Vibe
A rediscovered recording of a 1977 Halloween episode of the fictional talk show Night Owls with Jack Delroy documents a ratings stunt that escalates from paranormal demonstration to apparent demonic catastrophe. The film’s central pleasure is watching familiar television grammar become unsafe in real time. David Dastmalchian plays Delroy as a host who must keep smiling and moving the show forward even when control is disappearing. Commercial breaks, studio applause, cue-card rhythms and period production design provide the rules. The horror works best when the film lets awkward live television timing create tension before overt effects arrive.
Watch for
- The film imitates a 1977 live television broadcast, so camera placement and awkward studio pauses matter as much as the overt supernatural material.
- Black-and-white behind-the-scenes passages temporarily break the broadcast grammar; note how those images claim documentary access while also making the framing less trustworthy.
- David Dastmalchian plays Jack Delroy as a host who must keep the show moving even when control is visibly collapsing. Professional composure becomes part of the suspense.
- The hypnosis and possession demonstrations escalate because they are performed for an audience inside the film. Spectatorship, ratings pressure and horror spectacle become the same event.
Production notes
BFI Player identifies the film as a 2023 horror feature directed by Colin and Cameron Cairnes, running 1 hour 33 minutes, and describes the story as a rediscovered Halloween broadcast from October 1977. BFI London Film Festival included it in the 2023 Cult strand. The filmmakers had to reproduce not just 1970s wardrobe and décor but the grammar of multi-camera television—studio blocking, lens choices, cueing and broadcast graphics. The period illusion is strongest when the movie behaves like television rather than merely dressing a modern horror film in retro props.
Trivia
- Cameron Cairnes and Colin Cairnes wrote and directed the film, with David Dastmalchian starring as talk-show host Jack Delroy.
- BFI’s festival coverage places the film within a consciously retro television aesthetic rather than a conventional found-footage setup.
- The story is staged as material from a Halloween-night 1977 broadcast, allowing period broadcast graphics, studio cameras and commercial-break rhythm to shape the narrative.
Legacy
Late Night with the Devil is too recent for a settled long-term legacy, but its immediate significance lies in turning the grammar of 1970s live television into the engine of a supernatural story. The Halloween-broadcast setting, studio audience and period media textures give the film a distinct identity within the recent revival of screen- and broadcast-mediated horror.