"Come on now!"
If you haven't watched The Devil All the Time, then for the love of God turn back now.
Spoilers ahead!
In The Devil All the Time, what you see isn't always what you get.
Self-proclaimed holy men lead lives of sin.
Officers of the law are more concerned with protecting themselves than the communities
they've pledged to serve.
Hypocrisy, corruption, and violence run rampant, and everyone is full of secrets.
That's true of the film's characters, and it's true of the movie, too.
The Devil All the Time, which tells the story of a young orphan named Arvin and all the
sordid characters he comes across, is stuffed full of small details and odd little Easter
eggs.
You may not notice them while you watch, but rest assured that each one goes a long way
toward making The Devil All the Time's Midwestern Gothic landscape all the more realistic - and
all the more horrifying.
These aren't the kind of details you'd typically look out for when watching The Devil All the
Time - the story itself is gripping enough that it'll consume all of your attention.
But trust us when we say you'd miss 'em if they weren't there.
The Devil All the Time takes place in two communities.
One is Coal Creek, West Virginia, where the Russell family comes from, and where Arvin
spends his teenage years.
The other is Knockemstiff, a rural community in Ohio's Ross County.
That's where Willard and Charlotte settle after getting married, and where crooked sheriff
Lee Bodecker runs his patrols.
Believe it or not, but Knockemstiff is an actual place.
It happens to be where The Devil All the Time author Donald Ray Pollock grew up, and it's
also the title of his award-winning short story collection.
In fact, in the Devil All the Time novel, Knockemstiff isn't mentioned at all.
In the book, all of the action in Ohio takes place in Meade, a small town about half an
hour's drive away.
In the movie, the diner where Carl meets Sandy and Willard meets Charlotte is in Meade, but
the rest of the proceedings have been moved further south.
The change from Meade to Knockemstiff for the film is a tribute to Pollock and the book
that put him on the map, and it's well-deserved.
After all, without Knockemstiff, The Devil All the Time wouldn't exist.
The soldier that Willard finds on a cross is one of The Devil All the Time's earliest
images, and it sets up the rest of the movie very well.
Plot-wise, this an unforgiving, violent story that takes no prisoners.
Thematically, The Devil All the Time is extremely concerned with perversions of religion, and
Christianity in particular.
As such, crucifixion is a recurring motif throughout the movie.
There's a picture of Jesus on the cross hanging on Arvin's wall.
Arvin, Willard, and Reverend Teagardin all injure their hands, recalling the stigmata.
In fact, that early scene is so brutally appropriate and thematically relevant that it's hard to
believe that it's based on real occurrences, especially in a movie that's so full of bizarre
and extreme violence.
Tragically, though, it is.
While it wasn't common, Japanese soldiers really did crucify prisoners of war during
World War II.
The Devil All the Time is a work of fiction, and its over-the-top acts of violence are
largely fictional as well.
But for better or worse, this one isn't.
"Come on, Theodore."
"Whoo!"
In many ways, Pokey LaFarge feels like a musician from a different era.
He dresses in vintage suits and plays an 80-year-old acoustic guitar.
Even his stage name is a throwback: the musician chose the name "Pokey LaFarge" largely because
he liked its old-timey feel.
Ironically, all of that makes LaFarge one of the most exciting and innovative musicians
on the modern scene, and it also means that he's a perfect fit for The Devil All the Time.
That's why it's not too surprising that LaFarge has a small role in the film: In The Devil
All the Time, LaFarge plays Theodore, right-hand man to Harry Melling's misguided preacher,
Roy Lafferty.
Still, you don't cast LaFarge if you don't want him to sing, and if you think you noticed
LaFarge's twangy voice on The Devil All the Time's soundtrack, you're right.
"Pretty mama don't you tell on me.
I'm stealin' back to my same old used to be."
Not only does LaFarge perform on camera, but he also plays "Banks of the Ohio" over the
movie's end credits.
LaFarge's rendition of the song, which details the murder of a young woman at the hands of
her jilted lover, complements the movie perfectly.
Its light and hopeful tone masks the darkness at its core, and while the tune isn't a LaFarge
original, there's no doubt that he makes it all his own.
Author Donald Ray Pollock didn't write The Devil All the Time's screenplay, but his voice
is still all over the film.
Sure, The Devil All the Time is a remarkably faithful adaptation of Pollock's original
novel.
While a couple of subplots have been trimmed down and the timeline slightly adjusted, all
of the big narrative beats and major characters are there.
But we aren't talking about authorial voice.
Pollock's literal voice is also in the film: He's the narrator.
"It occurred to him that maybe something more was expected than just his prayers and sincerity.
God had a tendency of asking man to make sacrifices in order to prove their faith."
Director Antonio Campos explained:
"Storytelling is an act of creation.
In The Devil All the Time, I wanted to use a narrator to tell the story and build a world
in which we gave a voice to the 'Creator.'"
And who better to play the Creator than the man who literally invented the entire thing?
After all, as Campos says, Pollock knows this setting like the back of his hand, and he
has a great voice.
Campos wasn't sure if Pollock would be into the idea, but to the director's surprise,
the author accepted almost immediately.
His presence adds a layer of authenticity to the proceedings that another actor would
be hard-pressed to recreate.
It's also one heck of an endorsement for fans of the book.
The Devil All the Time is a Pollock-approved adaptation.
Early in The Devil All the Time, young Arvin lounges on the couch reading comics while
his mother works in the kitchen.
However, it's not a comic published by Marvel or DC.
If you look carefully, you can see the company that publishes Arvin's book is called Charlton.
Considering The Devil All the Time's historical setting, that's a perfectly reasonable choice
for a guy Arvin's age.
Charlton Comics was indeed a real company.
It was launched in 1945 and soon made a name for itself publishing horror comics, and helped
launch the careers of many comics industry heavyweights, most notably Spider-Man co-creator
Steve Ditko.
Given that teenage Arvin is played by Tom Holland, the latest big-screen Spidey, that's
an extra fun Easter egg.
Charlton is actually better remembered these days for its own line of superhero comics
too, which launched in 1960 and introduced the world to the likes of Captain Atom, Blue
Beetle, and Peacemaker.
Unfortunately, Charlton wasn't built to last.
In 1983, the company sold its superhero characters to DC, and it was gone entirely by 1985.
Family is the heart of The Devil All the Time.
While almost every character in the movie does at least one truly despicable thing,
most of them are motivated by their desire to protect or avenge their loved ones.
Family was a big part of the movie behind the scenes, too.
Director Antonio Campos co-wrote the script with his brother, Paulo.
His wife, Sofía Subercaseaux, edited the film.
Those aren't the only members of the Campos family who appear in the film's end credits,
either.
Look carefully, and you'll find another.
Now, as you know, Avengers star Tom Holland plays Arvin Russell as a teenager.
But as an infant, he's played by none other than Emilio Subercaseaux Campos, Antonio and
Sofia's son.
While The Devil All the Time takes place firmly in rural America, the horror of foreign wars
looms large over all of its characters.
Willard had his life-changing experience with the crucified soldier, while fighting the
Japanese in the South Pacific, which eventually led to his bizarre take on Christianity and
his ultimate mental break.
Later in the movie, the threat of the Vietnam War grows larger and larger.
Arvin even considers enlisting.
The Devil All the Time even closes with a speech by President Lyndon Johnson that was
delivered in 1965.
By that point, the war had already been underway for a few years, but Johnson's speech marked
a significant increase in America's involvement, one that would only grow as the '60s progressed.
Looking over that speech, it's hard not to see the parallels to Arvin's journey in The
Devil All the Time.
Vietnam was the first war that America really didn't win, and it's unclear if Arvin will
ever win the battle with the darkness inside him.
"Now you remember what I told you, about them boys on the bus that gave you a black eye?
That's what I meant, you just gotta pick the right time."
"Yes sir."
"There's a lot of no good sons of bitches out there."
Thanks for watching.
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