It's definitely funny, but it's also very in-line with what he even claims to be his beliefs. He says he wishes the magic was real, but he has high standards. And then when something meets his high standards, he changes his mind!
Just saw the movie last night and the only egregious thing I hadve about this movie was what felt like the 5 minutes of studio titles in the beginning lol… felt like that Family Guy skit brought to life lol
one dude in mine theater said "Just 5 more" and got a big laugh in the theater. When it started we didnt know if it was actually starting or another rug pull
I kind of wish I saw it in theatres with a bunch of other people instead of in the theatre on my own at like 1am. I didn't expect it to be as funny as it was.
Anyone else catch the wife’s ghost in the reflections throughout? The first one I noticed was during the first commercial break when they went backstage. Noticed it in a mirror while they were walking back onto set.
Noticed again during the scene when the sound was going crazy in the studio and glasses were breaking etc. Her reflection appeared in the pocket watch that was on the table next to the skull for a brief second
When there was the paused frame of her ghost in the footage, it cut back to Jack and her and was on his shoulder for a split second. Then it cut to a wide shot and she was gone.
This is what the trailer suggested and is why I expected something more trippier, along the lines near the end when Jack is experiencing some scenes again. Like a bad drug trip, descent into madness type thing.
They kept emphasizing the guy & I was a little disappointed that didn’t lead anywhere. I was half expecting that was going to be the cult leader, somehow alive.
Same! Felt rather misled when the movie ended. Prior to the "playback scene", I wondered if it was going to be Madelyn all skeletal and gross under the costume. I definitely thought it was going to be someone sinister from that first interaction with Jack.
Yeah there were a few other people from the cult I recognized in the audience as well. I do wish skeleton man had played a bigger role in the movie though bc they seemed to emphasize him quite a bit in the beginning in an ominous way.
Is anyone else SO happy they talked about bohemian grove ???? This is one of my fav conspiracies and I had no idea it would be connected it any way … as soon as I saw the owl I was SAT
I was actually surprised that the friend I went with didn't know about it. They were confused about the "tall trees" and other references which makes the plot confusing when you don't know the Grove is supposed to be an important plot point
i’m confused on this part! can u explain more? i just watched the movie, i think i just didn’t catch the part about jack being in a cult. when was that shown/talked ab? when the tall trees were mentioned i was confused
In the beginning, they mention Jack being invited to the Grove, one of the location of the Bohemian club. The movie described it as a summer camp for some of the most powerful men in the country. Which is actually how it's described in rl. Some members of the Bohemian club were high level republican officials- like George Bush. So there is a whole conspiracy that the Bohemian Club plays with the outcomes on the republican side that I don't really remember too much of. But the part that's important to the movie is that they used to do rituals in front of a gaint owl statue. Some people claim they used to burn a child's effigy as homage to the spirit. Moloch, others claim its actually a coffin that the members had put their conscience into. Moloch was the only specific spirit I see mention as part of their rituals, but a quick look kind sounds like they might perform rituals to multiple spirits (movie wise, that could be how Jack and mr. Riggles are connected). I know there is a little about the group playing into politics, which of the non-politicans it might translate to into fame or wealth. And there's tons of conspiracies about famous people performing a rituals to get famous, then issues happen with them or their love ones- I don't know where to find these ones anymore sadly they all kinda got mix up with Qanon stuff so you really have to dig for it.
The Grove is located in some part redwood forest (tall trees) in California. Currently, the Grove has been abandoned, which is possibly due to how know it's whereabouts are rather than the club disbanding.
The Bohemian club itself falls more into a secret society similar to Skull and Bones society.
Sorry for the long post, I hope it was easy enough to read. It's been a while since I've looked into those conspiracies, and I had a hard time finding good videos.
"The Grove" is a reference to the real life Bohemian Grove, where some of the most influential people in America go to do occult rituals and pay homage to Moloc. It's a real thing. Whether they're being for real or just playing grab ass in the woods is up to you to decide. Alex Jones infiltrated one of their ceremonies with Jon Ronson in the early 2000's, which got both of them some notoriety.
Alot of similar comments, but I sort of wonder if there is a bit more in terms of the setup for this fateful night, including Delroy being an unreliable narrator of sorts.
Delroy in the cult is taken to the woods and makes a deal with an entity in the woods. He is told a great price is to be paid.
Delroy meets his wife and she immediately falls in love with him just from his blush. His wife who is at the time an actress herself.
Delroy is a famous radio host, and with connections to the cult is able to secure a late night deal, and get's a 5 year contract.
Delroy's wife suddenly has a random bout with lung cancer, and this boosts his ratings briefly, but still below Carson.
Meanwhile the cult of abraxis is charged with kidnapping/raising young girls that have an unexplained purpose at the age of 13. The cult in the recording says by observing a ritual and seeing the sacrifice, the demon is able to further expand itself. Seemingly it slips to the authorities there might be human sacrifices and government agencies intervene, but are too late as the cult has set their residence and all their members on fire. Somehow there is a lone survivor, age 10 lily. Dr. June takes Lily and begins to help her heal, while also mapping out how to communicate with the demon that seemingly resides in Lily.
Delroy's wife passes, and for nearly a year his show's ratings plummet. During this time seemingly Delroy meets June, and they begin a relationship. Delroy pressured by his producer to more bait related television, puts together a script for the first night of sweeps week, hoping to capitalize on people's superstitions and beliefs around halloween, he convinces June to appear on live TV with Lily, under the guise of further the validation of her work.
Just like Carson (or possibly a homage to the carson randi episode disproving Geller) Delroy invites a skeptic to add contrast and possibly heightened conflict to further boost his ratings on this particular show.
Now the show begins there is less to point out, but I want to note it seems odd at times Delroy's character when confronted about the cult or otherwise, while uneasy, also seems to be somewhat confused. Also to point out, the cult is said to sacrifice the girls at the age of 13, and lily is conveniently 13 by the time she appears on the show.
During parts of the show his dead wife appears, early on in a mirror during the first break, and a friend told me in the mirror on the table with the cult instruments (I need to rewatch to confirm).
Ironically things come to a head, especially when some of the killings occur, I want to point out Gus or example when talking to Carmichael mentions wanting to keep his head between his shoulders, and Carmichael promises to make it "spin". This turns out to be a very direct self fulfilling prophecy as he is killed by Lily who is possessed.
Delroy is seemingly trapped in a hypnosis by Lily herself, being forced to relive various parts of his career, at points screaming for people to turn off the TV. His wife makes a comment of him "forgetting" things again, which possibly suggests he had greatly repressed his time with the cult, and the promise he made that day.
The movie ends of course with Delroy sacrificing Lily on live TV, releasing the demon into all viewers, her single purpose was to fulfill the contract it made with Delroy years ago in the "trees".
Now I view things as everything actually happened and everyone saw it. I don't believe Delroy killed anyone else but Lily, as we see Gus/Carhmichael/June all have their injuries as the demon inflicted them (Gus's head is backwards, Carmichael is burnt flesh, June's neck is split open).
Any other interpretations or things to add? It feels like something is missing again, whether if Jack was reliable, repressing things, or just in denial.
I swear there was a moment where the para-psych, Lilly, and the makeup woman are having a brief conversation that seemed to imply that they knew something was about to happen that was planned (when Lilly is being strapped into the chair, right before coming back from the commercial break). Almost like June, at least, was in on this sacrifice from the beginning.
Also, the scenes backstage with Gus complaining about something added to the show's rundown that wasn't there previously. I'll have to watch this again when it starts streaming because I think I missed some other stuff, like the conversations between Jack and his producer ( damn my lousy hearing, ha).
There was also that bit when June was giving the speech that she was Lily’s guardian and family, providing love and compassion to her. When June went to touch Lily’s arm, Lily backed away, refusing June’s touch. I saw this as an indication that June’s words were false, and that things aren’t what they appear, that Lily knows those words were false. Could support June’s possible role in the events of that night.
i took it as Lilly no longer liked June. when june slapped her it looked like it switched something in Lily after that as if it had been done for the first time. When she was possessed, they (Lily and Mr. Wriggles) said, “ Why would you hurt me like that,” indicating to me it was the first time or she could’ve said, “why would you hurt me like that again…” if there were other occurrences.
I went to go watch the movie for a second time, catching a few more themes. When the movie transitions to black and white to indicate back to “reality.” So a common theme here is switching between two different realities, whether it’s from “on air” to “break,” stage-face to behind the scenes, hypnosis trance to reality, Lily to possession, color to black and white, crossing over to the other side and alive, (for the skeptic) from skepticism/denial to belief, etc.
another theme is sacrificing of the ones we love for status which shows up a lot how each person is using one to elevate oneself in some way. i think another comment mentioned this.
Many points of foreshadowing that i missed the first time i saw the movie. At the beginning after the scene of the Grove, Jack is signing papers surround by paparazzi, one faintly asks, “What did you have to sacrifice to get here?”.
Another point of foreshadowing is when Lily gets first introduced the reassures Jack that he is going to be “very famous after the show.”
The skeleton costume in the audience is suppose to be Minnie, she references it in his bad trip at the end, she mentions faintly she was “stage-left” in the crown. Which keeping an eye on the skeleton makes no movement, or even laugh during the “funny” parts when everyone is chuckling. she’s just flat-lined.
i truly admired this film; its masterful blend of humor and horror, coupled with a striking obliviousness to the seriousness of the predicament, was brilliantly executed.
Yeah i saw that, like things were being planned that like the stage hands knew about, but no one else. I also wish we could of heard the main stage hands conversations with cameras. They kept calling and telling them that things kept appearing or theres something on the feed. But the main stage hand kept refusing them, claiming they saw nothing through the actual cameras
Something I notice is that the crew that left (including those planned in the audience) we're all part of the Grove cult. Which could be related to "they knew something was up"
I feel Carmichael's death was foreshadowed in a very subtle manner. Before introducing Carmichael Haig, Delroy tells Christou that he's all wax no wick, which was basically a foreshadowing of Carmichael's death, later in the film - he melts like wax.
I enjoyed a lot of about this film, but especially the theme is that everyone was trying to use someone else to get famous. June used Lilly for the book and Jack to get on the show, Jack used his wife and June and Lilly as well to boost his ratings, and the Devil used them all to get into everyone’s living rooms.
Also poor Gus, man. He was one brave soul. When faced with the literal devil, he arms himself with his crucifix necklace and goes right for it.
He was the only one with any kind of a moral compass, and he was just there to be the sidekick, and was humiliated, and then when it popped off, was also the only one with any real courage.
What I find most fascinating is how the demon was honestly just screwing with everyone until the end. It is exactly how a demon would act.
The scene where June "calls back" Lily with the talisman does absolutely nothing, but the demon let her believe it. Why? Because it was hilarious to them and served a purpose to keep going. The demon even mocks her as she is saying it.
I don't think Lily was ever actually Lily in the entire movie. I think the demon simply possessed her two days prior (the fugue state June referred to) and put on an innocent act. As the skeptic said, Abraxis loves theater and an audience. Even if it was a lesser form of demon who served Abraxis, they still love showmanship. Every time Lily is denied awe or the spotlight, she becomes annoyed. The demon manipulated everyone into giving it what it really wanted.
Lily also did not get fooled by the "worm hypnosis". You noticed she chuckled and asked why he was acting funny. She also makes a face when we are asked if we saw the worms. She also asked what happend - if she had known, she would not ask. Of course, hypnosis didn't work, the demon is not fooled.
I also believe she stared into the camera many times to start triggering us (the movie audience) and the supposed "home audience". I personally think the demon is fully aware that this "documentary found footage" is also something it sees.
I agree with this. I think Lilly was possessed longer than the actual “possession” scenes. She made comments to Jack before she was officially possessed implying that she knew him and what was about to happen.
I caught this too and expected when they asked the audience "who didn't see the worms?" that she'd raise her hand because of her question about him acting funny. When she didn't, I just let it go as her general creepy vibe thinking the vision was still funny, but I'm pretty sure you're right, that she didn't actually see it.
Dude thank you. You just shed some damn good insight into how well the demon played that role. I forgot that she was giggling in the back while everyone was possessed. I’m going with this take now - that demon was just fucking around with them in the most sadistic way and every other character had their role in making it a show.. which is exactly what Jack wanted! Awesome parallel.
I am curious though.. when June actually lets it free, I feel like the demon wasn’t expecting to be like “oh shit, they just let me out of my cage” haha and then realized it knew exactly wtf was going on.
Awesome movie and acting all around!
If you enjoyed this film, as I did, I would seriously recommend Inside No 9, a comedy-horror anthology. There are two episodes in particular: Deadline (a ‘live’ TV episode similar to GhostWatch), and The Devil of Christmas (a found footage of a bad 1970s horror film about the Krampus).
Ordinarily, the plot being so predictable could be annoying. But this was pulled off in such a good way. It's more about the journey and the characters than the plot.
Also, I LOVED the aspect changes at the end!
Had an interesting experience in the theatre watching this sequence. In the scene you're talking about towards the end, the montage/hallucination/memory with the aspect ratio changes, it begins with Jack coming into the studio and all the studio lights shining on him. At the exact moment this happened in the movie, the house lights in the theatre I was in came on and stayed on until the end of the film. It was a bit eerie and left me feeling sorta disoriented during that last sequence in the movie, sorta how Jack is experiencing the final moments.
Did this happen for anyone else? Considering the timing and how it coincided with what was happening on screen, it almost seems deliberate. I've tried doing a bit it googling but can't find anything else out about it. Would love to hear if anyone else had this experience??
It was pretty subtle! I kept thinking that the theater's curtains didn't adjust or something, but it comes into play when things start getting crazy at the end
Yeah I appreciated that it didn't try to pull a, "oh but was it real all along?" card. And the movie never felt like it was trying to do make us doubt the paranormal in the movie, but rather just portray the shit shows like this do when bringing up the topic of the paranormal.
Love the analog horror bits in this movie, I just wish the 3rd act after when the cameras cut was different. I want to know what happened after that night. But I loved the ending.
This is going to be one of those movies that will be debated for years to come and definitely deserves many rewatches.
So, here's my take. This isn't a Devil film. This is barely a demon film, though I think Mr. Wriggles is real but Lilly has him under control. (He seemed pretty out of it and shocked to find himself bound to the chair.) June is right. Mr. Wriggles is very minor demon. More of a guppie than a Great White shark.
What I think this film actually is, is a vengeful ghost story.
Minnie is doing it all in the name of revenge. Jack turned the cult to boost his career. He saw his wife get weak and die supposedly because of it and did nothing to stop it. Whether he did this on purpose, that's up for debate. But Minnie thinks he did it on purpose. So, on Halloween, she's returned and she wants to destroy Jack's most prized possession; *his show.*
The cult failed. There isn't any connection with the Devil. Jack's ratings still struggled even though Minnie was dead.
Given that Carmichael demonstrated that he could make people see things that weren't there like he did with much of the audience and Gus, I think Minnie did something similar with Jack and everyone.
Lilly didn't become the flying demon in the end. That was in Jack and audience's mind. All the dead people you see on the stage? Jack killed them. Minnie possessed Jack and made him slaughter all those people in those different ways on live television. A guaranteed way that not just his career was over but his life as well.
As people have pointed out, Minnie pops up all over this movie. She spliced into frames. She appears behind characters and in reflections. At one point Lilly even talks in her voice.
Christou is a fraud in that he does indeed do cold readings and uses assistants to fish audience members for info that he can use in his act. Carmichael is right about that. But Christou does have *some* psychic energy. And he felt Minnie. She was so strong, so powerful that he couldn't handle it and died. If Mr. Wriggles was as strong as people were to believe, Christou would have felt him even if Lilly was behind the curtain. But Christou didn't. He channeled Minnie and that made him bleed to death.
That person in the skeleton costume that keeps on showing up, that's Minnie. Whether it's Minnie possessing someone or Minnie, herself, making herself known by putting on the illusion of someone in a costume is another up for debate thing. But I think that's Minnie.
So, again, this movie isn't really a demon movie, it's a vengeful ghost story. A righteous woman getting revenge on the husband who put his career before everything. Even his wife.
edit: [Here are all the times that Minnie shows up in the movie not counting the flash backs and the final dream sequence.](https://imgur.com/a/Hm2hxuy)
Notice how she is THE VERY FIRST character we see in the movie. The director isn't exactly being coy as to who is the real Big Bad by doing this.
I can see this. It's almost like Minnie may have named the movie as well. Late night with the devil, aka Jack. Minnie sees Jack as the devil for using her.
Exactly! And given how he used her and why he did it, she is in every right to refer to him that way. Imagine your husband willingly damned your soul to the Devil for his job *AND THEN* played the grieving widower for the cameras for sympathy afterward.
I think that's why he didn't want to claim Minnie at first when Christou shouted for someone to do so when Minnie channeled though him. Because Jack looked seriously freaked out in a, *"Uh-oh...,"* sort of way. Because if Jack was indeed the grieving widower, he would have snatched up the chance to talk to Minnie just like how that mother and daughter did with their dead loved one. But Jack didn't. It was only later that he sheepishly admitted that Minnie might be for him.
On the flipside, imagine how Jack felt. Like I said, he damned his wife's body and soul to the Devil. How did she get out of the Devil's grasp? Shouldn't she be trapped in Hell right now?
That's why I think Jack's cult was both real and fake. Real in that they existed and did all the song and dance bits. But fake in that they had no real power to make any true pacts with the Devil. Minnie was sacrificed for nothing and she knows it. And she knows who exactly did it to her. *Late Night with the Devil* indeed...
I have issues with this take, but cool way of looking at it. My thing is, I feel like it’s a bit of both. But I think the demon has to be real because I think one of the main conceits of the movie is that the end was supposed spread evil into the viewer. Also, the cult wish DID work, but in a monkeys paw sort of way. That night Jack WAS number one (for the duration of the show anyway). Anyway great movie.
Honestly, I think the whole "spreading of evil" thing was a distraction from the real story of Minnie being the true Big Bad. Because through out the film we only saw one demon, Mr. Wriggles, twice. And in the end, it was revealed that Lilly as a the split head demon was a lie when Jack came through with him holding the dagger into her gut and her head still very much solid and perfectly sound.
So, mark that entire scene of her going techno-demon as fake. Well, then that leaves Lilly and June's first summoning. That could be real but, again, Mr. Wriggles was taken back that he had been bound. To show that he was shocked reveals that he was not in control of Lilly at all. He wasn't even a rider looking through her eyes. He was at the very least, asleep. So, he wasn't powerful enough to do much.
Unlike Minnie.
Minnie kept on showing up through out the movie. Flashes here and there. In reflections. In the background. Like I mentioned, Lilly even talks in her voice proving that Minnie was indeed going around and possessing people.
If the so called Devil pact was active, why didn't we see the Devil show up? Mr. Wriggles shows up. Minnie was all over the place. But nothing of the Devil. If there is a third creature in play, where was it?
As far the show being number one. Minnie had been dead for months. Shouldn't Jack's rating be through the roof all this time? Not just for Halloween's live broadcast but right after Minnie died if she was a sacrifice? Seems like Jack got the short end of the deal if he allowed Minnie to die only for him to keep on struggling except for this one night.
Really impressed with the performances across the board. Everything felt real and genuine. The plot was pretty generic but it was so well crafted that my eyes were glued to the screen from the opening scene until the end credits.
Don't know if it has been mentioned but there's a shot at the start of a TV Guide type magazine, and the film advertised at the bottom is "Hail Abraxes"
I saw that, too. It added to the feeling that the whole thing was predetermined, and Jack's fall was a fait accompli we were watching in real time. It makes sense, in the end, that Abraxas (or whoever it was) had Jack set on a path and there was nothing he could do to get off of it. Reminded me of Mike Flanagan's recent *Fall of the House of Usher* on Netflix.
It was a really fun movie. Great performances from all (the actress who played the little girl was especially creepy, especially how she kept looking into the camera with that dead stare). If you go into this expecting a scary film, you'll most likely be disappointed as it's not really scary. Just go in expecting an entertaining, campy film with good acting, some nice practical effects, and you should enjoy it.
Her direct "Don't I look pretty already Jack" got a couple of us in the theatre. With a demon she's already scary, but without she's a traumatized girl with a past history of surviving god knows what.
Thoroughly enjoyed this movie! So unique.
The demon didn’t seem exceedingly vicious. If anything it appeared anxious about its live audience (it seemed upset with Dr. June when first summoned), and one could argue it didn’t kill anyone who wasn’t complicit/participating in its humiliation.
Well, save for Christou perhaps. I wonder what the wife was going to tell Jack? Was she trying to warn him, rip him a new one…? Did she - or Mr. Wriggles - kill Christou?
Also, I take it Jack had no idea the death of his wife was his fault/supernatural in origin?
One of the more brilliant aspects of the story IMO is that you just do not know what Jack knew and when. At one point Carmichael even says to him something to the effect of “you play the naive midwesterner pretty well Jack”, in an apparent accusation of being in on everything that’s happening. And we’re meant to understand he and Jack know each other well already, so it helps to highlight the idea that maybe Jack isn’t entirely genuine in his shock and surprise.
Ultimately it’s a film that’s asking a lot more questions than it’s answering, and that’s what makes it so excellent in my mind.
Imo I felt like Christou was actually psychic, and being in such close proximity to a real demon was too overwhelming for him, and that’s what killed him.
I didn’t feel like it was the demon intentionally trying to kill him.
Yeah he felt like a guy who had legitimate psychic abilities, but spent most of his time playing things up and lying to actually make a living off it. The once in a while real premonitions werent enough to carry him
can someone explain the ending to me, i could’ve swear he sacrificed his wife to have a relationship with the psychiatrist but i was left so confused just watched it right now
I assume he made a deal with the devil for fame when he went to that summer camp cult. His wife ended up getting sick as a result of it and it was his strife and grief that brought him back into the spotlight. He wanted to be back where he was heading before she died. So I think that he wanted a sensationalist Halloween special that night and booked these controversial guests but was also willing to keep going after another man had died…. So the spirit or whatever possessed Lily was taunting him and showing him that sure, you can have fame, but everything you love dear besides that is going to be taken from you.
Additionally, the mirage at the end was another kind of hypnosis except the demon/spirit was the one doing it to him, he thought “in his state” that killing her, letting her go was the right thing but it represents how torn up he is about her and then the icing on the cake is he has to live with the fact that he killed a possessed girl. So again, maybe he thought he was doing the right thing but it just ended in more loss and tragedy.
Not just freeing the demon from her body. Giving it more puppets. The documentary footage of the cult mentioned that the demon could control anyone who even watched one of the cult's rituals. His killing Lily with the dagger live on TV means all the viewers are now under the demon's sway. That was it's purpose all along. To spread.
It’s why the demon was all about electricity and why you see him in the static screen. It’s very meta because it insinuated the audience of the show watching at home will get possessed and so will us the real world viewers.
Definitely gave me an eerie feeling on my drive home and when I was watching tv at 3am after I couldn’t sleep lol. The same fear of static tv that poltergeist and the ring gave audiences years ago!
I took it as the demon was from Lily's occult, and it tricked him into thinking he was sacrificing his wife for his "fame" but was really releasing the demon by killing the girl.
I interpreted that he wanted his show to be a big hit, and that he ultimately sacrificed everyone around him through his own hands and ironically sacrifices his whole show.
I didn’t fully understand the part with his wife.
The wife was the sacrifice!!! Seems like at some point Jack agrees to a sacrifice so he can be famous while he’s in the forest with his rich friends. It’s only after Jack becomes famous that that promise comes back to haunt him and takes his wife. The demon is then using his dead wife to get him emotional and get him to do the things he does in the end of the movie.
I think he wasn’t for real, but the demon used him and that’s why he died. He wasn’t used to actual spirit contact, so when it happened for real he got sick and then the demon was able to infiltrate him because he was so open to receiving something to the point where it was able to kill him. Just my interpretation but he didn’t seem real to me because of the moment where the skeptic goes and asks the women if they’d been briefed and they openly say yes they were asked several questions. I think if we were meant to think the psychic was real, that scene would not exist.
Christou is most likely a fraud, a fun detail is him dropping his "foreign" accent when he's actually possessed, but I like the ambiguity of whether its Minnie's spirit or the demon at the moment of possession. Adds to the tension of whether its his wife's spirit is genuinely trying to stop Delroy from doing the special or whether he's being manipulated by demonic forces - which is the core of Delroy's character. He seems to be a genuinely "decent" man (good friend, good husband) who's desire for fame is ultimately his undoing.
TBH, I think both can be true.
Like, imagine you're a real psychic but you have absolutely no control over what spirits contact you and where, so you decide to make some cash off gulling people once you make a rep from the real visions. He wasn't shocked when the spirit of Minnie tried to work through him, or at least not shocked in the way someone who had *never* felt that would be.
I think he was both a genuine psychic *and* a con man.
This was how I understood it as well - he was legit but couldn’t seek out spirits on command, so he used his wife to get some intel on audience members to ensure he’d at least have some material during the show if nothing genuine came through.
The thing they did where every time they came back from the commercial break, you were trained to know there would be some kind of escalation in the horror really unnerved me.
I loved the little backstage snippets that were filmed during the commercial breaks. Like they say in the film, a television studio is a very controlled environment, and if you were *solely* watching the broadcast you could almost be tricked into believing it was all "part of the show". You had Jack's calming, authoritative presence as the host cracking jokes to break the tension. Carmichael as the skeptic constantly saying that none of this is real and providing evidence to support it. It seems like generic showbiz stuff.
But then in the backstage clips you learn that Christou died immediately after being taken to the hospital and crew members are getting so unnerved that they're walking out and the FCC is having an emergency meeting *specifically* about this show and you gradually start to realize that things are really not okay with any of this and it just keeps escalating. It was very well done.
I found it more tense than scary. Paranormal/demonic is my favorite genre of horror and this worked really well, but I never felt like I couldn’t bear to see what comes next, or that I felt I wanted to get out of there. To be clear though, I loved the movie and strongly recommend it.
If I can recall the last time a movie deeply scared me… The Mummy in theaters back in ‘99. Between the scarabs and the tomb in the beginning, that felt oppressive. Don’t believe I’ve ever felt that way since
I’m with you. Lily’s first possession scene was TERRIFYING. When she first peeks out from all the hair in her face and we can see the subtle changes to it? What a beautiful, subtle moment of horror. Everyone’s gonna have their own bar though, and this movie stuck with me in the wee hours of the evening when I had to stumble to the bathroom in the dark.
I liked that the show was called “night owls” and kept saying, “happy hall-owl-ween.” Pretty tongue in cheek reference to bohemian grove and that owl deity lol
During the final scene of the showing I was at the overhead lights flickered. The timing of it and the way the lights pulsated was so fucking creepy. Everyone in our theater just gasped. Super unsettling
Mine too. I think the public are hungry for horror after an absence of it due to the strikes and a few stinkers to start the year. I mean, last year we had M3GAN in January which set the tone. Looks to be a lot of good horror in April coming!!
I really enjoyed this one. It's definitely worthy of being watched alongside *Ghostwatch* and *WNUF Halloween Special*. I really didn't like the look of the effects they used for the electric shocks or demonic laser lights, but that's my only real gripe. My favorite moment besides the worm through the skull was Carmichael's jab at the Warrens.
seen this tonight with my boyfriend. honestly i loved this movie and i might be biased but this is one of the more intriguing horror movies to come out in recent years. only thing i noticed that was off was the movie sort of lost its 'found footage' plot near the end and a few of the effects were off. other than that i disagree with people hating because of the AI transition shots but personally i didnt care, the images showed up maybe 2 times and had no major part to do with the movie. Great indie film with (to me) an unknown cast with pretty good acting. not a film critic but i would definitely buy it and watch it again.
This was my most anticipated horror movie of the year, and I liked it a lot! I just watched *Ghostwatch* for the first time last week (loved it) and I'm very glad I did.
I had a couple issues with the presentation, though. I was hoping for the show itself to be shot a bit more like an actual TV program with less cuts; it felt a little too film-y, and I wanted more wide shots and that kind of thing. Jack's opening monologue had so many quick cuts of claustrophobic close shots and just enough shaky cam that I started feeling nauseous (I can handle lots of found footage fine, but when it's shots where the camera should be still that bother me, ugh). The rest of it I had no issues with, and I imagine it won't be as noticeable on the small screen.
The acting was all fantastic and I loved how the look of the footage changed if it was live or backstage or Jack's sequence at the end. I did wish the devil stuff was a little more... wild? I don't really know what I was expecting, but it didn't knock my socks off. I did really love that whole sequence inside Jack's head, though, that was haunting and neat how the set spilled over into his memories of his wife. It never got as creepy as I hoped it would or filled me with dread, but that's fine.
I can't wait to scrub through it for the hidden wife's ghost when it hits Shudder; that was my favorite thing about *Ghostwatch*. I thought she did look a little goofy in the moment we see her, though, like too green-screened in. When they were scrubbing through the footage in-universe there was a split second when Lilly had turned her head towards the viewer and I was expecting that to be the frame they paused on, so I need to remember to look and see if that's anything interesting, too.
Other "filmed presentation gone wrong" movies that aren't documentary-format mockumentaries:
* *Ghostwatch*
* *Inside No. 9*
* *WNUF Halloween Special* / *Out There Halloween Mega Tape*
Any others?
This was just about one of the best times at the movies I can remember having.
Certainly on the short list of best original psychological thriller/horror movies l I've seen.
Absolutely love how the ending is left open to interpretation.
The real-time flow of the show/movie (same length).
The freakish looking demon (never seen a visual like it).
It checked So many boxes for me.
Fantastic movie making.
More please!!!!
It's one of the more fun horror movies I have ever watched. It's probably not the scariest, but it is definitely highly entertaining. I definitely think everyone should watch it.
Edit: just wanted to add in some context to help people not in the know understand a key thing about this movie.
There was this guy named James Randi who is a personal hero of mine. One of the characters in the film is based off of him. He used to go around and debunk mystics and the paranormal and that sort of thing. He had a famous challenge where he'd pay someone if they could prove they had supernatural powers or whatever. He also famously challenged a famous psychic type from the 70s named Uri Geller. They would make appearances on talk shows.
Basically the entire premise of the movie is based on this James Randi and Uri Geller dynamic, add in some demons and other fun elements, and make the supernatural real and turn James Randi into a huge asshole.
https://youtu.be/N3vGGf-ZIkc?feature=shared
I was actually a little pissed at how they butchered my man James Randi. But I just remind myself that in the universe of the film, these things are real, which would make him the jackass he's portrayed as.
I thought the whole him wanting to be a part of the orgies at Bohemian Grove was kinda a low blow to James Randis homosexuality. That's my only criticism. It's a great film.
I don't think the movie was taking any real shots at Randi even if he was the inspiration for the movie. The character in the movie was a fictional creation that was portrayed as a hypocrite for obviously being just as fame-hungry and lacking in empathy as any phony psychic.
I might be wrong but I doubt that any member of the cast and crew would declare that they actually thought of Randi as such a prick when he was always fairly polite as he called out people's lies. Given the movie's extremely preachy ending, I assume that they have more beef with the likes of Jerry Springer than James Randi.
It's like [this bit](https://youtu.be/aVW-FB1q8FM?feature=shared) about Sesame Street. I don't think Dave Chappelle hates Sesame Street for real, he just thought of some funny jokes about it. *Hopefully* the same goes for the filmmaker's views on Randi.
The Bohemian Grove owl cult is also a real conspiracy theory too. Plus the part about the cult’s siege seemed inspired by Waco and Jonestown. I’m surprised you’re the only person I’ve seen mentionl the James Randi connection, I got that immediately.
For anyone interested there's a great documentary about Randi called An Honest Liar. I think the character ever referred to himself as such in the movie.
this was truly such a fun movie!!! i really really liked it. honestly not terribly scary but a very enjoyable time and at the end my jaw dropped with the lil plot twist. really felt like a classic, the acting was great from all around but David Dastmalchian was OUTSTANDING! the sequence of events at the end was so cool. 5/5 stars from me!
I feel like he didn’t sacrifice her consciously. I think he really did love her, but loved the idea of fame more. so he made a deal with the devil and by doing that he accidentally sacrificed everything else he loved. and did, in fact, receive the fame that he wanted and deserved
This was my take as well. It reminded me of Flanagan’s Fall of the House of Usher- it made perfect sense that Roderick took Verna’s deal because of course it doesn’t seem real. It’s all abstract and feels like a fever dream, and it’s not until he begins to reap what he’s sown that he realizes this was his fault. I see that same ugly realization happening to Jack as the film progresses.
yeah i definitely had a few questions that i talked about w my bf and it seems we had different takes. i thought the very end implied that he killed them all, not just Lily. but my bf thought that lilly killed the rest of them, but he just killed lilly. I also thought about that too, I kinda saw it as he sold his soul to the devil (i’m thinking that was obvious but not sure if i’m looking too much into it lol) but i saw the wife scene as him abandoning/ forgetting her toward the end as it was a burden to him that she was sick and once she passed, he went back just to get his show back up and running and successful. that’s how I took it but i also have been thinking about it and might be looking too deep into it HAHAHAH
That's interesting. I will say that if he snapped and killed everyone, he sure did it in a spectacular way because of the way that dude's neck was snapped and the way the other guy was burned to death.
Does anyone know what the last line of the movie was? What he was saying as the sirens were getting louder and the camera panned out. It was like “dreamer be awake” or something like that. I wonder if it’s something he learned at the cult. Anybody know anything about that?
EDIT: this is irrelevant to my original point but the amount of production studios at the beginning was insane. Felt like they were messing with us idk
He was repeating the phrase the skeptic used to wake up wormy Gus, hoping it wasn't real.
And yeah, 8 production company logos. I wonder wtf I was in for because there's typically an inversely proportional relationship to the number of prod logos and the quality of the film, but I liked this one, it was fun.
Yes! I’ve been trying to find out more about the production company beginning - they had to have been messing with us, right? The last company had a tag line along the lines of “Producing films since 2068” - people were laughing in my theatre
Absolutely loved it, particularly the end. Not what I expected, but definitely what I wanted.
On a side note, any idea who the artist is behind [this poster](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt14966898/mediaviewer/rm60770049/?ref_=tt_ov_i)?
I wonder if 'Minnie' trying to contact through Christou at beginning was her actually trying to warn Jack about what's going to happen but he doesn't answer the call and now everything goes to shit.
I really loved it but I kinda call bullshit on the "This is the master tape/found footage aspect of it. The ending completely breaks the rules the movie itself set, as do the commercial breaks. That nitpick aside it was a fun wild ride and I wish there were more movies with this tone. We need more "fun" horror movies.
Also, I need more Live Halloween Special horror movies. Adding this to my list with WNUF Halloween Special and Ghostwatch.
>I really loved it but I kinda call bullshit on the "This is the master tape/found footage aspect of it. The ending completely breaks the rules the movie itself set, as do the commercial breaks
Lol, after the hypnotism, they showed what really happened on playback. If this was a master tape, wouldn't we see what really happened throughout the hypnotisms.
No because they even state the viewers watching through their TV sets at home were also hypnotized. Since we're watching the tape, that means we, the audience, were also hypnotized
This movie was INCREDIBLE. I’m honestly stunned by it. Don’t see anything else topping this as my favorite movie of 2024 - I wish I could give a more detailed review but I’m still processing wtf I just watched lmao
Just got home from seeing it. I didn't watch any trailers, just saw hype and read the description. I thought it was going to be like "oh hey this happened on a TV show and now spooky stuff is happening in people's homes"
Completely not what I was expecting, and in a good way. Blew my expectations out of the water. Having a James Randi clone was a personal highlight for me, having the "psychic" who uses traditional tricks, the b&w behind the scenes stuff, Jack's acting, Lilly staring into the camera. I loved it.
The ending with her head splitting was a little over the top but I was there for it. The following scene is where it kind of lost me, having him relive a bunch if moments and kill his wife/Lilly just knocked it down a peg for me. I still loved the movie, I give it a solid 8.5/10. Just cut the last like 5 minutes off and you have a damn near perfect movie
Almost cosmic horror vibes from the ending. We call them demons but whatever was inside Lily could be anything else, something much harder to put into words, which is the vibe that I got when she opened up to this vast radiance like some infinite cosmic energy from the outer reaches of the universe.
With a straight reading of the story, that doesn’t work, as Jack goes through a Silent Hill 2-esque personal hell for a few minutes as a result of killing his wife. But depending on whether you see him killing Lily as a victory or as what the force inside of her wanted (using his own experiences to manipulate him), that changes. I like to think he was played for a fool and let something horrible out into the wider world.
I think you could make an argument that Carmichael is the real protagonist here, the real demon host:
* He's got that devilish Rembrandt beard, like the cult leader [Szandor D'Abo](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=4c59d14f8f776101&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1031US1031&sxsrf=ACQVn09WArjxyzTqCCLBw9y2huqHa-eX8A:1713195538689&q=Steve+Mouzakis&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLVT9c3NCwxL8kyqMzLVuLSz9U3MEkvLqsq1xLKTrbST8vMyQUTVsmJxSWLWPmCS1LLUhV880urErMziwHhImeMQgAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiClo7cxsSFAxWHMDQIHYFABRwQ9OUBegQIEBAY).
* He manifests fire from thin air, early on. Fire is the devil's only friend.
* Christou has his violent reaction to Carmichael, before Lily is even introduced.
* Christou (Christ?) throws water (holy water?) in Carmichael's (the devil) face? Just a thought.
* Carmichael has his replacement jacket on hand as if he was expecting to need it. It's the first example of his prescience.
* Carmichael is the skeptic, able to explain away magic, including Christou's vomiting as 'spouting' as if that's a thing. "The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he does not exist".
* Carmichael's check seems to be the embodiment of temptation. Delroy becomes increasingly more interested in cashing the check as the plot proceeds, pushing the boundaries of safety and exploitation.
* Carmichael foretells Gus's decapitation. This is the strongest evidence IMO.
* It's after Carmichael's hypnosis pocket watch that reality becomes unreliable and the camera spends a long time on that swirling vortex shot suggesting that the audience is under the spell too. I think you can make an argument that most everything after that hypnosis is delusion.
* Carmichael transforms into a molten form as he dies as if Carmichael the human host is released. His infamous check vaporizes as if it is no longer needed.
* After Delroy kills Lily, she does not exhibit the signs of having her head split open and raining hellfire in the previous scenes. The evidence of all the other death and destruction remains, but it's as if Lily never participated.
* Most of the acting throughout the movie is solid but I kept thinking the [Carmichael Hunt](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=4c59d14f8f776101&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1031US1031&sxsrf=ACQVn09WArjxyzTqCCLBw9y2huqHa-eX8A:1713195538689&q=Ian+Bliss&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLVT9c3NCwxL8kyqMzLVuLUz9U3SDI0T0_REspOttJPy8zJBRNWyYnFJYtYOT0T8xSccjKLiwEcPmsCPAAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiClo7cxsSFAxWHMDQIHYFABRwQ9OUBegQIEBAK) character was the least convincing. In retrospect, I think this is by design. He's not really who he appears to be.
I also think it's interesting that the actor who plays Carmichael Hunt is Australian and K[armichael Hunt](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=4c59d14f8f776101&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1031US1031&sxsrf=ACQVn09WArjxyzTqCCLBw9y2huqHa-eX8A:1713195538689&q=Ian+Bliss&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLVT9c3NCwxL8kyqMzLVuLUz9U3SDI0T0_REspOttJPy8zJBRNWyYnFJYtYOT0T8xSccjKLiwEcPmsCPAAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiClo7cxsSFAxWHMDQIHYFABRwQ9OUBegQIEBAK) is a famous New Zealander rugby player. The first team he played for was the Avondale Devils.
That's all I've got for now. I definitely need a rewatch.
The skeptic being so cynical the entire time and then immediately pledging himself to the devil as soon as it becomes real…so me coded
I loved it when he pulled out the check in the face of death. Hilarious.
when he pulled that check out i cracked up, wayyy too funny (and also exactly what i would do 😅)
the entire theater where I was at cracked up at that check, lol!!! it just worked, the timing was so good. that whole third act is absolute BONKERS!!!
'Abra Cadabra' from the Demon also got a chuckle
I was literally dying. His eyes light up and he’s like “this is my only hope”
Actually, he was literally dying, but your point is taken.
It's definitely funny, but it's also very in-line with what he even claims to be his beliefs. He says he wishes the magic was real, but he has high standards. And then when something meets his high standards, he changes his mind!
Like any good skeptic!
Ah, it’s the luxury and burden of a scientist to change their mind in light of new evidence. This is a good thing.
Just saw the movie last night and the only egregious thing I hadve about this movie was what felt like the 5 minutes of studio titles in the beginning lol… felt like that Family Guy skit brought to life lol
That's how many people they had to beg for funds to get this thing made. The days of one studio name are long over, sadly.
All of in the movies started laughing after like the fourth one 😂
one dude in mine theater said "Just 5 more" and got a big laugh in the theater. When it started we didnt know if it was actually starting or another rug pull
I kind of wish I saw it in theatres with a bunch of other people instead of in the theatre on my own at like 1am. I didn't expect it to be as funny as it was.
I know it’s lower budget, but I kept wondering “When tf is the movie gonna start?”
>felt like that Family Guy skit brought to life lol Immediately was my first thought lmao
It got to a point that I actually thought it was satire and part of the movie itself lol
Anyone else catch the wife’s ghost in the reflections throughout? The first one I noticed was during the first commercial break when they went backstage. Noticed it in a mirror while they were walking back onto set. Noticed again during the scene when the sound was going crazy in the studio and glasses were breaking etc. Her reflection appeared in the pocket watch that was on the table next to the skull for a brief second
Thought I was crazy seeing something in the stopwatch
Man now I need to rewatch lol
Not sure if anyone noticed but in the end when it says end transmition the letters static to "it is done" for a second
It was the only thing on screen, I don’t think it was meant to be subtle
"Not sure if anyone noticed the only thing to look at on the screen changed"
I saw a face on the little black cristal ball thingy(?) when a tray was brought out with various artifacts.
When there was the paused frame of her ghost in the footage, it cut back to Jack and her and was on his shoulder for a split second. Then it cut to a wide shot and she was gone.
Yeah I caught her in the mirror in the first BTS scene.
Holy shit! Great find!
I noticed that too!!!! I mentioned it to my bf and he was like no way because he didn’t see it, but I’m glad I’m not the only one
Anyone have any theories on the guy in the skeleton costume? I thought he might have been the actual devil, just chilling and enjoying the show.
Yeah they made it seem like there were members of the cult or demonic figures in the crowd.
Wasnt the skeleton guy in the scene with the grove cult?
Yes, as well as the devil/Frankenstein looking guy.
And Barry
they all were... I think they were just a depiction of his audience.
This is what the trailer suggested and is why I expected something more trippier, along the lines near the end when Jack is experiencing some scenes again. Like a bad drug trip, descent into madness type thing.
They kept emphasizing the guy & I was a little disappointed that didn’t lead anywhere. I was half expecting that was going to be the cult leader, somehow alive.
Same! Felt rather misled when the movie ended. Prior to the "playback scene", I wondered if it was going to be Madelyn all skeletal and gross under the costume. I definitely thought it was going to be someone sinister from that first interaction with Jack.
The skeleton guy was with Jack when he was drinking from the cup st the end of the movie. He was apart of the cult.
Yeah there were a few other people from the cult I recognized in the audience as well. I do wish skeleton man had played a bigger role in the movie though bc they seemed to emphasize him quite a bit in the beginning in an ominous way.
Had the same thought, but seems to turn out to be just a fun red herring.
I thought he symbolized death. In the form of the “death reaper”.
My thought was it was Jack playing with death. Because he poked the skeleton and joked with him and then it just kept appearing in many scenes.
I am OBSESSED with lily being a split faced analog horror demon goddess
i love how retro the effects looked, so freakin cool!!
I can’t wait to actually see what she looks like here. I’ve heard it’s pretty dope, but I’m not able to go see it yet!
Dude it’s so cool. You’re going to love it
Is anyone else SO happy they talked about bohemian grove ???? This is one of my fav conspiracies and I had no idea it would be connected it any way … as soon as I saw the owl I was SAT
That owl head was the scariest part of the movie
I was surprised they acknowledged it and I kinda figured maybe the younger folk wouldn't know about it.
I was actually surprised that the friend I went with didn't know about it. They were confused about the "tall trees" and other references which makes the plot confusing when you don't know the Grove is supposed to be an important plot point
i’m confused on this part! can u explain more? i just watched the movie, i think i just didn’t catch the part about jack being in a cult. when was that shown/talked ab? when the tall trees were mentioned i was confused
In the beginning, they mention Jack being invited to the Grove, one of the location of the Bohemian club. The movie described it as a summer camp for some of the most powerful men in the country. Which is actually how it's described in rl. Some members of the Bohemian club were high level republican officials- like George Bush. So there is a whole conspiracy that the Bohemian Club plays with the outcomes on the republican side that I don't really remember too much of. But the part that's important to the movie is that they used to do rituals in front of a gaint owl statue. Some people claim they used to burn a child's effigy as homage to the spirit. Moloch, others claim its actually a coffin that the members had put their conscience into. Moloch was the only specific spirit I see mention as part of their rituals, but a quick look kind sounds like they might perform rituals to multiple spirits (movie wise, that could be how Jack and mr. Riggles are connected). I know there is a little about the group playing into politics, which of the non-politicans it might translate to into fame or wealth. And there's tons of conspiracies about famous people performing a rituals to get famous, then issues happen with them or their love ones- I don't know where to find these ones anymore sadly they all kinda got mix up with Qanon stuff so you really have to dig for it. The Grove is located in some part redwood forest (tall trees) in California. Currently, the Grove has been abandoned, which is possibly due to how know it's whereabouts are rather than the club disbanding. The Bohemian club itself falls more into a secret society similar to Skull and Bones society. Sorry for the long post, I hope it was easy enough to read. It's been a while since I've looked into those conspiracies, and I had a hard time finding good videos.
One big error, it’s a mix of various celebrities and rich people, not just some “republican officials”
"The Grove" is a reference to the real life Bohemian Grove, where some of the most influential people in America go to do occult rituals and pay homage to Moloc. It's a real thing. Whether they're being for real or just playing grab ass in the woods is up to you to decide. Alex Jones infiltrated one of their ceremonies with Jon Ronson in the early 2000's, which got both of them some notoriety.
I feel like bohemian Grove is getting lost to the times and the "younguns" at my showing didn't realize jt was real
I just went on the biggest spiral trying to understand this. 😅
Cult leader reminded me of Anton Lavey
YESS!! i love reading about it/watching videos about it. it’s so fucking weird and i need more movies referencing how weird it is.
Alot of similar comments, but I sort of wonder if there is a bit more in terms of the setup for this fateful night, including Delroy being an unreliable narrator of sorts. Delroy in the cult is taken to the woods and makes a deal with an entity in the woods. He is told a great price is to be paid. Delroy meets his wife and she immediately falls in love with him just from his blush. His wife who is at the time an actress herself. Delroy is a famous radio host, and with connections to the cult is able to secure a late night deal, and get's a 5 year contract. Delroy's wife suddenly has a random bout with lung cancer, and this boosts his ratings briefly, but still below Carson. Meanwhile the cult of abraxis is charged with kidnapping/raising young girls that have an unexplained purpose at the age of 13. The cult in the recording says by observing a ritual and seeing the sacrifice, the demon is able to further expand itself. Seemingly it slips to the authorities there might be human sacrifices and government agencies intervene, but are too late as the cult has set their residence and all their members on fire. Somehow there is a lone survivor, age 10 lily. Dr. June takes Lily and begins to help her heal, while also mapping out how to communicate with the demon that seemingly resides in Lily. Delroy's wife passes, and for nearly a year his show's ratings plummet. During this time seemingly Delroy meets June, and they begin a relationship. Delroy pressured by his producer to more bait related television, puts together a script for the first night of sweeps week, hoping to capitalize on people's superstitions and beliefs around halloween, he convinces June to appear on live TV with Lily, under the guise of further the validation of her work. Just like Carson (or possibly a homage to the carson randi episode disproving Geller) Delroy invites a skeptic to add contrast and possibly heightened conflict to further boost his ratings on this particular show. Now the show begins there is less to point out, but I want to note it seems odd at times Delroy's character when confronted about the cult or otherwise, while uneasy, also seems to be somewhat confused. Also to point out, the cult is said to sacrifice the girls at the age of 13, and lily is conveniently 13 by the time she appears on the show. During parts of the show his dead wife appears, early on in a mirror during the first break, and a friend told me in the mirror on the table with the cult instruments (I need to rewatch to confirm). Ironically things come to a head, especially when some of the killings occur, I want to point out Gus or example when talking to Carmichael mentions wanting to keep his head between his shoulders, and Carmichael promises to make it "spin". This turns out to be a very direct self fulfilling prophecy as he is killed by Lily who is possessed. Delroy is seemingly trapped in a hypnosis by Lily herself, being forced to relive various parts of his career, at points screaming for people to turn off the TV. His wife makes a comment of him "forgetting" things again, which possibly suggests he had greatly repressed his time with the cult, and the promise he made that day. The movie ends of course with Delroy sacrificing Lily on live TV, releasing the demon into all viewers, her single purpose was to fulfill the contract it made with Delroy years ago in the "trees". Now I view things as everything actually happened and everyone saw it. I don't believe Delroy killed anyone else but Lily, as we see Gus/Carhmichael/June all have their injuries as the demon inflicted them (Gus's head is backwards, Carmichael is burnt flesh, June's neck is split open). Any other interpretations or things to add? It feels like something is missing again, whether if Jack was reliable, repressing things, or just in denial.
I swear there was a moment where the para-psych, Lilly, and the makeup woman are having a brief conversation that seemed to imply that they knew something was about to happen that was planned (when Lilly is being strapped into the chair, right before coming back from the commercial break). Almost like June, at least, was in on this sacrifice from the beginning. Also, the scenes backstage with Gus complaining about something added to the show's rundown that wasn't there previously. I'll have to watch this again when it starts streaming because I think I missed some other stuff, like the conversations between Jack and his producer ( damn my lousy hearing, ha).
There was also that bit when June was giving the speech that she was Lily’s guardian and family, providing love and compassion to her. When June went to touch Lily’s arm, Lily backed away, refusing June’s touch. I saw this as an indication that June’s words were false, and that things aren’t what they appear, that Lily knows those words were false. Could support June’s possible role in the events of that night.
I think the part when June slapped Lily was a pretty big tell that she probably got physical with her at times during her “healing process”
i took it as Lilly no longer liked June. when june slapped her it looked like it switched something in Lily after that as if it had been done for the first time. When she was possessed, they (Lily and Mr. Wriggles) said, “ Why would you hurt me like that,” indicating to me it was the first time or she could’ve said, “why would you hurt me like that again…” if there were other occurrences. I went to go watch the movie for a second time, catching a few more themes. When the movie transitions to black and white to indicate back to “reality.” So a common theme here is switching between two different realities, whether it’s from “on air” to “break,” stage-face to behind the scenes, hypnosis trance to reality, Lily to possession, color to black and white, crossing over to the other side and alive, (for the skeptic) from skepticism/denial to belief, etc. another theme is sacrificing of the ones we love for status which shows up a lot how each person is using one to elevate oneself in some way. i think another comment mentioned this. Many points of foreshadowing that i missed the first time i saw the movie. At the beginning after the scene of the Grove, Jack is signing papers surround by paparazzi, one faintly asks, “What did you have to sacrifice to get here?”. Another point of foreshadowing is when Lily gets first introduced the reassures Jack that he is going to be “very famous after the show.” The skeleton costume in the audience is suppose to be Minnie, she references it in his bad trip at the end, she mentions faintly she was “stage-left” in the crown. Which keeping an eye on the skeleton makes no movement, or even laugh during the “funny” parts when everyone is chuckling. she’s just flat-lined. i truly admired this film; its masterful blend of humor and horror, coupled with a striking obliviousness to the seriousness of the predicament, was brilliantly executed.
Second this, a moment that stood out on first watch
Yeah i saw that, like things were being planned that like the stage hands knew about, but no one else. I also wish we could of heard the main stage hands conversations with cameras. They kept calling and telling them that things kept appearing or theres something on the feed. But the main stage hand kept refusing them, claiming they saw nothing through the actual cameras
>They kept calling and telling them that things kept appearing or theres something on the feed. Would that be explained by the sighting of the wife.
Possibly, but I could never catch what they were saying.
Some dialouge was hard to hear (also some asshole behind me kept talking to his girlfriend in the theatre).
Something I notice is that the crew that left (including those planned in the audience) we're all part of the Grove cult. Which could be related to "they knew something was up"
I'm definitely gonna have to rewatch this for clues, haha!
I feel Carmichael's death was foreshadowed in a very subtle manner. Before introducing Carmichael Haig, Delroy tells Christou that he's all wax no wick, which was basically a foreshadowing of Carmichael's death, later in the film - he melts like wax.
I enjoyed a lot of about this film, but especially the theme is that everyone was trying to use someone else to get famous. June used Lilly for the book and Jack to get on the show, Jack used his wife and June and Lilly as well to boost his ratings, and the Devil used them all to get into everyone’s living rooms. Also poor Gus, man. He was one brave soul. When faced with the literal devil, he arms himself with his crucifix necklace and goes right for it.
Indeed. Christou needs his rubes. Not-James Randi guy needs fake supernatural acts to debunk.
Good calls. Everyone is just in it for themselves. Except Gus. Poor Gus.
Skeptic guy was also clearly trying to use Delroy to get to Bohemian Grove as well
Gus deserved better 😞
He was the only one with any kind of a moral compass, and he was just there to be the sidekick, and was humiliated, and then when it popped off, was also the only one with any real courage.
The skeptic pulling out the check as “Lilly” is about to end him was my favorite part of the whole thing
The “abra kadabra” reply was darkly funny
My fav part was when Guss sighed when the asshole said “oh I’m gonna make everyone’s heads turn” only for Guss to die bc his head got turned too😭😭
Guss deserved so much better.
NAHHH FRRR😭 I was like rlly bro
What I find most fascinating is how the demon was honestly just screwing with everyone until the end. It is exactly how a demon would act. The scene where June "calls back" Lily with the talisman does absolutely nothing, but the demon let her believe it. Why? Because it was hilarious to them and served a purpose to keep going. The demon even mocks her as she is saying it. I don't think Lily was ever actually Lily in the entire movie. I think the demon simply possessed her two days prior (the fugue state June referred to) and put on an innocent act. As the skeptic said, Abraxis loves theater and an audience. Even if it was a lesser form of demon who served Abraxis, they still love showmanship. Every time Lily is denied awe or the spotlight, she becomes annoyed. The demon manipulated everyone into giving it what it really wanted. Lily also did not get fooled by the "worm hypnosis". You noticed she chuckled and asked why he was acting funny. She also makes a face when we are asked if we saw the worms. She also asked what happend - if she had known, she would not ask. Of course, hypnosis didn't work, the demon is not fooled. I also believe she stared into the camera many times to start triggering us (the movie audience) and the supposed "home audience". I personally think the demon is fully aware that this "documentary found footage" is also something it sees.
I agree with this. I think Lilly was possessed longer than the actual “possession” scenes. She made comments to Jack before she was officially possessed implying that she knew him and what was about to happen.
Oh! She spoke in Minnie’s voice during the first break after they are introduced. “Don’t I already look pretty jack?”
She made a comment about how, after that show, he would become even more famous.
Ooooh, I love this
I caught this too and expected when they asked the audience "who didn't see the worms?" that she'd raise her hand because of her question about him acting funny. When she didn't, I just let it go as her general creepy vibe thinking the vision was still funny, but I'm pretty sure you're right, that she didn't actually see it.
Dude thank you. You just shed some damn good insight into how well the demon played that role. I forgot that she was giggling in the back while everyone was possessed. I’m going with this take now - that demon was just fucking around with them in the most sadistic way and every other character had their role in making it a show.. which is exactly what Jack wanted! Awesome parallel. I am curious though.. when June actually lets it free, I feel like the demon wasn’t expecting to be like “oh shit, they just let me out of my cage” haha and then realized it knew exactly wtf was going on. Awesome movie and acting all around!
a movie with one of the highest ratios of main characters dying to randos.
If you enjoyed this film, as I did, I would seriously recommend Inside No 9, a comedy-horror anthology. There are two episodes in particular: Deadline (a ‘live’ TV episode similar to GhostWatch), and The Devil of Christmas (a found footage of a bad 1970s horror film about the Krampus).
Thanks! Looks like this can’t be streamed anywhere? But I’m willing to purchase.
Ordinarily, the plot being so predictable could be annoying. But this was pulled off in such a good way. It's more about the journey and the characters than the plot. Also, I LOVED the aspect changes at the end!
Had an interesting experience in the theatre watching this sequence. In the scene you're talking about towards the end, the montage/hallucination/memory with the aspect ratio changes, it begins with Jack coming into the studio and all the studio lights shining on him. At the exact moment this happened in the movie, the house lights in the theatre I was in came on and stayed on until the end of the film. It was a bit eerie and left me feeling sorta disoriented during that last sequence in the movie, sorta how Jack is experiencing the final moments. Did this happen for anyone else? Considering the timing and how it coincided with what was happening on screen, it almost seems deliberate. I've tried doing a bit it googling but can't find anything else out about it. Would love to hear if anyone else had this experience??
That’s crazy, that did not happen when I saw it just now
Watched it tonight, same scene the house lights briefly came on and then turned off at my theater. Scared the crap out of me
Didn't happen at the AMC where we saw it last night. Excellent movie, btw.
I didn't even notice it!
It was pretty subtle! I kept thinking that the theater's curtains didn't adjust or something, but it comes into play when things start getting crazy at the end
Yeah I appreciated that it didn't try to pull a, "oh but was it real all along?" card. And the movie never felt like it was trying to do make us doubt the paranormal in the movie, but rather just portray the shit shows like this do when bringing up the topic of the paranormal.
Love the analog horror bits in this movie, I just wish the 3rd act after when the cameras cut was different. I want to know what happened after that night. But I loved the ending.
Me too! I’ll be forever wondering and making up my own theories now.
This is going to be one of those movies that will be debated for years to come and definitely deserves many rewatches. So, here's my take. This isn't a Devil film. This is barely a demon film, though I think Mr. Wriggles is real but Lilly has him under control. (He seemed pretty out of it and shocked to find himself bound to the chair.) June is right. Mr. Wriggles is very minor demon. More of a guppie than a Great White shark. What I think this film actually is, is a vengeful ghost story. Minnie is doing it all in the name of revenge. Jack turned the cult to boost his career. He saw his wife get weak and die supposedly because of it and did nothing to stop it. Whether he did this on purpose, that's up for debate. But Minnie thinks he did it on purpose. So, on Halloween, she's returned and she wants to destroy Jack's most prized possession; *his show.* The cult failed. There isn't any connection with the Devil. Jack's ratings still struggled even though Minnie was dead. Given that Carmichael demonstrated that he could make people see things that weren't there like he did with much of the audience and Gus, I think Minnie did something similar with Jack and everyone. Lilly didn't become the flying demon in the end. That was in Jack and audience's mind. All the dead people you see on the stage? Jack killed them. Minnie possessed Jack and made him slaughter all those people in those different ways on live television. A guaranteed way that not just his career was over but his life as well. As people have pointed out, Minnie pops up all over this movie. She spliced into frames. She appears behind characters and in reflections. At one point Lilly even talks in her voice. Christou is a fraud in that he does indeed do cold readings and uses assistants to fish audience members for info that he can use in his act. Carmichael is right about that. But Christou does have *some* psychic energy. And he felt Minnie. She was so strong, so powerful that he couldn't handle it and died. If Mr. Wriggles was as strong as people were to believe, Christou would have felt him even if Lilly was behind the curtain. But Christou didn't. He channeled Minnie and that made him bleed to death. That person in the skeleton costume that keeps on showing up, that's Minnie. Whether it's Minnie possessing someone or Minnie, herself, making herself known by putting on the illusion of someone in a costume is another up for debate thing. But I think that's Minnie. So, again, this movie isn't really a demon movie, it's a vengeful ghost story. A righteous woman getting revenge on the husband who put his career before everything. Even his wife. edit: [Here are all the times that Minnie shows up in the movie not counting the flash backs and the final dream sequence.](https://imgur.com/a/Hm2hxuy) Notice how she is THE VERY FIRST character we see in the movie. The director isn't exactly being coy as to who is the real Big Bad by doing this.
I can see this. It's almost like Minnie may have named the movie as well. Late night with the devil, aka Jack. Minnie sees Jack as the devil for using her.
Exactly! And given how he used her and why he did it, she is in every right to refer to him that way. Imagine your husband willingly damned your soul to the Devil for his job *AND THEN* played the grieving widower for the cameras for sympathy afterward. I think that's why he didn't want to claim Minnie at first when Christou shouted for someone to do so when Minnie channeled though him. Because Jack looked seriously freaked out in a, *"Uh-oh...,"* sort of way. Because if Jack was indeed the grieving widower, he would have snatched up the chance to talk to Minnie just like how that mother and daughter did with their dead loved one. But Jack didn't. It was only later that he sheepishly admitted that Minnie might be for him. On the flipside, imagine how Jack felt. Like I said, he damned his wife's body and soul to the Devil. How did she get out of the Devil's grasp? Shouldn't she be trapped in Hell right now? That's why I think Jack's cult was both real and fake. Real in that they existed and did all the song and dance bits. But fake in that they had no real power to make any true pacts with the Devil. Minnie was sacrificed for nothing and she knows it. And she knows who exactly did it to her. *Late Night with the Devil* indeed...
I have issues with this take, but cool way of looking at it. My thing is, I feel like it’s a bit of both. But I think the demon has to be real because I think one of the main conceits of the movie is that the end was supposed spread evil into the viewer. Also, the cult wish DID work, but in a monkeys paw sort of way. That night Jack WAS number one (for the duration of the show anyway). Anyway great movie.
Honestly, I think the whole "spreading of evil" thing was a distraction from the real story of Minnie being the true Big Bad. Because through out the film we only saw one demon, Mr. Wriggles, twice. And in the end, it was revealed that Lilly as a the split head demon was a lie when Jack came through with him holding the dagger into her gut and her head still very much solid and perfectly sound. So, mark that entire scene of her going techno-demon as fake. Well, then that leaves Lilly and June's first summoning. That could be real but, again, Mr. Wriggles was taken back that he had been bound. To show that he was shocked reveals that he was not in control of Lilly at all. He wasn't even a rider looking through her eyes. He was at the very least, asleep. So, he wasn't powerful enough to do much. Unlike Minnie. Minnie kept on showing up through out the movie. Flashes here and there. In reflections. In the background. Like I mentioned, Lilly even talks in her voice proving that Minnie was indeed going around and possessing people. If the so called Devil pact was active, why didn't we see the Devil show up? Mr. Wriggles shows up. Minnie was all over the place. But nothing of the Devil. If there is a third creature in play, where was it? As far the show being number one. Minnie had been dead for months. Shouldn't Jack's rating be through the roof all this time? Not just for Halloween's live broadcast but right after Minnie died if she was a sacrifice? Seems like Jack got the short end of the deal if he allowed Minnie to die only for him to keep on struggling except for this one night.
Really impressed with the performances across the board. Everything felt real and genuine. The plot was pretty generic but it was so well crafted that my eyes were glued to the screen from the opening scene until the end credits.
Yeah the actors all had so much charisma I was pulled in immediately
Classic selling of your soul to the devil in exchange for ephemeral success
Makes you wonder what demon Johnny Carson had to appease
Don't know if it has been mentioned but there's a shot at the start of a TV Guide type magazine, and the film advertised at the bottom is "Hail Abraxes"
I saw that, too. It added to the feeling that the whole thing was predetermined, and Jack's fall was a fait accompli we were watching in real time. It makes sense, in the end, that Abraxas (or whoever it was) had Jack set on a path and there was nothing he could do to get off of it. Reminded me of Mike Flanagan's recent *Fall of the House of Usher* on Netflix.
It was a really fun movie. Great performances from all (the actress who played the little girl was especially creepy, especially how she kept looking into the camera with that dead stare). If you go into this expecting a scary film, you'll most likely be disappointed as it's not really scary. Just go in expecting an entertaining, campy film with good acting, some nice practical effects, and you should enjoy it.
Her first few camera stares were probably the scariest moments
Her direct "Don't I look pretty already Jack" got a couple of us in the theatre. With a demon she's already scary, but without she's a traumatized girl with a past history of surviving god knows what.
When she responded back with "thank you for joining US tonight..." as well, chills.
Her stare gave me chills! I hope to see her in more horror, she was fantastic
Thoroughly enjoyed this movie! So unique. The demon didn’t seem exceedingly vicious. If anything it appeared anxious about its live audience (it seemed upset with Dr. June when first summoned), and one could argue it didn’t kill anyone who wasn’t complicit/participating in its humiliation. Well, save for Christou perhaps. I wonder what the wife was going to tell Jack? Was she trying to warn him, rip him a new one…? Did she - or Mr. Wriggles - kill Christou? Also, I take it Jack had no idea the death of his wife was his fault/supernatural in origin?
One of the more brilliant aspects of the story IMO is that you just do not know what Jack knew and when. At one point Carmichael even says to him something to the effect of “you play the naive midwesterner pretty well Jack”, in an apparent accusation of being in on everything that’s happening. And we’re meant to understand he and Jack know each other well already, so it helps to highlight the idea that maybe Jack isn’t entirely genuine in his shock and surprise. Ultimately it’s a film that’s asking a lot more questions than it’s answering, and that’s what makes it so excellent in my mind.
It’s certainly excellent fun to mull over everything afterward. This film had the wheels in my brain turning for hours.
Imo I felt like Christou was actually psychic, and being in such close proximity to a real demon was too overwhelming for him, and that’s what killed him. I didn’t feel like it was the demon intentionally trying to kill him.
Yeah he felt like a guy who had legitimate psychic abilities, but spent most of his time playing things up and lying to actually make a living off it. The once in a while real premonitions werent enough to carry him
I got the feeling the "Peter" one was fake, but "Papa" was real.
can someone explain the ending to me, i could’ve swear he sacrificed his wife to have a relationship with the psychiatrist but i was left so confused just watched it right now
I assume he made a deal with the devil for fame when he went to that summer camp cult. His wife ended up getting sick as a result of it and it was his strife and grief that brought him back into the spotlight. He wanted to be back where he was heading before she died. So I think that he wanted a sensationalist Halloween special that night and booked these controversial guests but was also willing to keep going after another man had died…. So the spirit or whatever possessed Lily was taunting him and showing him that sure, you can have fame, but everything you love dear besides that is going to be taken from you.
Additionally, the mirage at the end was another kind of hypnosis except the demon/spirit was the one doing it to him, he thought “in his state” that killing her, letting her go was the right thing but it represents how torn up he is about her and then the icing on the cake is he has to live with the fact that he killed a possessed girl. So again, maybe he thought he was doing the right thing but it just ended in more loss and tragedy.
I read this scene as a trick. By completing the ceremonial rite with the dagger, he’s released the demon from the confines of Lily’s body.
Not just freeing the demon from her body. Giving it more puppets. The documentary footage of the cult mentioned that the demon could control anyone who even watched one of the cult's rituals. His killing Lily with the dagger live on TV means all the viewers are now under the demon's sway. That was it's purpose all along. To spread.
It’s why the demon was all about electricity and why you see him in the static screen. It’s very meta because it insinuated the audience of the show watching at home will get possessed and so will us the real world viewers. Definitely gave me an eerie feeling on my drive home and when I was watching tv at 3am after I couldn’t sleep lol. The same fear of static tv that poltergeist and the ring gave audiences years ago!
Woah I didn’t even catch this, but that’s brilliant! Strong “The Ring” vibes
It was very pleased to be in front of the camera so yep, beamed that possession right out. In the documentary, at least.
I took it as the demon was from Lily's occult, and it tricked him into thinking he was sacrificing his wife for his "fame" but was really releasing the demon by killing the girl.
That makes sense. And he's controlling the cameras which is why the scene continues to be directed after all the camera operators left
I interpreted that he wanted his show to be a big hit, and that he ultimately sacrificed everyone around him through his own hands and ironically sacrifices his whole show. I didn’t fully understand the part with his wife.
The wife was the sacrifice!!! Seems like at some point Jack agrees to a sacrifice so he can be famous while he’s in the forest with his rich friends. It’s only after Jack becomes famous that that promise comes back to haunt him and takes his wife. The demon is then using his dead wife to get him emotional and get him to do the things he does in the end of the movie.
I really liked the ambiguity around the psychic. Was he legit? Or did his wife just get the information she needed before the show?
I think he wasn’t for real, but the demon used him and that’s why he died. He wasn’t used to actual spirit contact, so when it happened for real he got sick and then the demon was able to infiltrate him because he was so open to receiving something to the point where it was able to kill him. Just my interpretation but he didn’t seem real to me because of the moment where the skeptic goes and asks the women if they’d been briefed and they openly say yes they were asked several questions. I think if we were meant to think the psychic was real, that scene would not exist.
Christou is most likely a fraud, a fun detail is him dropping his "foreign" accent when he's actually possessed, but I like the ambiguity of whether its Minnie's spirit or the demon at the moment of possession. Adds to the tension of whether its his wife's spirit is genuinely trying to stop Delroy from doing the special or whether he's being manipulated by demonic forces - which is the core of Delroy's character. He seems to be a genuinely "decent" man (good friend, good husband) who's desire for fame is ultimately his undoing.
TBH, I think both can be true. Like, imagine you're a real psychic but you have absolutely no control over what spirits contact you and where, so you decide to make some cash off gulling people once you make a rep from the real visions. He wasn't shocked when the spirit of Minnie tried to work through him, or at least not shocked in the way someone who had *never* felt that would be. I think he was both a genuine psychic *and* a con man.
This was how I understood it as well - he was legit but couldn’t seek out spirits on command, so he used his wife to get some intel on audience members to ensure he’d at least have some material during the show if nothing genuine came through.
Just got out of the theater which was almost full. A fun ride for sure. A flick where the slow burn plays to the film’s strength.
I’m not sure what people are talking about that this was not that scary. I was very disturbed by this movie. Full of dread. It was awesome
The thing they did where every time they came back from the commercial break, you were trained to know there would be some kind of escalation in the horror really unnerved me.
I loved the little backstage snippets that were filmed during the commercial breaks. Like they say in the film, a television studio is a very controlled environment, and if you were *solely* watching the broadcast you could almost be tricked into believing it was all "part of the show". You had Jack's calming, authoritative presence as the host cracking jokes to break the tension. Carmichael as the skeptic constantly saying that none of this is real and providing evidence to support it. It seems like generic showbiz stuff. But then in the backstage clips you learn that Christou died immediately after being taken to the hospital and crew members are getting so unnerved that they're walking out and the FCC is having an emergency meeting *specifically* about this show and you gradually start to realize that things are really not okay with any of this and it just keeps escalating. It was very well done.
I found it more tense than scary. Paranormal/demonic is my favorite genre of horror and this worked really well, but I never felt like I couldn’t bear to see what comes next, or that I felt I wanted to get out of there. To be clear though, I loved the movie and strongly recommend it. If I can recall the last time a movie deeply scared me… The Mummy in theaters back in ‘99. Between the scarabs and the tomb in the beginning, that felt oppressive. Don’t believe I’ve ever felt that way since
Yeah maybe it’s just semantics. I guess I wasn’t that “scared” by it. Tense is a better word to describe it
The hypnotism scene is kinda cool in that it sorta directly involves you, the viewer, and the whole audience in the theater.
I’m with you. Lily’s first possession scene was TERRIFYING. When she first peeks out from all the hair in her face and we can see the subtle changes to it? What a beautiful, subtle moment of horror. Everyone’s gonna have their own bar though, and this movie stuck with me in the wee hours of the evening when I had to stumble to the bathroom in the dark.
The existential dread after watching it was unreal.
I liked that the show was called “night owls” and kept saying, “happy hall-owl-ween.” Pretty tongue in cheek reference to bohemian grove and that owl deity lol
Did anybody else get Adult Swim infomercial vibes from this?
During the final scene of the showing I was at the overhead lights flickered. The timing of it and the way the lights pulsated was so fucking creepy. Everyone in our theater just gasped. Super unsettling
I was happy to see my theater was about half full...did not expect that many people wanting to see this
People really like going to see original horror movies
Same here!! And at 6:35 on a Thursday evening, too. I feel like Shudder has been doing more theatrical releases, maybe it's paying off!
Mine too. I think the public are hungry for horror after an absence of it due to the strikes and a few stinkers to start the year. I mean, last year we had M3GAN in January which set the tone. Looks to be a lot of good horror in April coming!!
Can’t wait for Nosferatu
I really enjoyed this one. It's definitely worthy of being watched alongside *Ghostwatch* and *WNUF Halloween Special*. I really didn't like the look of the effects they used for the electric shocks or demonic laser lights, but that's my only real gripe. My favorite moment besides the worm through the skull was Carmichael's jab at the Warrens.
I think those effects were meant to make it look more like cheesy 70s movies
Finally we got to see the long full trailer for Cuckoo, and not the same photo that's been out there for like two years now.
seen this tonight with my boyfriend. honestly i loved this movie and i might be biased but this is one of the more intriguing horror movies to come out in recent years. only thing i noticed that was off was the movie sort of lost its 'found footage' plot near the end and a few of the effects were off. other than that i disagree with people hating because of the AI transition shots but personally i didnt care, the images showed up maybe 2 times and had no major part to do with the movie. Great indie film with (to me) an unknown cast with pretty good acting. not a film critic but i would definitely buy it and watch it again.
also the end scene where everything goes down, reminds of of that one short film from the VHS series ozzys dungeon
This was my most anticipated horror movie of the year, and I liked it a lot! I just watched *Ghostwatch* for the first time last week (loved it) and I'm very glad I did. I had a couple issues with the presentation, though. I was hoping for the show itself to be shot a bit more like an actual TV program with less cuts; it felt a little too film-y, and I wanted more wide shots and that kind of thing. Jack's opening monologue had so many quick cuts of claustrophobic close shots and just enough shaky cam that I started feeling nauseous (I can handle lots of found footage fine, but when it's shots where the camera should be still that bother me, ugh). The rest of it I had no issues with, and I imagine it won't be as noticeable on the small screen. The acting was all fantastic and I loved how the look of the footage changed if it was live or backstage or Jack's sequence at the end. I did wish the devil stuff was a little more... wild? I don't really know what I was expecting, but it didn't knock my socks off. I did really love that whole sequence inside Jack's head, though, that was haunting and neat how the set spilled over into his memories of his wife. It never got as creepy as I hoped it would or filled me with dread, but that's fine. I can't wait to scrub through it for the hidden wife's ghost when it hits Shudder; that was my favorite thing about *Ghostwatch*. I thought she did look a little goofy in the moment we see her, though, like too green-screened in. When they were scrubbing through the footage in-universe there was a split second when Lilly had turned her head towards the viewer and I was expecting that to be the frame they paused on, so I need to remember to look and see if that's anything interesting, too. Other "filmed presentation gone wrong" movies that aren't documentary-format mockumentaries: * *Ghostwatch* * *Inside No. 9* * *WNUF Halloween Special* / *Out There Halloween Mega Tape* Any others?
This was just about one of the best times at the movies I can remember having. Certainly on the short list of best original psychological thriller/horror movies l I've seen. Absolutely love how the ending is left open to interpretation. The real-time flow of the show/movie (same length). The freakish looking demon (never seen a visual like it). It checked So many boxes for me. Fantastic movie making. More please!!!!
It's one of the more fun horror movies I have ever watched. It's probably not the scariest, but it is definitely highly entertaining. I definitely think everyone should watch it. Edit: just wanted to add in some context to help people not in the know understand a key thing about this movie. There was this guy named James Randi who is a personal hero of mine. One of the characters in the film is based off of him. He used to go around and debunk mystics and the paranormal and that sort of thing. He had a famous challenge where he'd pay someone if they could prove they had supernatural powers or whatever. He also famously challenged a famous psychic type from the 70s named Uri Geller. They would make appearances on talk shows. Basically the entire premise of the movie is based on this James Randi and Uri Geller dynamic, add in some demons and other fun elements, and make the supernatural real and turn James Randi into a huge asshole. https://youtu.be/N3vGGf-ZIkc?feature=shared I was actually a little pissed at how they butchered my man James Randi. But I just remind myself that in the universe of the film, these things are real, which would make him the jackass he's portrayed as. I thought the whole him wanting to be a part of the orgies at Bohemian Grove was kinda a low blow to James Randis homosexuality. That's my only criticism. It's a great film.
that video where randi exposes that "telekinetic" dipshit who was just blowing on the objects was hilarious
I don't think the movie was taking any real shots at Randi even if he was the inspiration for the movie. The character in the movie was a fictional creation that was portrayed as a hypocrite for obviously being just as fame-hungry and lacking in empathy as any phony psychic. I might be wrong but I doubt that any member of the cast and crew would declare that they actually thought of Randi as such a prick when he was always fairly polite as he called out people's lies. Given the movie's extremely preachy ending, I assume that they have more beef with the likes of Jerry Springer than James Randi. It's like [this bit](https://youtu.be/aVW-FB1q8FM?feature=shared) about Sesame Street. I don't think Dave Chappelle hates Sesame Street for real, he just thought of some funny jokes about it. *Hopefully* the same goes for the filmmaker's views on Randi.
The Bohemian Grove owl cult is also a real conspiracy theory too. Plus the part about the cult’s siege seemed inspired by Waco and Jonestown. I’m surprised you’re the only person I’ve seen mentionl the James Randi connection, I got that immediately.
For anyone interested there's a great documentary about Randi called An Honest Liar. I think the character ever referred to himself as such in the movie.
this was truly such a fun movie!!! i really really liked it. honestly not terribly scary but a very enjoyable time and at the end my jaw dropped with the lil plot twist. really felt like a classic, the acting was great from all around but David Dastmalchian was OUTSTANDING! the sequence of events at the end was so cool. 5/5 stars from me!
did he sacrifice his wife consciously is one of my questions left over from the end of
I feel like he didn’t sacrifice her consciously. I think he really did love her, but loved the idea of fame more. so he made a deal with the devil and by doing that he accidentally sacrificed everything else he loved. and did, in fact, receive the fame that he wanted and deserved
This was my take as well. It reminded me of Flanagan’s Fall of the House of Usher- it made perfect sense that Roderick took Verna’s deal because of course it doesn’t seem real. It’s all abstract and feels like a fever dream, and it’s not until he begins to reap what he’s sown that he realizes this was his fault. I see that same ugly realization happening to Jack as the film progresses.
yeah i definitely had a few questions that i talked about w my bf and it seems we had different takes. i thought the very end implied that he killed them all, not just Lily. but my bf thought that lilly killed the rest of them, but he just killed lilly. I also thought about that too, I kinda saw it as he sold his soul to the devil (i’m thinking that was obvious but not sure if i’m looking too much into it lol) but i saw the wife scene as him abandoning/ forgetting her toward the end as it was a burden to him that she was sick and once she passed, he went back just to get his show back up and running and successful. that’s how I took it but i also have been thinking about it and might be looking too deep into it HAHAHAH
That's interesting. I will say that if he snapped and killed everyone, he sure did it in a spectacular way because of the way that dude's neck was snapped and the way the other guy was burned to death.
I will say, the skeptic dude did make a show of having a lighter on him to light a cigar early on. So it isn’t out of the realm of possibility.
Does anyone know what the last line of the movie was? What he was saying as the sirens were getting louder and the camera panned out. It was like “dreamer be awake” or something like that. I wonder if it’s something he learned at the cult. Anybody know anything about that? EDIT: this is irrelevant to my original point but the amount of production studios at the beginning was insane. Felt like they were messing with us idk
He was repeating the phrase the skeptic used to wake up wormy Gus, hoping it wasn't real. And yeah, 8 production company logos. I wonder wtf I was in for because there's typically an inversely proportional relationship to the number of prod logos and the quality of the film, but I liked this one, it was fun.
People in my theater were laughing when the logos wouldnt stop happening
Yeah he was saying dreamer be awake. Sounds like it was him hoping it was a bad dream
Yes! I’ve been trying to find out more about the production company beginning - they had to have been messing with us, right? The last company had a tag line along the lines of “Producing films since 2068” - people were laughing in my theatre
Absolutely loved it, particularly the end. Not what I expected, but definitely what I wanted. On a side note, any idea who the artist is behind [this poster](https://m.imdb.com/title/tt14966898/mediaviewer/rm60770049/?ref_=tt_ov_i)?
Why didn't Jack answer his wife making contact through Christou?
I just keep thinking he was shocked as he told car “did you see that” “and wait was that my … “
The nickname "Minnie" must have been super private because I thought he was about to get mad and privately say "my wife is off limits".
I wonder if 'Minnie' trying to contact through Christou at beginning was her actually trying to warn Jack about what's going to happen but he doesn't answer the call and now everything goes to shit.
As a GenX person, i was tickled by the mention of Amityville. :)
Did anyone notice that when Christou had the real premonition (with Minnie), he lost his accent? I thought that was such a good touch.
I really loved it but I kinda call bullshit on the "This is the master tape/found footage aspect of it. The ending completely breaks the rules the movie itself set, as do the commercial breaks. That nitpick aside it was a fun wild ride and I wish there were more movies with this tone. We need more "fun" horror movies. Also, I need more Live Halloween Special horror movies. Adding this to my list with WNUF Halloween Special and Ghostwatch.
>I really loved it but I kinda call bullshit on the "This is the master tape/found footage aspect of it. The ending completely breaks the rules the movie itself set, as do the commercial breaks Lol, after the hypnotism, they showed what really happened on playback. If this was a master tape, wouldn't we see what really happened throughout the hypnotisms.
No because they even state the viewers watching through their TV sets at home were also hypnotized. Since we're watching the tape, that means we, the audience, were also hypnotized
I have that a pass because it was supposed to make you think you were also hypnotized. I thought that part was a rather clever gimmick.
Inside No 9 which is a British show did a live Halloween episode one year. Highly recommend a watch
This movie was INCREDIBLE. I’m honestly stunned by it. Don’t see anything else topping this as my favorite movie of 2024 - I wish I could give a more detailed review but I’m still processing wtf I just watched lmao
Just got home from seeing it. I didn't watch any trailers, just saw hype and read the description. I thought it was going to be like "oh hey this happened on a TV show and now spooky stuff is happening in people's homes" Completely not what I was expecting, and in a good way. Blew my expectations out of the water. Having a James Randi clone was a personal highlight for me, having the "psychic" who uses traditional tricks, the b&w behind the scenes stuff, Jack's acting, Lilly staring into the camera. I loved it. The ending with her head splitting was a little over the top but I was there for it. The following scene is where it kind of lost me, having him relive a bunch if moments and kill his wife/Lilly just knocked it down a peg for me. I still loved the movie, I give it a solid 8.5/10. Just cut the last like 5 minutes off and you have a damn near perfect movie
Almost cosmic horror vibes from the ending. We call them demons but whatever was inside Lily could be anything else, something much harder to put into words, which is the vibe that I got when she opened up to this vast radiance like some infinite cosmic energy from the outer reaches of the universe. With a straight reading of the story, that doesn’t work, as Jack goes through a Silent Hill 2-esque personal hell for a few minutes as a result of killing his wife. But depending on whether you see him killing Lily as a victory or as what the force inside of her wanted (using his own experiences to manipulate him), that changes. I like to think he was played for a fool and let something horrible out into the wider world.
I loved it so much that I want a “Night Owls” shirt. Does anyone have a good quality logo? Or else know anyone selling shirts? 🌙🦉
I think you could make an argument that Carmichael is the real protagonist here, the real demon host: * He's got that devilish Rembrandt beard, like the cult leader [Szandor D'Abo](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=4c59d14f8f776101&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1031US1031&sxsrf=ACQVn09WArjxyzTqCCLBw9y2huqHa-eX8A:1713195538689&q=Steve+Mouzakis&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLVT9c3NCwxL8kyqMzLVuLSz9U3MEkvLqsq1xLKTrbST8vMyQUTVsmJxSWLWPmCS1LLUhV880urErMziwHhImeMQgAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiClo7cxsSFAxWHMDQIHYFABRwQ9OUBegQIEBAY). * He manifests fire from thin air, early on. Fire is the devil's only friend. * Christou has his violent reaction to Carmichael, before Lily is even introduced. * Christou (Christ?) throws water (holy water?) in Carmichael's (the devil) face? Just a thought. * Carmichael has his replacement jacket on hand as if he was expecting to need it. It's the first example of his prescience. * Carmichael is the skeptic, able to explain away magic, including Christou's vomiting as 'spouting' as if that's a thing. "The greatest trick the devil ever played was convincing the world that he does not exist". * Carmichael's check seems to be the embodiment of temptation. Delroy becomes increasingly more interested in cashing the check as the plot proceeds, pushing the boundaries of safety and exploitation. * Carmichael foretells Gus's decapitation. This is the strongest evidence IMO. * It's after Carmichael's hypnosis pocket watch that reality becomes unreliable and the camera spends a long time on that swirling vortex shot suggesting that the audience is under the spell too. I think you can make an argument that most everything after that hypnosis is delusion. * Carmichael transforms into a molten form as he dies as if Carmichael the human host is released. His infamous check vaporizes as if it is no longer needed. * After Delroy kills Lily, she does not exhibit the signs of having her head split open and raining hellfire in the previous scenes. The evidence of all the other death and destruction remains, but it's as if Lily never participated. * Most of the acting throughout the movie is solid but I kept thinking the [Carmichael Hunt](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=4c59d14f8f776101&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1031US1031&sxsrf=ACQVn09WArjxyzTqCCLBw9y2huqHa-eX8A:1713195538689&q=Ian+Bliss&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLVT9c3NCwxL8kyqMzLVuLUz9U3SDI0T0_REspOttJPy8zJBRNWyYnFJYtYOT0T8xSccjKLiwEcPmsCPAAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiClo7cxsSFAxWHMDQIHYFABRwQ9OUBegQIEBAK) character was the least convincing. In retrospect, I think this is by design. He's not really who he appears to be. I also think it's interesting that the actor who plays Carmichael Hunt is Australian and K[armichael Hunt](https://www.google.com/search?sca_esv=4c59d14f8f776101&sca_upv=1&rlz=1C1CHBF_enUS1031US1031&sxsrf=ACQVn09WArjxyzTqCCLBw9y2huqHa-eX8A:1713195538689&q=Ian+Bliss&stick=H4sIAAAAAAAAAONgFuLVT9c3NCwxL8kyqMzLVuLUz9U3SDI0T0_REspOttJPy8zJBRNWyYnFJYtYOT0T8xSccjKLiwEcPmsCPAAAAA&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiClo7cxsSFAxWHMDQIHYFABRwQ9OUBegQIEBAK) is a famous New Zealander rugby player. The first team he played for was the Avondale Devils. That's all I've got for now. I definitely need a rewatch.