“Late Night With The Devil” puts a tragic horror twist on the infamous TV incident 44 years ago

Late Night with the Devil cleverly puts a horror twist on an infamous 44-year-old television incident by seamlessly blending fact and fiction. With an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 97% Late Night with the Devil brings a unique twist to the found footage horror subgenre by unfolding primarily as a late night show. The film also adopts the 80s television aesthetic to immerse viewers even deeper in the tension and thrills.

In the early sections, the film also makes some subtle allusions to the real story, adding another layer of realism to the otherwise fictional story. Interestingly, some of the fictional storylines in horror films are also inspired by real events. One of these story beats brings new life to a forgotten but infamous television confrontation by incorporating aspects of it into its plot.

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Late Night With The Devil’s Carmichael Haig is inspired by real-life magician and skeptic James Randi

Like Carmichael Haig, James Randi was a renowned paranormal investigator

Late Night with the DevilAlready in the opening sequence of “The Movie” it is clear that the fictional plot is based on a real era of American history and the nation’s relationship with broadcast television is highlighted. But in addition to real historical elements, the found footage film is also inspired by real people. For example, the character of Ian Bliss in the film, Carmichael Haig closely resembles a real-life magician, James Randi. Late Night with the Devil presents Carmichael Haig as a skilled magician who uses his knowledge and experience in the field to debunk other people’s supernatural claims.

Throughout the film’s running time, Haig attempts to develop theories and methods to explain how Jack Delroy’s guests convince the audience of their supernatural abilities and paranormal tendencies. In a crucial scene, he even uses hypnosis as a tool to highlight how almost everything supernatural can be explained with real science. How Late Night with the Devil‘s Haig, James Randi was also known for investigating occult and pseudoscientific claims and challenging those who claimed to possess extraordinary powers.

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Carmichael’s story has parallels to James Randi’s appearance on The Don Lane Show in 1980

A historical incident on a late night show became the key inspiration for “Late Night With The Devil.”

In 1980 James Randi was invited The Don Lane Show. However, the live television broadcast took a surprising turn The host, Don Lane, lost his temper at Randi’s skepticism towards his guests and the furiously defended spoon bender Uri Teller and the clairvoyant Doris Stokes. Before wiping Randi’s props off his table, he expressed that Randi shouldn’t have gone against a lady like Doris Stokes who didn’t harm anyone. The host even asked James Randi: “fuck off” before leaving the frame of his own show. James Randi kept his cool throughout the confrontation, but tried to defend himself.

As Last night with the devilCo-writers, co-directors and co-editors Colin and Cameron Cairnes confirmed (via umbrella), Carmichael’s story has parallels to James Randi’s appearance in The Don Lane Show are not a coincidence. The filmmakers actually took inspiration from the incident when writing the script for their film. Cameron Cairnes recalled (via THR), like Don Lane, like Jack Delroy in the film, was curious about the supernatural and often invited psychics, magicians and spoon benders to his show. Having grown up watching Don Lane in the ’80s, they couldn’t help but draw on some real-life events from his show when writing the film.

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What happened to James Randi in real life

Randi continued his investigative work before passing away in 2020

In contrast to Carmichael, who experiences a tragic fate Late Night with the Devilis over, James Randi continued to appear on talk shows and expose fraud throughout his life. He even gave a TED talk in 2007 (via Ted) about his views on homeopathy and psychological fraud. His funding body, the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), even launched a One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, promising to pay out $1 million to anyone who could demonstrate supernatural or paranormal abilities under certain testing conditions.

Before the challenge was discontinued in 2015, many took part hoping to win a million dollars. However, no one managed to prove her supernatural powers. As James Randi’s life experiences and timeline suggest, Late Night with the Devil is merely inspired by his encounter with Don Lane, but has no intention of recreating it verbatim.

Late Night with the Devil

Late Night with the Devil is a horror thriller starring David Dastmalchian as Jack Delroy. Delroy is a late night talk show host in 1977 trying to keep his show on the air. But when he tries to communicate with the devil via a young girl who is live on air, things don’t go according to plan.

director

Cameron Cairnes, Colin Cairnes

Release date

March 22, 2024

Studio(s)

Image Nation Abu Dhabi, VicScreen, AGC Studios, Good Fiend Films, Future Pictures, Spooky Pictures

Sales partner

Umbrella Entertainment, Maslow Entertainment

writer

Colin Cairnes, Cameron Cairnes

Pour

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

Duration

86 minutes

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