Netflix’s “The Devil All The Time”

[Schlosser85]

Just curious how we'd rank everyone's terribleness?

SPOILER WARNING, I guess.

Offhand, I'd say the most innocent character is probably Lenora or her mother, while the most heinous is probably Carl Henderson (I rank him ahead of Sandy because she at least has some conflict about it and seems like she wants to stop). Personally, I'd rank Teagardin as a worse person than Reverend Roy, because Roy at least seems to actually "believe" (too much, if anything) and has the slight excuse of being delusional, while Teagardin is just a charlatan who abuses his position in the worst way.

Sheriff Bodecker is lousy, but he's more just crooked, apathetic, and lazy than flat-out depraved/perverted like the Hendersons or even Teagardin, though he's willing to commit murder to protect himself/his reputation, like when he offs the crime boss and his henchman, and (it's strongly implied) he intends to straight-up kill Arvin in the end. He's probably actually about the least awful of the various "villains" (which isn't saying a lot).

 

[KaijuDude1992]

Jason Clarke's character was by far the worst IMO next to Pattinson's, because even though they were both pieces of **** at least Pattinson's character wasn't a serial killer, although what he was doing with teen girls was still vile asf. Sandy was also a really despicable character too no matter how much she probably hated doing what she did, because at the end of the day she still went through with it.

Henry Mellling and Sebastian Stan's characters were scumbags too, but nowhere near as bad the first two IMO. Leonora, Charllote and Hellen were probably the most innocent though and Holland's Arvin was sort of caught in the middle, but that didn't make me root for him any less.

 

[Schlosser85]

Jason Clarke's character was by far the worst IMO next to Pattinson's, because even though they were both pieces of **** at least Pattinson's character wasn't a serial killer, although what he was doing with teen girls was still vile asf. Sandy was also a really despicable character too no matter how much she probably hated doing what she did, because at the end of the day she still went through with it.

Henry Mellling and Sebastian Stan's characters were scumbags too, but nowhere near as bad the first two IMO. Leonora, Charllote and Hellen were probably the most innocent though and Holland's Arvin was sort of caught in the middle, but that didn't make me root for him any less.

Arvin for one had reasons to be troubled from his royally ****ed up childhood, and two I kinda see him as a victim of circumstances and his environment. He’s motivated by protectiveness of Lenora. He kind of gets unwillingly thrust into almost becoming a fledgling vigilante, and even then the only person he kills who’s not self defense is Teagardin.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Finally watched this film and I have to say that it’s one of the best films I’ve seen all year. Holland and Pattinson were amazing in this; it almost makes me sad that we’ll never see a Batman/Spider-Man crossover film! This movie felt kinda like a backwoods Pulp Fiction full of scummy characters who all somehow manage to use religion to bull**** themselves into thinking that the awful things they do are justified. Luckily though, even though Arvin is essentially the “good” guy, he never feels like a boring, stoic hero type and he’s easy to root for.

And my God, that voice Pattinson does as Teagarden just made my skin crawl. I wonder if Humbert Humbert was an influence there because he kinda reminded me of him, in more ways than one.

 

[Schlosser85]

Yea Pattinson is super skeevy as Teagardin.

Jason Clarke was icky too.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yea Pattinson is super skeevy as Teagardin.

Jason Clarke was icky too.

Yeah Clarke was a creepy POS too. I also thought Stan and the guy who played Lenora’s dad were good villains too. The latter might have been the Bat**** craziest of all the characters, though that’s debatable.

This film was a really interesting look at what fanatical, fundamentalist ideals can do to people. Probably the only reason Arvin didn’t turn out to be a psycho like his dad was because he didn’t lean into religion the way everyone else did.

 

[Schlosser85]

Yeah Clarke was a creepy POS too. I also thought Stan and the guy who played Lenora’s dad were good villains too. The latter might have been the Bat**** craziest of all the characters, though that’s debatable.

This film was a really interesting look at what fanatical, fundamentalist ideals can do to people. Probably the only reason Arvin didn’t turn out to be a psycho like his dad was because he didn’t lean into religion the way everyone else did.

Yea I'd say Reverend Roy was the craziest character. It's part of why I give him slightly more leeway than I do Teagardin, because he was straight-up delusional.

I don't think Teagardin was really religious, he just found a good racket.

 

[Deck Rickard]

Yeah I agree. He was like a phony televangelist just on a much smaller scale.

 

[Chesterfield]

I don't think Teagardin was really religious, he just found a good racket.

This, unfortunately is the case for so many self-righteous religious people; especially so-called religious leaders. Mind you, not all are like this but a good chunk of them are.

 

[Schlosser85]

Luckily though, even though Arvin is essentially the “good” guy, he never feels like a boring, stoic hero type and he’s easy to root for.

.

I read one review that referred to Arvin as dim-witted, and I thought that was a weird description. Arvin doesn’t come off as dim to me. He sees straight through Teagardin, he senses something’s not right with Carl and Sandy, and he knows or at least strongly suspects that Sheriff Bodecker is there to kill him. He’s probably more aware of his environment, better at seeing through people’s BS, and has better survival instincts than anyone else in the movie.

 

[Deck Rickard]

I read one review that referred to Arvin as dim-witted, and I thought that was a weird description. Arvin doesn’t come off as dim to me. He sees straight through Teagardin, he senses something’s not right with Carl and Sandy, and he knows or at least strongly suspects that Sheriff Bodecker is there to kill him. He’s probably more aware of his environment, better at seeing through people’s BS, and has better survival instincts than anyone else in the movie.

Yeah, absolutely. His conversation with Teagardin pretty much confirms there’s much more to Arvin than meets the eye. I assume when your dad kills your dog, it makes you pretty wary of suspicious people.

 

[Schlosser85]

Yeah, absolutely. His conversation with Teagardin pretty much confirms there’s much more to Arvin than meets the eye. I assume when your dad kills your dog, it makes you pretty wary of suspicious people.

I love the suspense in the car ride scene too, the little tension building details like Arvin noticing how nervous Sandy is trying repeatedly to light a cigarette.

 

[AVEITWITHJAMON]

Watched this last night and sadly wasn’t as impressed as I hoped to be. The acting by all was a standout but some plot threads seemed pointless towards the end goal and I didn’t like how some of the threads came together towards the end. Arvin got lucky a few too many times for me as well.

It was good but no the great. Marvel need to give Holland more dramatic material and Pattinson between this and Tenet has managed to have a really good year. 7.5/10.