Unsure on this one, but here we go.
What is the work?[]
Late Night with the Devil is a fun 2024 supernatural horror film written and directed by Australian brothers Cameron and Colin Caernes. It is made in the style of a "found footage" film detailing a documentary discovered the lost footage of one of the most sensational events to have happened in American television history. We follow Jack Delroy, a down-on-his-luck host of a late night show Night Owls with Jack Delroy and how he is trying to save his show from tanking after the death of his wife.
So, with the rising of interest in the occult and Satanism, desperate times call for desperate measures...
Who is it? What has it done?[]
Not much is known about the demonic entity nicknamed Mr. Wriggles by Lilly D'Abo. It is speculated that the demon is a lower-ranked demon and a subordinate of Abraxas, but it appeared to have possessed the young woman around the time of the mass suicide of the cult dedicated to Abraxas. The demon would also be the same one encountered by Jack during one of his visits to The Grove which is more or less a reference to the infamous all-male secret society the Bohemian Club where the elites are believed to perform satanic rituals and run the world. Conspiracy aside, Jack, who was fighting to get the most ratings against his rival Johnny Carson of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson fame.
Whether it was intentional or not, Jack makes a deal with Mr. Wriggles and... he would get what he was looking for, but it would require a steep sacrifice. That being his beloved wife Madeleine getting diagnosed with lung cancer despite never smoking before in her life. She would eventually die. Despite her death, the show was still suffering in ratings leading to Jack becoming increasingly desperate.
So... October 31, 1977... Halloween night.
Due to a little something called the Satanic Panic, many people had become interested in the occult and Jack decides to take advantage of the trend. He first introduces the "psychic" Christou who at first seems to be a phony with him resorting to using cold readings... at least until he senses a dark force in an actual premonition. He also identifies someone by the name of "Minnie" and pleads for someone to answer. Afterward, Christou's state does not improve: while having a heated dialogue with Carmichael the Conjurer, a skeptic who derides him as a fraud, Christou projectile vomits black goo at Carmichael and is taken to the Mount Sinai Hospital. However, he would die en route from internal hemorrhaging.
Now for the next guests. Meet parapsychologist Dr. June-Ross Mitchell and Lilly D'Abo, the sole survivor of the aforementioned mass suicide. June sees herself as Lilly's caretaker, but she also has no issues with exploiting her so that her research would be taken seriously so... After she gets heckled by Carmichael, Jack suggests she do a conjuring on live tv. Which she does. Mr. Wriggles appears to prefer to look contorted as his name implies since he has Lilly's limbs crack in bizarre angles.
Wriggles recognizes Jack, noting that they met under the tall trees leaning towards the idea that he knew what Jack had done. Carmichael tries to prove that the whole "possession" thing was a hoax by mass hypnotizing the audience and making it look as if worms were crawling out of Gus McConnell's body. However, when Jack demands that they play Lilly's possession to compare, things go berserk with Lilly shooting bolts of electricity from her hands and her head splitting down the middle as Mr. Wriggles manifests.
In a quick succession, Mr. Wriggles twists Gus' head 360 degrees until his neck broke; sets Carmichael on fire (not before burning his check), and strangling June to death. As Jack tries to escape, he is tossed into a series of nightmarish renditions of his past episodes. He finds himself back with The Grove and drinks from a chalice as part of a satanic ritual before meeting his wife. His wife, asking him if they told him that he would be getting everything he wanted, begs him to stab her with a dagger. He complies... but...
It turns out that he actually stabbed Lilly to death. The film ends with Jack maddingly repeating "dreamer, be awake" as sirens blare in the distance.
Mitigating factors? Freudian Excuse?[]
No, it has no tragic backstory or anything of that sort. It is simply a sadistic entity that takes immense amusement at Jack's desperation, holding the fact that he sacrificed his own wife (whether intentionally or otherwise) over him and eventually kills the cast in gruesome fashion especially with Carmichael where he takes the time to disintegrate the check he had (he would give it to anyone who could prove the supernatural existed) before burning him alive/melting his skin.
Heinous standard[]
Abraxas is the greater scope villain here, but does not make a physical appearance. As for any other antagonist, there was Szandor D'Abo was the leader of the cult of Abraxas and had several children born, such as Lilly, for satanic rituals. He then has his cult commit mass suicide when they were in danger of being apprehended by the police. He might count, probably have to think on him.