The weathered musings of an unseen narrator sound slowly over a black screen and then a map of the mid-eastern United States. The map focuses on two tiny towns in Ohio and West Virginia as the narrator suggests that a combination of luck and divine providence kept connecting these small but corrupted communities.
As the title of the novel-turned-film would suggest, religion and spirituality play a key role in Netflix’s new psychological thriller, “The Devil All the Time.”
With a strong ensemble cast led by Tom Holland, this film has no shortage of noteworthy performances. Each actor commits to the depths of their characters’ devotions. In a particularly memorable scene toward the beginning of the film, Harry Melling’s traveling preacher Roy Laferty (Harry Melling) delivers a sermon about fear, culminating in dumping a jar of live spiders on himself.
Christianity’s ubiquitous nature in the story allows for each character to interact with it in differing ways. For some, specifically most of the female characters, their faith provides a source of comfort and calls them to be kind, generous and forgiving. This trusting nature enables others, most notably Reverend Teagardin (Robert Pattinson), to ensnare them with rationalizations.
About two thirds into the movie, the reverend gives an impassioned sermon on “DE-LIEU-SIONS,” attempting to anchor himself in some form of moral justification by blaming other people. As a quick side-note, ruffled dress shirts have never looked so scummy as they did on Reverend Teagardin.
While watching Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgård) go further and further into delusions of his own, I remembered several homilies from Monsignor Brownsey , director of St. Joseph Chapel and the Newman Center, about how God isn’t a divine Santa Claus granting wishes. Willard unfortunately believes that if he and his son Arvin ( Tom Holland) pray hard enough, God will cure his wife’s cancer. As heartbreakingly expected, this does not work. Willard’s mindset, shared by other characters as well, leads to even more pain and hurt throughout the film.
Despite growing up in a religious family, Arvin seems largely indifferent to prayer. Some viewers may relate to his lack of participation in the Sunday services, going because he should, not because he wants to be there. Even still, he recognizes the value Christianity has for others, especially his step-sister Lenora.
The soundtrack, filled with catchy mid-century religious country and folk songs mixed in with memorable– if not somewhat standard–strings and piano to provide suspense. As my neighbors can probably attest, I have been very eager to learn “Washed in the Blood” and “Wings of a Dove” on my guitar. They’re pretty boppin’.
This movie definitely earns its R rating. It has copious amounts of violence, murder and sexual content, sometimes in the same scene.
At times, it feels gratuitous, especially considering the film’s 140-minute runtime. Because of how long it is, the movie says a whole lot without saying anything at all. Most of the substance comes from the performances since the script is a little lacking in flushing out why the characters are so broken. The timeline and location of some scenes can become jumbled and unclear because the setting is two different cities spanning 20 years.
Overall, I would rate “The Devil All the Time” a 7.5/10. The performances, especially Pattinson’s, are a definite highlight but can’t quite make up for a dragging script. I would recommend it to anyone who likes films with morally gray characters committing violent acts.
