HALLOWEEN HORROR: Late Night With The Devil (2023)

On Halloween night 1977, in a bid to win the ratings war, late night talk show host Jack Delroy (David Dastmalchian) hosted a live demonic possession on his show, Night Owls.

The (faux) documentary, Late Night With The Devil, screens the whole show, intercut with black and white, candid, behind-the-scenes footage when the talk show cuts to commercials.

It opens though with an account of Jack's rise to fame (narrated by Michael Ironside), his involvement with The (the very real) Grove, the tragic death of his wife Madeleine (Georgina Haig), and his constant struggles - and failures - to score better ratings than The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson.

The documentary segues smoothly into Jack's Halloween special episode of Night Owls, which opens with an obviously fake psychic, Christou (Fayssal Bazzi), who clashes with magician-turned-professional sceptic Carmichael Haig (Ian Bliss).

Eventually, Christou (who might actually be sensing something) ends up projectile vomiting blood over Haig before he is taken off to get medical attention, making way for the evening's main attraction.

Then  the show (and film) introduces us to young Lilly (Ingrid Torelli), who was rescued from a brutal Satanic cult (who all, otherwise, died by fire rather than allow the FBI to take them in). Her saviour was parapsychologist author June Ross-Mitchell (Laura Gordon), who became the girl's guardian and then started working with her, trying to understand if she really was possessed by a supernatural entity.

From the get-go, Lilly is a demonic Jan Brady with a dead-eyed thousand yard stare, but once June reluctantly calls forth whatever is inside the young girl - she refers to it as Mr Wiggles - her transformation is terrifying and impressive.

Even amongst an impressive line-up of older actors, Torelli gives a bravura performance as the centre of attention, who manages to be nightmarishly creepy even when seemingly trying to be nice and not channelling dark forces from the great beyond. 

Dark secrets are laid bare, convictions are challenged, people die graphic deaths, and general shenanigans ensue.

The build-up, and pacing, directed by Cameron and Colin Cairnes from their own script, is methodical and steady, giving the gradual of collapse of the Night Owls talk show into chaos and carnage a genuine sense of believability.

Perhaps this really is recently unearthed footage from a legendary episode of American '70s late night talk show folklore...

This is the stuff creepypasta and urban legends are born out of.

Kind of aiming for similar territory as our Ghostwatch (with a liberal dash of The Exorcist), Late Night With The Devil does a spectacular job of maintaining verisimilitude while seeding clues through its simple and straightforward storyline, right up until the end.

It just fails to stick the landing by seemingly breaking its format to peel back the curtain for anyone who hadn't already twigged why everything was happening.

Maybe a documentary bookend, akin to the opening of the film, digging more into Jack's background might been better, but then again the repeated image of Jack shouting into the camera "turn off your television" is still very striking (and very Invasion of The Body Snatchers).

I guess it could be classed as found footage, but don't be put off by that, this isn't hours of shaky cam as teenagers run through woods in the middle of the night, this has higher aspirations than that.

In truth, while "found footage" can be more miss than hit with me, I do have a particular soft spot for this story format sub-genre, the mockumentary presenting something supernatural as if it were real, especially when they are done well - which Late Night With The Devil is (barring that one niggle of mine).

HALLOWEEN HORROR: The Atticus Institute (2015)

The Atticus Institute is a mock documentary about a 1970s Pennsylvania research lab investigating fringe science, paranormal abilities, telekinesis etc.

Although they have a modicum of success there is nothing quantifiable that would stand up as solid proof of these supernatural abilities actually existing until a woman called Judith Winstead (Rya Kihlstedt) is introduced to the scientists by her sister (who promptly abandons her, disconnects her phone and severs all ties with her sibling).

Judith is odd, but right off the bat demonstrates to the institute's head Dr Henry West (William Mapother) a range of unnerving abilities.

Eventually, as her abilities escalate, it's clear that Judith's powers are beyond the control of the institute and one of their number calls in the military and the US Government, who take over the experiments and push Judith even harder.

The more extreme the tests get, the more extreme the results are.

And then when the government realises they are dealing with a true case of possession they decide the best thing to do is attempt to "weaponise" the demonic entity.

Naturally, that all goes according to plan...

This isn't a found footage film, it sidesteps that damnable fad by being essentially a montage of short clips, stills and interviews - using faux footage and snapshots from the 1970s, intercut with present-day talking head interviews with those connected to the events.

The Atticus Institue is a little gem, sharing some thematic - and stylistic - elements with the BBC's superb Ghostwatch from 1992, that writer/director Chris Sparling has crafted so that (in his own words from the 'behind-the-scenes' extras) people switching channels on TV and finding the film already playing will think it a genuine documentary.

The only thing that slightly undercuts that ambition is the use of, to me anyway, recognisable faces like Lost's William Mapother, Harry Groener, and John Rubinstein.

Given the verisimilitude that Sparling has created for this film, unsurprisingly - but bravely - The Atticus Institute doesn't offer any clear answers, rather it poses a lot of questions about what we are watching and who is really controlling the unfolding events.

It is also paced like a documentary - even though it opens with a tantalising tease of the horrors to come - and so demands attention from its audience.

Although there are a handful of jump scares, the film works best on a psychological level, challenging the viewer to think about how governments would react if possession - and other such horror movie fodder - were genuine.

A unique, powerful, clever and inventive horror film, if you give it the respect it deserves The Atticus Institute will worm its way into your brain and hang around for a good while.

HALLOWEEN HORROR: Ghostwatch (1992)

Imagine a cross between Most Haunted and The Amityville Horror, broadcast 'as live' on the world's most reputable TV channel.

Cast genuine TV presenters as 'themselves' for that extra air of authenticity and you can only begin to imagine the controversy that was stirred up when this was originally broadcast on Halloween night, 1992.

Looking at it now the age lines are starting to show, the technology is dated and some of the supporting performances (particularly the in-studio parapsychologist and the mother) leave a lot to be desired, but there is no denying the creeping terror that can still be felt as the show gradually descends into supernatural anarchy.

The Early family claims it is being haunted by a ghost they have nicknamed 'Pipes' and the Beeb have come to investigate in a Crimewatch style.

They even have phone-ins, which now (obviously) come across as staged, but to the original audience must have been very convincing.

Sarah Greene wanders around the haunted council house with her crew and the family; Craig Charles is outside interviewing neighbours; Mike Smith is handling the phones back in the studio and Parky is co-ordinating the whole show.

All very 'reality TV', and establishing the template for the live editions of Most Haunted, Dead Famous, and countless others these days, but with far more impact than those young upstarts ... mainly because things do actually happen! None of this 'oooh, we've just seen an orb' nonsense.

Like The Haunting, Ghostwatch is frightening not for what you do see (because you don't actually see that much) but what is heard and suggested.

However, be warned, with the crispness of the modern image it is much easier to catch elusive glimpse of the evil Pipes - reflected in windows, hiding behind curtains etc

Although only a 12-certificate, Ghostwatch is not for those of a nervous disposition.