adam
LeeBut yeah, so I loved all that.
LeeJust an aside just because I want to mention it before I forget.
LeeI appreciate that obviously a lot of people have put a lot of money into this and.
Lady JenniferThe film or the.
LeeAnd want it, the fact that it's a minute and 45 seconds before you get through the fucking idents and the film starts.
AdamYou've been looking at my notes.
LeeWhat?
LeeOh, it is, so there's a minute and Jennifer missed the time, yeah.
Lady JenniferI mean you missed the time, yeah.
LeeThere's a nearly two minutes of pure ident after and you keep thinking on each one, oh, it's the beginning of the film.
LeeBecause everyone is like a huge cinematic epic thing that.
AdamYou're doing the you're doing the Family Guy thing.
AdamYou're just going.
LeeYes.
ChrisRight.
LeeIt's yeah.
AdamBut then, but then this is the problem is that films this is a really, really great film, but it clearly needed so many back, backer and everything else to get it just to get it made.
AdamWhereas, you know, if they'd have gone to Bohemian Grove, they probably could have got three sequels out of it.
Lady JenniferHa ha.
LeeBut I mean it's great that they managed that and I do appreciate that, I do get it, but yeah, the idents are so long.
AdamI had the time it as well because I just.
Lady JenniferYou know there's a button called fast forward.
Lady JenniferThat's been around for a while.
Lady JenniferIt was on like.
AdamNot in the not in the cinema there isn't.
AdamWe were.
Lady JenniferYeah, that's when you open your popcorn, nip out for another wee, get another drink.
ChrisNow what I'd like to know is who was the guy, possibly a guy, it might have been a woman, in the skeleton costume?
AdamOh, no one knows.
Lady JenniferOh.
ChrisAll right.
AdamOh.
AdamThat's that one knows where you like something's going to happen.
LeeWhat's that?
AdamHe gives a you see that loads of people online are just like, I was just waiting for him to do something, I was waiting during the thing.
AdamAnd I think actually that's one of the great things about it is it has a nice subversion to it, because like for example, I thought when it got towards the end, I thought, oh, so Carmichael is the devil and the whole setup had been that the guy who's sitting there pooing everything as a skeptic is the devil.
ChrisYeah, yeah.
LeeYeah.
AdamYou know, because that there's that sequence where he hypnotizes Gus.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd you sort of like, right, that's all gone.
ChrisYeah.
AdamAnd I have to say, I mean, everyone's fucking great in this.
AdamGus is fucking brilliant, like the the sort of second banana character who's like sort of his announcer and backup guy and warm-up man and everything else like that is just fucking spot on.
Lady JenniferHe's just got all the good jokes.
ChrisYeah.
LeeHe just plays awkward so so perfectly and believably and getting, you know, deer in the headlights caught in things that he doesn't he didn't expect him to happen.
ChrisBut then when he has his moment, he takes off.
LeeYes.
Lady JenniferHa ha.
AdamBut yeah, they're just like I just think everyone's so good in this.
ChrisAnd Lily as well, she was great.
AdamYes, yeah.
AdamIngrid Torre.
LeeTorelli, yeah.
Lady JenniferAustralian as well.
AdamSorry.
Lady JenniferAustralian as well or.
AdamYeah, she's Australian.
AdamAnd she actually has won, she won awards for playing Matilda in the musical of Matilda.
AdamA few years back like on like like Australian, Broadway, yeah.
ChrisTheater, Broadway.
AdamWhatever the Australian broad wide.
ChrisHa ha.
AdamBroadway.
AdamBut yeah, and I think,
AdamBut yeah, the guy who plays Gus, Reece Auteri, he's only got two credits, but he's like a he's like an improv comedian and actor and like does a lot of stage stuff.
AdamBut it's really weird because I got a real Henry Zabrowski vibe from him.
LeeDo you know I I was watching it today and that point when he was pulling all the worms out, I was like, how did Henry not get this, when he's friends with David Dastmalchian, it's amazing that he wasn't called up to do this and he'd have been in there like a shot, wouldn't he?
LeeLet's be honest, he'd be in there.
Lady JenniferDidn't he go to Australia?
AdamQuite possibly, yes, gone there to run.
AdamThat's the thing is it was like sort of just reading that and I was like, oh, he's an improv comedian and it's like, oh, right, okay, so this is this is very much a type, you know.
LeeYes.
Leewe were saying about obviously the budget and the fact that it was funded by lots and lots of smaller studios and production teams.
LeeI I yeah, I loved the effects on this.
LeeI thought it was like that that final effect, right, we're getting into spoiler territory now if we hadn't already.
AdamI think we already have.
LeeYeah.
AdamWe said we were spoiling at the start, if you've made it this far without watching it, you're fucking mental.
AdamSo.
LeeThat point where Lily's head splits in half and all the light comes out.
LeeThere's just something about the villain of the piece being a a small child with its head splitting in two down the middle, that was horrific.
Lady JenniferShe's not the villain.
LeeThe demon in her.
LeeYeah, it's yeah, it just it's so original and it looked excellent.
ChrisYeah.
AdamI had a weird thought about that though, because when they first contact Mr. Wriggles.
AdamHe's very sort of it he seems very he's not aware of where he is and it's kind of like what is going on or whatever like that.
Lady JenniferHe's just pretending, he's lying.
AdamIs this all kicked off because he didn't want to be on telly?
LeeYeah.
ChrisDo you know what I mean?
AdamI think.
AdamBecause we already know that, you know, he's already sort of whatever's gone on with Jack Delroy and what he sacrificed to get there or whatever like that doesn't necessarily match up between the two things.
AdamAnd it could just be that the demon's like, right, that is it.
LeeYeah.
AdamYou know, you put me on telly, right, we're right, your your ratings are going up.
ChrisIt is harder to convince the world you don't exist if you're being filmed on a in front of a huge audience and broadcast to millions, yeah.
Lady JenniferHence maybe put it back on Jack Delroy as the you know, perpetrator perhaps at the end.
ChrisYeah.
LeeYeah.
AdamActually, I mean that's the thing as well is he is so David Dastmalchian is so it's the right level of sort of charisma, superficial charm, vaguely na sort of present him you see that drop.
ChrisYeah, like it's.
ChrisYou see that.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYou see that it's still there, because it's kind of like that's what's made him where he is.
AdamSo he's still hey everybody and you know.
ChrisHe's trained it.
ChrisIt's not the same.
AdamIt's not And especially when he's talking with the producer, who is one of the funniest fucking characters in it.
Lady JenniferI just love the producer.
AdamBecause it's one of those things where it's like, yeah, this person really entertains me on screen, I would never want to be, I would never want to work for them because they're a fucking ass up.
AdamBut actually on, you know, just from the outside, this is hilarious, because it's just so just couldn't give a fuck and, you know.
AdamWhen he's telling Gus to dial up the smile.
LeeYeah.
AdamAnd get out there and do your fucking job.
LeeYou know.
AdamYou know.
LeeYeah, I I mean, I thought the whole the whole setup of this was great, the way as you say, it started off with that kind of setting the time and what was going on.
LeeAnd then moving into Delroy's history and just, you know, not spending too much time on it.
LeeAnd and keeping this within the 90 minute runtime is a phenomenal, it's a there's an awful lot goes on in that 90 minutes.
Leeyeah, and it's just such a and it still leaves so many questions.
LeeFor me, like the whole obviously they so he made a sacrifice in order to be famous, but we don't know whether he was aware that his wife was going to be that like, was he just told there would be a sacrifice and he didn't realize how deep it was going to go and how bad it was going to be and he didn't realize that this was what he was paying and this was how he would receive.
Lady JenniferLook at Lee getting his excuses in and ready.
Lady JenniferYeah, I don't think he would have known, I think maybe it would have been just, you know, a really unfortunate thing and you know, he wouldn't have sold his soul then, would he? Or his wife's soul?
ChrisOr yeah, or did he not care?
AdamWell, this is this is.
AdamYeah.
AdamAnd actually, I think one of the key bits for me, because there's a I mean there's there's lovely I mean the stuff that first time we watched the stuff that freak player out the most was just those little did that just happen.
Lady JenniferYeah.
AdamLike when where Lily's voice changes very briefly.
AdamYou know, and stuff like that.
AdamBut like and we've not talked about Laura Golden who plays June the psycholo well parapsychologist.
ChrisBecause because there's something going on with her and Jack.
AdamBut.
Lady JenniferOh, yes.
AdamBut that that look that she is like totally wordless, but that look she gives him where it's like when they're saying about, oh, well, can we get Mr. Wriggles to appear on the show and that look she gives him is proper, please don't do this, please help me, you are in control here and you can change that and just the shitty fucking way when he goes, well, you know, the people have spoken and you're like, oh, you shit bag and it's at that point that I'm like, you probably knew full well what's going to happen to your wife.
LeeYeah.
ChrisThat's yeah, that's it.
AdamBecause because even down to that, they sort of like say, oh, well, the highest rated episode is when she comes on great.
AdamYeah, for real.
AdamAnd it's almost like that's the prophecy of like, right, you want your ratings to improve, you need to this is how you do it, but this will improve your ratings.
AdamIt's just not, it's the sort of usual sort of trick, Faustian pact where it's like, oh, yeah, we'll get your ratings up, just not in a way that will in any way, shape or form be nice for you.
LeeYeah.
AdamBut it will happen.
AdamAnd it's sort of, yeah, there is a real and and again, it's just a lovely film to pick over in that sense.
AdamNot just the influences, but the stuff in there, like I've seen pages online of people just going, but what was going on with the skeleton dude, he was great and stuff like that, you know, it's.
LeeWell, even having watched it before, when I watched it back this evening, yeah, when you see him in the audience while Chris is going to.
LeeAnd I was like, I don't remember what happens with that, but something must happen.
ChrisSomething does, yeah.
LeeApart from the fact he comes and stands with them all at the end in that mock-up of the Grove, there's, there's no, there is no payoff to that bit.
LeeBut it does give you the impression, yeah, that those people were involved in the ritual, were there for that reason and they because it was a few of the people in costume from the crowd, get to join him in that later vision, but again, that's only a vision, so it might not be anything at all, it could be anything, which.
ChrisSomething's there.
ChrisIt's like there's like there's a good blend of foreshadowing and red herrings that just leave you yeah, guessing and and wondering throughout.
AdamSee, I and I've I've seen a lot of people saying about it being like found footage film, which it kind of is, but it utterly breaks that at the end where it's like, no, we are now in Jack's private nightmare.
ChrisYeah.
AdamYou know.
AdamBut then that but then there's a great I think that's great like where Lily's asking is not frightened by the worms coming out of Gus and she's why is Gus being so silly and stuff like that.
Lady JenniferShe's also thinking, why is Gus being so silly?
AdamAnd it's like, you can either read that of, you know, oh, well, she's possessed and it's all happening and she doesn't care or she cuts she's not been mesmerized.
AdamLike they said there's a few people in the audience who aren't mesmerized who didn't see what we all saw.
AdamAnd, you know, there's even little touches like that.
AdamThat you can sort of read in and sort of.
AdamYou know, it's really, yeah, just there's so much in it.
LeeI think that's.
LeeI think as to your point, yeah, that's why it stands up so well to repeated viewings because there's things you pick up on the second time, when you know where it's going, that suddenly have a totally different meaning or, you know, you wouldn't have noticed if you didn't see five minutes into the future.
LeeSo it's yeah, it's very cleverly constructed, it's a really, really solid film.
LeeI I was I didn't want my expectations at the beginning to go too high purely because I've been burnt before with stuff like this, where people are trust say it's great and then the public say it's great.
LeeAnd then I get it and go, yeah, I've I've clearly missed that.
Lady JenniferThey don't trust any of those people or the public.
LeeWell, the fact that you love it and they're here as well.
LeeI mean you're a testament.
Lady JenniferYeah, I just I think I love the whole 70s feel of it as well.
Lady JenniferBut I think, yeah, it's got all those different elements that together like when it starts getting a bit ridiculous like earlier.
Lady JenniferI was like, oh, yeah, I forgot how ridiculous it gets.
Lady JenniferBut somehow that almost doesn't matter, like five minutes later, it pulls it back in again and it gets dark again and you yeah, somehow it just all works.
LeeWell, again, as you say, it does get ridiculous.
LeeBut then it turns out that actually half of what you saw didn't really happen and was all his vision, so it doesn't seem ridiculous if it's just the vision that he's had.
Lady JenniferYes, exactly.
LeeYeah.
Lady JenniferYeah, I'm very clever.
LeeI thought it's so good.
Lady JenniferAre we still Whitely Bree Bree, Whitely?
LeeNo.
Lady JenniferWe're not getting.
LeeNo.
Lady JenniferWe should, we should bring her back.
AdamI'm going to put I'm going to put five five giant face worms up Whitney Street.
Lady JenniferHa ha.
Lady JenniferNice, Adam.
LeeYeah, I second that.
Lady JenniferOh, yeah.
ChrisYeah, well, yeah.
ChrisYeah, I I just think they they just did they did it all right.
ChrisYou know, it's it's it did exactly what it set out to do.
AdamWell, the the directors of it, two brothers, Cameron and Colin Kane and I'm going to have to check out their other stuff.
AdamBecause this was so fucking good.
Lady JenniferHave they done other horror or just other stuff?
AdamI think they've they've done two films, one's called 100 Bloody Acres and another is called Scare Campaign.
Lady JenniferOh, horror then, yeah.
AdamI I think they're both certainly horror or horror adjacent, but I yeah, I sort of read the synopsis, they both look like interesting films, so yeah, I'll have to check them out.
LeeExcellent.
LeeRight, so, thanks ever so much for listening everybody.
Leefor definite, yeah, go and watch this if you haven't.
Lady JenniferWell, it's actually Halloween is coming up soon.
Lady JenniferSo.
ChrisYeah.
AdamExactly, it's going to be a Halloween film for me now, I think.
LeeOh, I think this is going to be a yearly Halloween for me after last year, 100%.
Leeso.
LeeGo and check this out, we will be back in a fortnight's time, we will be covering, this is the first of our behind the scenes.
AdamOh.
ChrisOh, yes.
AdamYeah.
ChrisBehind the scenes.
Lady JenniferOh.
Leeso.
Lady JenniferWhat's that mean?
LeeYou tell me Lee, what does that mean, we covered this film, which is obviously behind the scenes.
LeeAnd our next movie in a fortnight's time, we will be back for the much mentioned Shadow of the Vampire.
AdamYes.
AdamWhich is again, about making a film.
LeeYes.
Lady JenniferOh.
AdamYeah.
LeeSo, so thanks ever so much for listening, go and watch Late Night with the Devil if you haven't already.
LeeAnd we will see you in a fortnight, thanks very much for listening, good night.
Lady JenniferWhoa.
ChrisGood night.
AdamGood night.
Lady JenniferBye then.
Lady JenniferSerious goodbyes.
