Late Night with the Devil

Judges' comments

A whip of a ride that grabs the reader from the first scene and pushes in ever increasing stakes of unease to finally reach the macabre. Set on a 1977-era live television broadcast set, the story explores an increasingly unhinged talkback host desperate to reach the heights of his previous ratings as he engages with his disturbing, sensationalist guests.

The location and all that it stands for — media, ratings, pleasing an audience — is used to its full extent to create a well-crafted metaphor for the ruthlessness of TV, the price of ratings and toxic entertainment culture. Cameron and Colin Cairnes cleverly place all of this in a tight horror package that pushes the envelope of the format by playing with a mix of elements including live camera, behind the scenes components and found footage. Throughout the script, they expertly ensure the fragile psychological elements are kept as alive as the supernatural ones.