Late Night With The Devil Puts A Tragic Horror Twist On Infamous Real-Life TV Incident From 44 Years Ago

Late Night With The Devil cleverly puts a horror twist to an infamous 44-year-old TV incident by seamlessly blending fact with fiction. Boasting an impressive Rotten Tomatoes score of 97%, Late Night With The Devil brings a unique spin to the found footage horror subgenre by primarily unfolding as a late-night show. The movie also adopts an ’80s television aesthetic to further immerse viewers in its chills and thrills.

In its opening segments, the film also draws some subtle references to real history, adding another layer of realism to its otherwise fictional story. Interestingly, some of the fictional story beats in the horror movie are also inspired by real-world events. One of these story beats brings new life to a forgotten but notorious television confrontation by involving aspects of it in its storyline.

Late Night With The Devil’s Carmichael Haig Is Inspired By Real Magician-Turned-Skeptic James Randi

Like Carmichael Haig, James Randi Was A Renowned Paranormal Investigator

Late Night With The Devil‘s opening sequence itself establishes that it grounds its fictional storyline in a real era of American history and highlights the nation’s relationship with broadcast television. However, along with real historical elements, the found footage film also draws inspiration from real people. For instance, Ian Bliss’ character in the film, Carmichael Haig, strongly resembles a real-life magician, James Randi. Late Night With The Devil presents Carmichael Haig as a veteran magician who uses his knowledge and experience in the field to debunk other people’s supernatural claims.

Throughout the film’s runtime, Haig attempts to come up with theories and methods to explain how Jack Delroy’s guests are convincing audiences of their supernatural abilities and paranormal inclinations. In a pivotal scene, he even uses hypnosis as a tool to highlight how nearly everything supernatural can be explained using real science. Like Late Night With the Devil‘s Haig, James Randi was also known for investigating occult and pseudoscientific claims and challenging those who touted themselves as possessing extraordinary powers.

Carmichael’s Story Parallels James Randi’s Appearance On The Don Lane Show In 1980

A Historical Late Night Show Incident Became A Crucial Inspiration For Late Night With The Devil

In 1980, James Randi was invited to The Don Lane Show. However, the live television show took a surprising turn when the host, Don Lane, lost his temper over Randi’s skepticism towards his guests and angrily defended spoon-bender Uri Teller and clairvoyant Doris Stokes. Before brushing off Randi’s props from his table, he expressed how Randi should not have gone against a lady like Doris Stokes, who harmed nobody. The host even asked James Randi to “piss 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 Devil‘s co-writers, co-directors, and co-editors Colin and Cameron Cairnes confirmed (via Umbrella), Carmichael’s story parallels with James Randi’s appearance on The Don Lane Show are not coincidental. The filmmakers actually drew inspiration from the incident while penning their movie’s script. Cameron Cairnes recalled (via THR) how Don Lane, like the movie’s Jack Delroy, was curious about the supernatural and would often invite psychics, magicians, and spoon-benders to his show. Since they grew up watching Don Lane in the ’80s, they could not help but draw on some real incidents from his show while writing the film.

Related

Late Night With The Devil Has No Chance Of Surpassing Its Banned BBC Inspiration

Late Night with the Devil has become a found footage hit, but it can’t hope to have the impact as the banned BBC special it drew inspiration from.

What Happened To James Randi In Real Life

Randi Continued His Investigative Work Before Passing Away In 2020

Unlike Carmichael, who meets a tragic fate in Late Night With The Devil‘s ending, James Randi continued appearing on talk shows and exposing frauds throughout his life. In 2007, he even gave a TED talk (via Ted) about his views on homeopathy and psychic fraud. His grant-making institution, James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF), even started a One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, which promised to pay a million US dollars to anyone who could demonstrate supernatural or paranormal abilities under specified testing conditions.

Before the challenge was terminated in 2015, many participated in it, hoping to win a million dollars. However, no one succeeded at proving their supernatural powers. As James Randi’s life experiences and timeline suggest, Late Night With the Devil only draws some inspiration from his encounter with Don Lane but does not intend to recreate them 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 broadcast on the air. But when he tries to communicate with the devil through a young girl live on the 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

Distributor(s)

Umbrella Entertainment , Maslow Entertainment

Writers

Colin Cairnes , Cameron Cairnes

Cast

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

Runtime

86 Minutes

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