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Late Night with the Devil is a refreshing, underrated gem in the horror scene, chock-filled with subtle clues and symbolism. It is a unique found-footage film that doesn’t rely on jumpscares to drive its horror element. Instead, it gradually builds up this eerie tension, which goes off with a bang at the end.
Set in the 1970s on Halloween night, Late Night with the Devil uses a talk show format to tell its protagonist, show host Jack Delroy’s, story. Delroy attempts to build his show’s ratings back up, but a decision he made years earlier comes back to bite him. The movie’s ending is what has sparked questions online, and we’ll give a detailed explanation of what happened.
The Background Context
Before delving into the ending, it’s important to look back to the events that led up to it. After the death of his wife, Madeleine Delroy, from lung cancer, Jack Delroy took a hiatus from his job as a successful talk show host for his late-night talk show, Night Owls with Jack Delroy.
On his return to show business, in an attempt to boost his show’s failing ratings,, Jack decides to bring on a string of guests with connections to the supernatural for a Halloween night special.
During the intro of the film, the movie highlights the fact that Jack is part of an exclusive club for the rich and famous called “The Grove”, which is rumoured to dabble in occult, satanic rituals. It is heavily implied throughout the film that Jack took part in one of these rituals in exchange for massive success – a deal with the devil type that required a sacrifice, which is suggested to be his wife, Madeleine.
Things go downhill as the film goes on, and you can tell that the demon has been present from the beginning of the talk show. But we also see that the ghost of Madeleine is also present.
If you look carefully, you’ll be able to see the ghostly spectre of Jack’s late wife in different spots around the studio, even momentarily speaking through spirit medium Christou to try to warn Jack of the demon, but is brutally expelled from Christou’s body before she can do so.
Lilly And Mr Wriggles
But the grand spectacle comes in the form of Lilly D’Abo, a girl who survived a mass ritual suicide as a child, and is proclaimed to be possessed by a demon she calls ‘Mr Wriggles’ (real name Abraxas). The demon could only be summoned with the help of parapsychologist June (who is confirmed by the demon later to have been having an affair with Jack, possibly when he was still married).
However, we have clues that the demon may have already possessed Lilly from the beginning, and was merely acting as Lilly. This is demonstrated when Lilly laughs and sees through Carmichael’s hypnosis session and knows the names of some of the studio staff without being told.
After being pressured by Jack to bring out the demon, June does so, and what follows is Abraxas outright confirming that Jack made a deal with him back at The Grove. Abraxas goes away for a few moments and the show goes on.
It is not long after Madeleine’s ghost is revealed when the producers play back the footage that Abraxas fully reveals himself to the audience. Lilly stands up, and her head splits open, causing the audience and staff to flee when she kills all the guests on stage. It’s then that Jack is catapulted down a twisted hellscape that leads to the movie’s ending.
The Movie’s Ending, Explained
In the last leg of the movie, Jack is confronted by his past and the choices he made that got him to this point. This sequence brings Jack back to past episodes of his show, which gradually becomes more unhinged – interestingly, the movie flips from the staticky, ’70s feel of the rest of the movie to a more modern 21st-century quality cinematography.
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Jack is brought from one scene to another, growing more wary and paranoid, and repeatedly telling the audience through the camera to turn off their TV sets. But ultimately, Jack’s deal with the demon is brought to the fore here, confirming that he did take part in the ceremony for fame and fortune.
It was also heavily implied that the few people wearing Halloween costumes in the audience were members of the satanic cult at The Grove, as they appear behind him before Jack drinks from the goblet.
Not long after, Jack is confronted by the ghost of his wife. He is taken back to the moment before she dies, showing Jack that the cost of carrying out the deal is the soul of his wife. David Dastmalchian, the actor who portrayed Jack Delroy, confirmed in an interview that Jack didn’t know that Madeleine was the sacrifice.
After having a heartfelt conversation, Madeleine begs Jack to end her life and stabs her with the ritual knife from the D’Abo ritual suicides, only for it to be revealed that Jack had, instead, stabbed and killed Lilly.
Jack has returned to reality, surrounded by the corpses of his guests and an empty studio. He repeatedly says, “Dreamer. Here. Awake!”, a phrase the skeptic and hypnotist Carmichael uses to snap his targets from hypnosis, indicating that Jack wants desperately to escape from his reality.
However, nothing happens, and the camera cuts to black. The episode was the highest-rated of Jack Delroy’s career, showing that, in a twisted way – as it always is when making deals with evil – the demon did keep his end of the bargain. Abraxas brought fame and notoriety to Jack and his show, just not in the way Jack expected or wanted.
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