The Devil All the Time (2020)
- General info
- Available formats
- Synopsis:
Set in rural southern Ohio and West Virginia, 'The Devil All the Time' follows a cast of compelling and bizarre characters from the end of World War II to the 1960's. There's Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgård), tormented veteran of the carnage in the South Pacific, who can't save his beautiful wife, Charlotte (Haley Bennett), from an agonizing death by cancer no matter how much sacrificial blood he pours on his "prayer log". There's Carl (Jason Clarke) and Sandy (Riley Keough) Henderson, a husband-and-wife team of serial killers, who troll America's highways searching for suitable models to photograph and exterminate. There's the spider-handling preacher Roy (Harry Melling) and his crippled virtuoso-guitar-playing sidekick, Theodore (Pokey LaFarge), running from the law. And caught in the middle of all this is Arvin Eugene Russell (Tom Holland), Willard and Charlotte's orphaned son, who grows up to be a good but also violent man in his own right. - Actors:
- Robert Pattinson, Haley Bennett, Tom Holland, Harry Melling, Bill Skarsgård, Riley Keough, Eliza Scanlen, Mia Wasikowska, Sebastian Stan, Jason Clarke, Abby Glover, Douglas Hodge, Drew Starkey, Pokey LaFarge, Lucy Faust, Given Sharp, Michael Banks Repeta, Kristin Griffith, Gregory Kelly, Jason Collett
- Directors:
- Antonio Campos
- Narrated By:
- Donald Ray Pollock
- Writers:
- Antonio Campos, Paulo Campos
- Genres:
- Drama, Thrillers
More like The Devil All the Time
Found in these customers lists
Reviews (1) of The Devil All the Time
Interesting Crime Drama - The Devil All the Time review by GI
This is a gothic noir set in the backwoods and about 'poor white trash' in an ensemble tale spanning from the end of the Second World War into the mid 60s. The narrative circumnavigates around Arvin (Michael Banks Repeta as a child then Tom Holland as the older) who grows up in a small Ohio town of Knockemstiff (not made up apparently!) where his war traumatised father is a devout christian and forces his son into various sacrifices in order to try and save his wife from cancer. Of course this fails and death, corruption and murder follow Arvin around. This is all covered through various characters including a married couple who are on a depraved killing spree (Jason Clarke & Riley Keough), a corrupt town sheriff (Sebastian Stan) and a perverted and thoroughly icky priest played with smarmy perfection by Robert Pattinson. This is a thoroughly macabre story, well produced but too long and to be honest I struggled to see what the actual point was. Death and misfortune follows Arvin wherever he goes even to the very end where his final association is with a suitably enigmatic character whose identity I assume I guessed correctly - the film doesn't confirm or deny my theory. This is watchable and sometimes very intriguing but overall it's all a little vague and unsatisfying, worth the time for the great performance of Pattinson though.