Towards the start of quarantine, I went out of my way to hunt down Donald Ray Pollock’s gothic hillbilly novel, The Devil All the Time, only after learning that it was being adapted into a feature film for Netflix. I also saw the cast list, which locked in my need to read this novel ASAP. And I did! If you follow my blog at all, you probably read (or at least glanced) at my review for the novel. I really enjoyed it! Not only did it take place in my home state, but it also was graphic and violent. There was such an intricate and desolate web woven between all of these characters that really sucked me in.
I’m happy to report that the movie pretty much followed the novel’s trajectory word for word. It probably helped that Pollock was present in some capacity, offering up a bit of narration to add some context. Which I also agree was necessary. Not all of Pollock’s mastery could be acted out, so a set-up was useful in parts. We saw the whole trove of Pollock’s characters, the main one of which was Arvin, who is the ultimate connection between all of these twisted people. We first meet his parents, Willard and Charlotte, then Helen, Roy, and Theodore, Lenora, the new reverend Teagardin, Carl and Sandy, and her crooked cop brother, Lee.
Because that’s where it ends, with the crooked cop. Not after Arvin works his way through these degenerates first. Some of the actors screen time was short, but so was their presence in the novel, although that did not make their impact any less so. The film covered everything from the sacrifices at the prayer log, to Carl and Sandy’s work with their hitchhiker “models,” to the reverends sinister recreational activities. While I was glad none of these things were glossed over, I also thought they could have stood to be a little more graphic. Why sugarcoat it? They are already bad people, so make so there’s a lasting impact.
I do feel like there could have been a little more time spent diving into the background of why all these miscreants were the way they were, but then you’re looking at a really long film or a miniseries (oh, I would have liked that better!). Realistically, I think more time could have been spent with Roy and Theodore, and with Carl and Sandy. Their stories in the novel were very compelling. With all that being said, I really felt like everyone stood out with the material they were given! And if you thought Robert Pattinson’s accent in The King was weird, well gear up, because his southern accent is even better than it was in Damsel. Watch it for something dark and twisted!