Plot Summary
Late Night With the Devil tells the story of Jack Delroy, a charismatic host of a failing late-night chat show, whose viewer numbers have taken a dip due to the might of the competition.
To boost his numbers, Jack hosts a Halloween special that includes a psychic, a debunking sceptic, and a teenage girl who claims to be possessed by a demon.
Terrible things happen during the broadcast, climaxing with scenes that reveal Jack’s dark secret.
So, what secret is he hiding? Let’s take a look at this unnerving horror film.
Who are the show’s guests?
Jack, who has recently lost his wife Madeline to cancer, is struggling to keep his life together. After taking a sabbatical from his talk show, he makes his return, much to the delight of the seated audience.
Joining him on the show is his sidekick Gus, alongside several guests who promise to offer the audience a few spooky moments during the broadcast.
One of Jack’s guests is a psychic named Christou. He makes a connection with a member of the audience who has recently lost her son. After offering her comforting words, he has a premonition of a spirit named Minnie. This later turns out to be the spirit of Jack’s wife but the talk show host doesn’t reveal ‘Minnie’ was his pet name for her.
Another guest on the show is Carmichael, a conjurer and sceptic of the supernatural. He dismisses Christou’s ability to speak to the dead and later, when all hell (literally) breaks loose on the set of the show, he is still dismissive, accusing the show’s makers of staged theatrics.
Eventually, Christou is forced to pull out of the show due to his feeling unwell. The black goo (presumably some kind of supernatural ectoplasm) that oozes from his mouth is evidence of how sick he is. We later learn he passed away en route to the hospital.
The final two guests are Dr. June, a parapsychologist, and the subject of her new book, a teenage girl named Lily. Lily is the only survivor of a mass suicide committed by the worshippers at a Satanic church who gave their lives to a demonic entity named Abraxas. According to June, the girl can conjure this entity at will.
Is Lily possessed by a demon?
Unfortunately, yes.
Dr. June is able to bring out Lily’s demonic companion, during which time the evil spirit claims to have met Jack before “under the tall trees.”
Carmichel dismisses the conjuring as fake, even when Jack’s sidekick Gus sits in front of Lily and tears open his stomach when he thinks worms are protruding from his belly. Jack, Carmichael, and the audience view this terrible sight but when Gus’s body returns to normal, Carmichael accuses the show of trickery.
When Jack plays back the recorded footage, there is no sign of the worms. It becomes apparent that the demon caused the hallucination. As Jack goes through the footage frame by frame, he spots the figure of his dead wife standing behind him.
Moments after, all hell breaks loose when Lily’s head splits open and the demon from within telepathically kills Gus, June, and Carmichael.
Jack makes his escape or so he thinks. He is transported to another dimension wherein he relives moments from his past. It’s here where his secret is revealed.
What is Jack’s dark secret?
Earlier in the film, there’s a brief moment when we discover Jack was a regular attendee of a men’s club called The Grove. When Jack is forced to relive his past at the end of the film, it’s suggested that the club was some kind of demonic cult, and that Jack made a deal with the devil. During this deal, he sacrificed his wife to ensure his show’s success.
In one of the final scenes, Jack finds himself at his dying wife’s bedside with a knife in his hand. We see him stab his wife, which is a figurative reflection of the sacrifice he made with the devil.
Moments later, Jack is snapped into consciousness and he realizes he has stabbed Lily with the knife. In the distance are police sirens, so it’s assumed Jack was arrested for the death of Lily and the other guests.
Jack may have offered his wife to the devil for a bump in the show’s ratings but the sacrifice came at a cost. The Halloween special did get a rating boost but Jack’s sinister secret meant he not only lost his wife but he also lost his chances of a happier future.
Read More: Late Night With the Devil Movie Review