The Devil All the Time

Set in the rural hollows around Knockemstiff, Ohio, The Devil All the Time tracks Arvin Russell from boyhood into a hard edged adulthood. He grows up amid a tangled web of violent neighbors, crooked preachers, and desperate families where danger seems never far away. As Arvin moves through a landscape thick with corruption, religious fervor, and occasional mercy, he must confront the ways trauma shapes choices and loyalty tests the line between right and wrong. The film stitches together multiple fates that converge on Arvin's stubborn resolve to protect those he cares about, whatever the cost. The film moves through spiritual disillusionment, gritty violence, and moments of fragile tenderness.

Directed by Antonio Campos and adapted from Donald Ray Pollock's novel, The Devil All the Time brings a stark, sunbaked Midwest atmosphere to the screen. The cast features Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Riley Keough, and Jason Clarke, with production built around a tense, grim mood.

Critics generally praised the film for its relentless atmosphere and the performers' intense turns, especially Pattinson's morally tangled preacher and Holland's wary, determined Arvin. Themes of religious hypocrisy, inherited violence, and the chance for mercy collide in a bleak road trip through a divided America, where survival drives hard choices and consequences linger.

The film sparked conversation about the way small town life, faith, and brutality intersect, leaving a warning note about the cost of violence hidden behind polished facades. Pattinson's unsettling performance and the movie's tonal severity left an impression on genre fans and added a tangible sense of Southern Gothic dread to 2020 cinema.

Box office visibility was limited by its Netflix release, with the production playing out primarily on streaming and select theaters. Given that it was released to a global audience through a subscription service, traditional box office measures were not the film's main marker of success.