Did you love Late Night with the Devil? Tune in to these similar films!

Late Night with the Devil has been getting rave reviews. The film, which opened on March 22, tells the story of a desperate 1970s late night talk show host who decides to book a supposedly possessed girl for his Halloween episode.

Presented as “recently discovered footage” of the event, Late Night with the Devil shows us some pretty terrifying events towards the end (with some fantastic practical effects), all of which happened in front of a live (and very horrified) audience.

While Late Night with the Devil is a very good film, realistically presented in nearly perfect 1970s-style, it’s not the first movie to feature a similar premise. There are at least two other movies that are also set during a live television event on Halloween night, and in both, an attempt to present spooky Halloween events goes terribly wrong.

Ghostwatch was first presented on BBC1 on Halloween of 1992. People tuning in to watch an anthology series called Screen One did not see the expected opening credits; instead, they saw what truly appeared to be a live television news show.

During the broadcast, a “live investigation” of a supposedly haunted house was performed. A woman and her two daughters claimed to be regularly visited by a poltergeist they call “Mr. Pipes,” a ghost who inhabits the basement of their home. He is fond of making lots of noise, and regularly possesses one of the daughters, sometimes causing her physical harm.

Viewers believed this was really a live news show, partly because the in-studio host and the two hosts performing the investigation were actual television reporters.

As the investigation goes on, some intense paranormal activity begins to take place, and the finale is genuinely scary. BBC claimed to have received over one million viewer phone calls during the broadcast of Ghostwatch, and the show was never shown again on UK television due to the War of the Worlds-type reaction of the general public.

You can watch Ghostwatch on Shudder currently.

WNUF Halloween Special genuinely looks as if it was recorded on a VCR in the 1980s (though it was actually released in 2013). So invested were the creators in making it look real, they recorded it on cheap film stock, then re-recorded it via VCR to purposely make it look old and degraded.

In the film, we are treated to another Halloween night news special, complete with anchors dressed in cheesy Halloween costumes. They are joined by a third reporter who is on the scene at a “murder house” said to be haunted by the man and woman who were killed there. Their son committed the murders, claiming that a demon he contacted through a Ouija board commanded him to do so.

As you would expect from a film with this plotline, things go terribly wrong in that house, and people end up terrified and/or dead. But what really makes WNUF Halloween Special so – well, special – is the 100% commitment to make this entire film look like an old VHS recording. The filmmakers even created 80s-style tv commercials.

Anyone who was alive and watching television in that time period will feel like they have stepped into the way-back machine. WNUF Halloween Special is a real treat to watch, at Halloween, or any other time of year.

While I was unable to find WNUF Halloween Special streaming, it can be purchased on DVD or Blu-ray.

Late Night with the Devil is currently in theatres, but will be available to stream on Shudder April 19.