Evil resides in small towns
Sol Garcia | THE RIDER
If you own a Netflix account, chances are you have already seen “The Devil All the Time.” If you haven’t, why not?
Released in select theatres and Netflix in September, “The Devil All the Time” stars Marvel’s Tom Holland and Sebastian Stan, Bill Skarsgård from “IT” and “Twilight’s” Robert Pattinson, along with other known celebrities.
Based on a book by the same name, the movie opens with Skarsgård as Willard Russell during World War II. Russell and his comrades encounter a U.S. sergeant nailed to a cross. If that’s not horrifying enough, the sergeant is revealed to be alive, leaving Russell no choice but to shoot him to end his pain.
After his service, Russell marries a waitress, whom he adores. They have a child together named Arvin in a small town, and Russell has become religious. When Russell’s wife Charlotte gets cancer, Russell believes if he and Arvin pray enough, Charlotte will be cured. To ensure God is listening, Russell sacrifices Arvin’s dog, an event that will haunt the innocent boy forever. Just like his father will always be haunted by that crucified sergeant.
After more experiences with death, Arvin later relocates to another small town to live with his grandmother, uncle and Lenora, his younger adopted step-sister. As Arvin and Lenora grow into young adults, Lenora clings to religion to cope with her mother’s death and her father’s disappearance. Meanwhile, Arvin only attends church for his grandmother and Lenora’s sake.
Like most young adults, Arvin has to make tough decisions. Not which university will suit him best or what career path he wants to follow, but choices that deal with morality. There’s a lot of bad people out there, as Russell and Arvin colorfully state. Is Arvin bad if he does bad things to bad people? Of course not, for he is serving justice. He’s doing what has to be done. Right?
There are many stories intertwined with Arvin’s, like the tale of Lenora’s parents, a corrupt cop, and Sandy and Carl, the couple who pick up male hitchhikers to murder them after sexually coercing them. If you need more convincing to watch the movie, watch it for Robert Pattinson, who acts as a preacher. Spoiler alert: he is one of those bad people in the movies. His performance unsettles all viewers, meaning he did amazing.
In fact, all of the actors excelled in this movie, and so did the content. There were so many unsettling scenes, and that’s because Skarsgård didn’t even do his famous eye trick. From the cross scene, to a face full of crawling spiders, to the disturbing polaroid pictures of fetish and death, the movie was packed with disturbing moments that you couldn’t stop watching. That’s how you know the director, writers and producers, including Jake Gyllenhaal, did a great job on this film.
Let us also not forget the narration. If a movie is about rural small towns, there’s probably going to be a narrator. “The Devil All the Time” is no exception, but there are a few unique traits in the storyteller. The narrator is voiced by the novel’s author, Donald Ray Pollock, and he does not sugarcoat. Hearing more colorful language in a deep, serious voice can tone down the movie’s overall grave themes, but not by much.
The movie carries a heavy load of somberness and darkness like each character does. You see how faith can easily disappear, and you wonder if anyone is truly innocent in this movie. Maybe none of them are innocent and all are sinners. Maybe you’ll easily sympathize with our main character, and maybe you’ll view Sandy as another victim. If you can stand the heaviness of evil and endure viewing the murders and rape, “The Devil All the Time” should be your next pick for a psychological thriller.
“The Devil All the Time” receives a sunny rating of: ☼ ☼ ☼ ☼.
Reviews are based on five suns.
