The brothers still seem stunned by this unexpected praise from King butLate Night With the Devil is the little film that could. Shot on a tiny budget in Melbourne’s Docklands,it was a hit at the indie SXSW film festival,has a 100 per cent fresh rating on review siteRotten Tomatoes and it has sold out two of its three SFF screenings.
The film is a throwback to classic 1970s horror – more old-school spinning heads instead of today’s favoured body horror – that takes its inspiration from the American-born Don Lane and his eponymous late-night Australian talk show.
Rising US actor David Dastmalchian plays late-night host Jack Delroy,who is all smooth patter on his showNight Owls,as he slides between topical gags and bantering with the audience and his faithful band leader Gus (Rhys Auteri).
But Delroy is in turmoil. His wife died a year ago,ratings are down and he’s been implicated in a mysterious group called The Grove. However,he has a plan to turn things around:not only has he invited the famous sceptic Christou (Fayssal Bazzi) on,he has also invited Lilly (Ingrid Torelli),a teenager who is said to be possessed. It’s safe to say,things do not go well.
And that’s where the film begins,as it’s set up as a found-footage look at what happened during that finalNight Owls broadcast on October 31,1977 – “45 years on from the TV event that shocked a nation”.
“We just felt that if the devil was trying to somehow hitch itself onto this broadcast,that it would want as big an audience as possible,” says Colin of the decision to set the film in the US. “And getting a good rating in Australia is one thing but a million people versus potentially 30 million people,what would you go for? So,we thought the devil would start a little more ambitiously.”