The breathtaking trailer for Late Night with the Devil, which is at the top of Rotten Tomatoes’ list of the darkest and gloomiest movies of 2024 and has been thrilling horror fans for a while with its suspense-filled story set on a live television show in 1977, has been released.
Colin and Cameron Cairnes, the writers and directors of One Night with the Devil, which will be released on May 17th with the distribution of TME Films in our country and produced by the producers of Paranormal Activity and Barbarian, made remarkable statements before the release.
Set on Halloween 1977 on a TV talk show called ‘Night Owls’, the trailer for One Night with the Devil has been released, and the film’s writers and directors Colin and Cameron Cairnes explained how they came up with the idea of spreading evil into America’s living rooms through a TV show.
We were influenced by the talk shows we watched as children
The writer-directors of One Night with the Devil explain how the idea for the movie came about, citing the television shows they watched as children: “In the 80s, as kids, we used to stay up late watching “The Don Lane Show”, Australia’s answer to “The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson”. Don, the host of the program, was also deeply interested in the supernatural and would often invite any suspicious psychic or ghost hunter he came across in the city. One evening on Don’s show, when illusionist James Randi exposed his rival Uri Geller’s spoon-bending trick, Don lost his temper. He was so enraged that he trashed the set and left his own program. This bizarre moment and character stuck in our minds and set the tone for the movie we would make afterward.”
Explaining that their other “nocturnal” love at the time was horror movies; “We wondered if there was a way to bring our midnight obsessions together in a unique and immersive movie experience. Having worked in television studios ourselves, we knew a lot about the characters and stresses of that world. So for us, One Night with the Devil is a nightmarish tribute to the talk shows and horror movies of the 70s.”
We recreated the 1977 TV show
The biggest challenge in making One Night with the Devil was recreating that slightly dangerous, live television atmosphere, the duo explains: “We had to make our made-up talk show “Night Owls with Jack Delroy” look and feel like it was recorded on video in 1977. So we settled on a simple methodology: we treated the production like a TV show of that era, which required three pedestal cameras that were always recording, a lighting system consisting only of period lamps, and a band of jazz musicians who could play the meticulously edited playlists. But the most important element was to have a cast committed to this methodology and to do the long takes that would give the story the free-flowing, anything-could-happen feel it needed. For that we needed a great team, led by David Dastmalchian as host Jack Delroy. Because our plans to create a suspense-filled story about a “possessed” talk show were based on the interaction between Jack and his guests.”
“It’s been a joy to watch David take on the role of the charming and unflappable presenter, while slowly but inexorably revealing his character’s troubled inner world to the audience,” say Colin and Cameron Cairnes. “We would have loved to have Don, the TV presenter who inspired the film and who passed away a few years ago, see the movie and approve it, especially the supernatural parts.”
What is the plot of One Night with the Devil?
Johnny Carson’s rival Jack Delroy hosts a syndicated talk show called ‘Night Owls’, a longtime trusted friend of insomniacs across the country. But the show’s ratings plummet after the tragic death of Jack’s wife. Desperate to reverse his fortunes, Jack plans a one-of-a-kind Halloween special on October 31, 1977, unaware that he is about to unleash evil into America’s living rooms.
Starring David Dastmalchian in his first leading role as Jack, accompanied by Laura Gordon, Faisal Bazzi and Ian Bliss, “One Night with the Devil” will be released in theaters on May 17th.
