In terms of audience awareness, a violent confrontation between the actors playing Spiderman (Tom Holland) and Batman (Robert Pattison) respectively should be an easy sell. Throw in Sebastian Stan from the Captain America films, plus Pennywise actor Bill Skarsgard, and you’ve got a very appealing package, but comic-book fans need not apply to this bleak, if often compelling Mid-western Gothic drama. Based on a book by Donald Ray Pollock, The Devil All The Time has a literary feel, with lots of voice over, tonnes of plot, and a nihilistic feel that’s hard to shake. It’s a high quality product from Netflix, and they should get some credit for shooting high in terms of their estimation of their target audience’s patience.
Willard Russell (Skarsgard) returns from World War 2 to settle in the grim town of Knockenstiff Ohio, where his mother attempts to set him up with the mousey church-goer Helen (Mia Wasikowska). Willard has his own ideas, and sets up his own family, but Willard’s relationship with his son Arvin is stretched by the death of Willard’s wife from cancer. Now played by Tom Holland, Arvin ends up farmed off to his uncle, and develops a protective relationship with his sister Lenora (Eliza Scarlen). Protection is required, since a new preacher named Preston Teagardin (Pattinson) takes a sinister shine to her. Meanwhile sub-plots involving a murderous couple (Jason Clarke and Riley Keoch) and local cop Lee Bodecker (Stan) simmer as the corpses begin to pile up.
And the piling up of the corpses is an issue here; in a novel, there’s plenty of time to explore motivation and remorse, but Antonio Campos’ drama sometimes feels reading like a Wikipedia summary, with incident crammed in and no pause for reflection or nuance. That’s no bad thing in terms of a trashily compulsive drama, and there’s a certain entertainment value in watching the field thin around Arvin, a seeded player in a heated-competition of semi-pro homicidal maniacs. The performances are all well-honed, as is the film’s visual palette; Lol Crawley captures a bleak, hand-me-down look that helps nail the feel. If you’re read William Faulkner’s Light in August, or even Harry Crews’ Feast of Snakes, you’ll have a handle on the cynical view of small-town life here, and even if it’s a soap opera, it’s a scrupulously well-assembled one.
John Huston’s Wise Blood or even Charles Laughton’s Night of the Hunter might be cinematic relations to this tale of preachers, sex and murder; it’s a damning portrait of religion as the endless justification for abusive men to continue their abuse by cloaking themselves in the disguise of Godliness. Issues of race aren’t tackled here, but it’s hard to imagine any race keen to get representation amongst this motley crew. Instead, a sour taste is left by the lack of developed female characters; The Devil All The Time takes a title from the non-stop battles fought by Arvin’s dad, but the fight is very male, and the treatment of women as objects or possessions without agency of their own is frustratingly old-fashioned. The film-makers may feel that such issues fall outside their chosen scope, and these issues aside, this is a big-star, big ambition piece from Netflix, out today, and one which should entertain and horrify their audience in equal measures.
Thanks to Netflix and Organic for advance access to this title.
THE DEVIL ALL THE TIME releases globally on Netflix September 16
https://www.netflix.com/title/81028870
I get what you mean about the murder couple feeling like a Wikipedia summary. Unfortunately it’s all too common in films these days to flit through interesting stuff like that, though the film would probably be three hours long had the filmmakers fleshed them out some more.
And I’d be completely OK with that.
Good call…this could have been a series, right? Or as long as The Irishman seemed…
Sounds like an interesting watch, the cast has my attention too! I don’t mind a little bleakness if the film offers something to think about at least. That’s my weekend sorted. 🙂
Cool, would be keen to hear what you think; it’s a weekend watch for sure. Hope you’re not scared of spiders!
Elmer Gantry territory-plus. I hadn’t been a big fan of Pattinson but thought he was the best thing in Tenet. Shall put it on my to-watch list.
Night of the Hunter and Wise Blood are two impressive comparisons, it’s quite old-school; think you’ll enjoy!
The more I read your reviews, the more I’m convinced by the eloquence of your thoughts. I had this on my watchlist since its announcement, not because I envisioned a Batman vs. Spider-Man psychological horror thriller, but just for the scope and vision of the movie. It does sound like it has its fair share of issues but isn’t a complete disaster. I’ll give it a go. Thanks for the excellent review! Really cool that you got early access to it!
Not a disaster by any means, just a matter of taste. A literary flavour is a good thing, the acting is great, and if audiences self-select, it’ll have many fans. But warnings for content should be in place, it’s bleak and violent fare…
Cloaked in godliness – that’s profound.
At last! An intelligent comment! Thank you!
Hmm….a bit conflicted about this film. For one I do like these types of movies, but with the week I’m currently having I don’t think it’s the right movie to watch at this moment. Doesn’t mean I won’t though, just not right now. Definitely does sound like a good one though, and you can’t go wrong with a cast like that (well almost not anyway)😊
Hope your week gets better! This is a tough movie, and no easy watch, but if and when you’re in the mood, it’s rewarding for sure…
Thanks well…it hopefully can’t get any worse 😅😅
But yeah I am definitely looking forward to this at it sounds totally like my cup of tea😊
Nihilistic? Definitely going to pass.
Of course, being a netflix production, I wouldn’t be seeing this anyway, as all the streamers seem pretty tight about keeping their originals only available on their stream.
I wouldn’t imagine it’ll be your cup of tea…non stop nihilism in this one…
I’m going to pull a Fraggle and say “Nope” then!
You have opening a Pandora’s box with that comment. I’ll be nope-ing your posts like nobody’s business.
Ha, is that supposed to scare me? I can eat an entire pizza in one sitting I’ll have you know.
Going to take a LOT more than a drive-by Fraggling to scare me!
Iron much?
I’m guessing you meant “Irony”?
And totally. What would be the point otherwise?
Now, if you meant if I iron my shirts often because of eating pizza, then I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you again.
And another one goes off in a riff about ironing…post ironic ironing …
Can you bring a slice of pizza down to the van?
Sure. But it’ll cost you 10 anchovies. Inflation you know…
Only asking since my attempt to create meaningful discussion about highbrow cinema seems to have been hi-jacked by those who want to discuss ironing…
Indeed. I think ironing has more real world impact than movies do.
In fact, I’ve been considering changing my blog from a book blog to an ironing blog since I’ve never seen an Ironing Blog and I bet the market for that is huge!
Let’s start one! Seems like everyone is mad keen to discuss it!
Ok, this is weird. I’m getting comments from you as both Streaming-Admin and 10seconds.
Feels like I’m talking to 2 people!
If we can leverage it in our ploy to make anchovies the world economy, we should be sitting pretty.
Oh, I just paid attention. Only Admin is talking. 10seconds is doing all the “liking”. I see who wears the pants in that relationship!
Sorry for any confusion. OK, ironing is about to be the new rock and roll!
No confusion. That was all on me. I was in the midst of a pizza orgy so was a little bit distracted.
I bet there are some songs about rock-n-roll that we can repurpose for Ironing. The kids will totally dig it.
Wait, one little detail, what speed does your washing machine go?
Sorry, we’re not that good friends yet. That kind of secret info is reserved for the Inner Circle…
I gave it my best shot. Can’t blame the world for wanting to know.
You did try. I’ll give you an A for Effort…
I thought I would just sneak in and catch you thinking of rock and roll songs about ironing.
For the record, I had NOT read Fraggles comments, so it was a complete coincidence that we both were talking about ironing.
I guess there is a huge market for ironing blogs…
Hmmm was going to do this at the weekend, not so sure now! Sounds grim.
I’d wait for the right mood, something critics rarely have the luxury of doing. It’s very well acted, and like a deep dive into a bestseller full of murder and mayhem, certainly works if that is what you’re looking for. So if and when the mood takes you…
I think I’ll make it my ironing movie 🙂
How much ironing do you do?
About a pile.
Why don’t you just hang it in the shower and let the creases come out naturally?
Philistine.
I can’t believe I’m having to defend my laundry arrangement on this forum.
There is no defence.
You have to wonder how many movies featuring religious figures there are nowadays that aren’t damning portraits of religion. Maybe First Reformed tried.
First Reformed was good, something of a product of the director’s obsession. Fake faith is clearly a theme here, that religious faith hides venal motives, and there’s no positives here from a religious point of view. That’s 2020 I guess.