What age is The Devil All the Time appropriate for?

The Devil All the Time is rated R and PopcornCheck recommends it for ages 18+, based on reading the actual screenplay. The film contains graphic depictions of serial murder including Carl chopping up a victim's body, the sexual abuse of teenage Lenora by Preacher Preston Teagardin leading to her suicide by hanging, Willard shooting his own dog as a religious sacrifice in front of his child, Roy murdering his wife Helen with a screwdriver in a failed resurrection attempt, and multiple graphic execution-style shootings — this content is entirely inappropriate for anyone under 18.

Does The Devil All the Time have swearing or bad language?

The Devil All the Time has Extreme language. fuck/fucking/fucked is used 87 times throughout the film — the most frequently used strong profanity by a significant margin.

Is The Devil All the Time violent?

The Devil All the Time has Extreme violence. Willard and soldiers discover a crucified Marine body in a war flashback — shown graphically as a formative trauma that drives Willard's religious obsession.

Is The Devil All the Time scary for children?

The Devil All the Time has Extreme scary scenes. Preacher Preston Teagardin grooms and repeatedly sexually abuses teenage Lenora under the guise of religious mentorship — one of the most psychologically disturbing sequences in the film, depicting predatory authority in explicit detail.

Is The Devil All the Time OK for Kids?

Name: The Devil All the Time
Director: Antonio Campos
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Released: 2020
Duration: 138 min
Cast: Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Riley Keough, Jason Clarke

CrimeDramaThriller

18+

R⭐ 7.1 / 102020 · 2h 18m

Antonio Campos

Where to Watch

United States

Stream

Rent or Buy on Amazon

Streaming data by JustWatch

What's In It

Based on the actual screenplay

🗡️Violence

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Cartoon / Comedic

Action & Peril

Injuries & Death Shown

Graphic & Disturbing

Willard and soldiers discover a crucified Marine body in a war flashback — shown graphically as a formative trauma that drives Willard's religious obsession.
Willard shoots his own dog Jack in a misguided act of faith to try to save his wife from cancer — depicted graphically and witnessed by his young son Arvin, constituting severe childhood trauma.
Roy stabs Helen in the neck with a screwdriver in an attempt to resurrect her through faith — shown graphically; he then buries her body in the woods.
Carl shoots Roy execution-style with a gun to the head — shown directly on screen.
Carl sexually assaults and murders Private Gary Matthew Bryson, and subsequently chops up the victim's body and stores it in a suitcase — among the most disturbing sequences in the film.
Arvin beats Gene Dinwoodie, Tommy Matson, and Orville Buckman severely in a prolonged physical confrontation behind a school.
Arvin shoots Preacher Preston Teagardin during a confrontation in a confessional setting, shoots Sandy in what appears to be an accidental car confrontation, shoots Carl twice fatally, and shoots Sheriff Bodecker multiple times at the prayer log location — the final act contains a sequence of multiple killings.
Characters die by gunshot, stabbing, and implied dismemberment; deaths are shown clearly on screen rather than implied.
Weapons used include handguns, a screwdriver, and fists; the overall tone of violence is relentless, consequence-laden, and presented without glamour — but also without restraint in its depiction.

💬Language

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Mild Words

(damn, hell)

Moderate

(ass, b**ch)

Strong

(sh*t)

Extreme

(f**k)

f**k/f**king/f**ked is used 87 times throughout the film — the most frequently used strong profanity by a significant margin.
da**/god da** appears 34 times; s**t/bulls**t appears 28 times; b**tard appears 8 times.
hell appears 12 times; wh**e appears 7 times; a**/asses appears 6 times; Jesus Christ used as an expletive appears 5 times.
No single scene is free from strong language — profanity is pervasive and used by nearly every adult character across all settings.
The word 'wh**e' is used in a degrading context toward female characters, and religious expletives reflect the film's thematic tension with faith.

👻Scary Scenes

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Mildly Tense

Startling Moments

Genuinely Scary

Deeply Disturbing

Preacher Preston Teagardin grooms and repeatedly sexually abuses teenage Lenora under the guise of religious mentorship — one of the most psychologically disturbing sequences in the film, depicting predatory authority in explicit detail.
Lenora's suicide by hanging in a barn is shown on screen — a deeply traumatic scene that follows directly from her abuse and pregnancy.
Young Arvin discovers his father Willard's dead body at the prayer log — a child encountering a parent's suicide depicted directly.
Roy's graphic sermon about hell, rats eating flesh, and eternal damnation is delivered with intense theatrical menace and religious horror.
Child Willard is forced to pray intensely while his father slaps him and threatens his mother's death — depicting childhood religious abuse.
The serial killer couple Carl and Sandy hunt hitchhikers in a sustained sequence of building dread — the audience knows what is coming before the victim does.
Sheriff Bodecker dying slowly from multiple gunshot wounds is shown in prolonged detail at the prayer log location.
Arvin is hunted through dark woods by the Sheriff in a tense night sequence with an unclear outcome.
There are no traditional jump scares — the horror is sustained, psychological, and rooted in human cruelty rather than supernatural threat.

💕Romance

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Crushes & Holding Hands

Kissing & Dating

Suggestive

Sexual Content

Preacher Preston Teagardin coerces teenage Lenora to undress under religious pretense and sexually abuses her multiple times in his car — this is depicted as grooming and rape of a minor and is among the film's most disturbing content.
Carl forces Gary Matthew to lie with Sandy in a suggestive photograph as part of the couple's predatory ritual before murder.
Roy and Helen share physical intimacy in a car before Roy murders her — the juxtaposition of intimacy and violence is deliberate and disturbing.
Willard and Charlotte share intimate moments in a car — suggestive rather than explicit, depicting the beginning of a genuine romantic relationship.
Lee engages in an intimate encounter with a woman in a parking lot — shown suggestively.
Arvin's protective feelings toward stepsister Lenora are presented as familial rather than romantic.
The film treats sexual content primarily in the context of abuse, predation, and violence rather than affection — there is no healthy romantic relationship depicted in explicit terms.

🍺Substances

Moderate▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Mentioned in Passing

Shown Casually

Featured Prominently

Glorified or Abused

Carl and Sandy offer Gary Matthew alcohol and encourage him to drink — shown prominently as part of their predatory grooming before his murder; substance use is used as a manipulation tool.
Uncle Earskell shows Willard alcohol and mentions having more in his kit — shown prominently as a casual feature of the characters' world.
Willard drinks liquor casually to celebrate falling in love — shown without negative consequence in this instance.
Willard smells liquor on Emma's breath — mentioned briefly in dialogue.
Roy is described as potentially having drunk strychnine or antifreeze during a sermon — referenced verbally rather than shown.
Alcohol is not glorified but is shown as a consistent feature of Appalachian working-class life; it is also weaponised as a tool of predation in the Carl and Sandy storyline.

⚡Stimulation

Extreme▼

Moments in the script, mildest → most intense

Gently Engaging

Exciting

Intense

Overwhelming

Roy's intense religious sermon with theatrical delivery about hell and eternal damnation is rated Overwhelming — the scene is designed to create maximum psychological pressure and dread.
The serial killer sequence with Carl and Gary builds sustained dread over an extended period before erupting into graphic violence — also rated Overwhelming and likely to be distressing for most adult viewers.
Willard's brutal beating of the poachers, Arvin's fight with three bullies, multiple final-act gunshot sequences, and the Sheriff's slow death scene are all rated Intense — rapid and physically brutal.
The film's pacing is deliberately slow and suffocating rather than chaotic — stimulation comes from psychological dread and cumulative violence rather than fast editing.
Not suitable for sensory-sensitive viewers of any age — the film's darkness is relentless and offers little tonal relief.

The Devil All the Time — Heads Up for Parents

Despite the film's many warnings about violence, the most likely content to catch parents off guard is the sustained, detailed depiction of Preacher Preston Teagardin's sexual grooming and repeated abuse of teenage Lenora in his car under religious pretense — this sequence is explicit in its portrayal of predatory coercion of a minor and leads directly to her on-screen suicide by hanging, a one-two sequence that is far more graphic and disturbing than the film's promotional materials suggest.

About The Devil All the Time

The Devil All the Time is a dark, multi-generational Southern Gothic drama set in rural Appalachia from the 1940s through the 1960s, following interconnected characters bound together by violence, religious extremism, and inherited trauma. It traces the lives of troubled men and women — including a war veteran consumed by faith, a serial killer couple who prey on hitchhikers, a predatory preacher, and a young man named Arvin who ultimately becomes a violent avenger protecting those he loves. The film is unrelentingly bleak in tone, treating religion, corruption, and cyclical violence as its core subjects.

⚠️

Watch with your child

The sexual abuse of a minor, a child's suicide, on-screen dismemberment, and a child discovering a parent's body are among the content that makes this film entirely inappropriate without a parent present for any viewer under 18, and even then parental discretion is strongly advised — the film's themes of religious abuse, predatory authority, and cyclical violence require careful discussion that most viewers under adulthood are not equipped to process alone.

Family Takeaways from The Devil All the Time

What it gets right

✓The film unflinchingly depicts how predatory adults exploit religious authority — Preacher Preston Teagardin's grooming of Lenora is shown in its full horror without romanticism, making it a powerful illustration of how institutional trust can be weaponised against the vulnerable.
✓Generational trauma is portrayed with genuine consequence — Arvin's capacity for violence is directly traced to Willard's extremism, showing how cycles of harm are inherited and how difficult they are to break, which is a meaningful subject for mature audiences.

The Devil All the Time Cultural & Values Guide

Cultural & Values Guide

Faith & Religion

●Christian themes

The entire narrative revolves around corrupted Christianity, with multiple characters claiming divine purpose for their actions. Prayer, church attendance, and Christian faith are central to every major character's motivation and the film's exploration of religious hypocrisy.

●Religious mockery depicted

The film systematically portrays Christian faith as corrupted and dangerous, with the preacher character using religion to manipulate and harm others. Every religious character is shown as either deluded or evil, presenting a sustained critique of Christian belief.

Community Notes

Christian and evangelical communities have raised concerns that the film disproportionately depicts Christian faith as a source of violence, abuse, and psychological harm without presenting any genuinely redemptive expression of Christianity.
Advocates for sexual abuse survivors have flagged that Lenora's grooming, rape, and subsequent suicide are depicted in considerable detail and may be deeply triggering for survivors of religious sexual abuse.
Appalachian community advocates have noted the film risks reinforcing negative stereotypes about rural Southern poverty and culture by concentrating extreme violence and dysfunction entirely within this setting.

Cast:Tom HollandRobert PattinsonBill SkarsgårdRiley KeoughJason Clarke