The Devil All the Time: An Adaptation That Takes on Too Much

Antonio Campos' adaptation of The Devil All the Time is an ambitious drama with too many characters to keep track of. Some characters and themes get minimized because of how broad the film is, but the film tries to handle more than it can.


The Devil All the Time is a story of multiple generations in the American heartland. It illustrates how faith and evil interact throughout the years. The film has a dirty sense to it with a dark, grim coloring in every scene. The families impacted by murder and tragedy make this story very dark.


It also handles the relationship between fathers and sons. Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgard) returns home to Knockemstiff, Ohio from World War II. He carries the weight of PTSD that has been melded with faith because he found a man who had been crucified. When he looks up audiences can see the horror on his face.


The first part of the film follows Willard's son, Arvin. Arvin's mother Charlotte gets sick and themes of faith and life and death weave into the narrative. Willard teaches Arvin to respond to violence with violence.


There is a lot of story for a whole movie. From the early scenes, the story spirals out into multiple other stories of people connected to the Russells including a corrupt cop and his sister, who is married to a serial killer. The story jumps ahead to an older Arvin that is trying to protect his half-sister. In addition, there is a corrupt preacher that enters the story and it is up to Arvin to stop the cycles of violence.


From looking at it the film looks like a lot that is hard to capture, Every scene feels like it is weighed down with a theme. Too much is happening at once and it moves too fast without breathing.


The film feels like a collection of scenes about violence and religion. It is not a film for everyone with its themes of violence, It doesn't work well.