Quartile rating: 7/10 · 1 rating
In Knockemstiff, Ohio and its neighboring backwoods, sinister characters converge around young Arvin Russell as he fights the evil forces that threaten him and his family.
The Devil All the Time is a sprawling Southern Gothic ensemble piece elevated primarily by its remarkable cast — Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, and others deliver genuinely committed, often outstanding performances that anchor an otherwise unwieldy narrative. The plot weaves multiple threads across decades with some skill but struggles with pacing and feels overstuffed, never quite achieving the cohesion its ambition demands. Visually it is competent and appropriately bleak but not particularly distinctive — dark, muted, and functional rather than artistically bold. The novelty score reflects that this type of intersecting-fates Southern Gothic crime drama (think Winter's Bone, Mud, or Hillbilly Elegy) is well-trodden territory, and the film doesn't bring a sufficiently unique voice or formal innovation to stand apart. The ending resolves threads adequately but offers little surprise or emotional payoff beyond grim inevitability, which feels somewhat by-the-numbers for the genre.