The Devil All the Time

Antonio Campos brings Donald Ray Pollock's 2011 novel to the screen with a grim, Southern Gothic sweep. The Devil All the Time unfolds in the decaying rural towns of Knockemstiff, Ohio, and the backwoods of West Virginia, where a cast of damaged souls circles young Arvin Russell. Tom Holland plays Arvin, a quiet, fiercely protective boy who learns early that violence is the only currency that matters. The ensemble around him is stacked: Robert Pattinson slithers as a charismatic but predatory preacher, Bill Skarsgård is Willard, Arvin's haunted war-veteran father, and Jason Clarke and Riley Keough play a couple whose murderous hobby takes them down the same highways. Sebastian Stan's corrupt sheriff and a pair of twisted siblings round out a world where faith and cruelty bleed together.

Produced by Jake Gyllenhaal's Nine Stories and shot by Lol Crawley, the film carries a slow-burn dread that suits its 1950s and 1960s setting. It landed on Netflix in September 2020 after a planned theatrical run was scrapped, and it quickly found an audience hungry for something dark and literary. Critics were split on its relentless grimness, but the performances and atmosphere earned genuine praise. It's a crime thriller that's less about plot twists than about the weight of inherited sin. [edit]

Willard Russell returns from the Pacific theater a shattered man. The war left him with nightmares and a desperate need for meaning. He marries Charlotte, a sweet-natured woman, and they settle in Knockemstiff, Ohio, where they raise their son, Arvin. Willard's faith turns fanatical after Charlotte is diagnosed with cancer. He builds a wooden cross in the woods and begins sacrificing animals, convinced that God will spare his wife if he offers enough blood. When Charlotte dies anyway, Willard's mind breaks. He commits a shocking act of violence and takes his own life, leaving young Arvin orphaned and hardened.

Arvin goes to live with his grandmother Emma, but the story widens to follow other lost souls. In Coal Creek, West Virginia, Roy Laferty, a snake-handling preacher, believes he can raise the dead. After a failed resurrection attempt kills his wife, he abandons his daughter Lenora and flees, eventually crossing paths with Willard in a fateful encounter. Meanwhile, Carl and Sandy Henderson travel the highways, picking up hitchhikers. Carl photographs his victims as they die, and Sandy helps him. Their road trips become a killing spree that will intersect with the lives of several main characters.

Sheriff Lee Bodecker, Sandy's brother, protects her secret while abusing his power. In Meade, Ohio, Reverend Preston Teagardin arrives at the local church, using his pulpit to prey on vulnerable young congregants, including Lenora, who now lives with her grandmother after her father's disappearance. At the center of this web stands Arvin, now a teenager. He is quiet and fiercely protective, especially of Lenora, whom he considers his sister. He has learned that violence is the only thing that matters. As the various threads tighten, Arvin must confront the predators around him: the preacher, the murderous couple, and the corrupt sheriff. The story builds toward a confrontation that tests his capacity for violence and his understanding of morality.[edit]