There is a profound, exhausting sadness that permeates every frame of The Devil All the Time. It is a sprawling, generational tapestry of broken people and broken stories, exploring what happens when malicious intentions are carefully hidden behind a religious mask.

I grew up religious. My mother raised me on that path with the absolute purest of intentions, trying to instill the genuine good that can come from belief. But as I grew older and witnessed the very real, human evil that people are capable of—specifically the darkness they justify using the sacred as a shield—I ultimately left my faith behind. Watching this film is a deeply unsettling experience because it perfectly captures that exact corruption. It presents a grim reality: some of the most horrific acts of evil are committed by desperate people who have convinced themselves that God is working through them.

The narrative does not shy away from the darkest corners of human delusion. We watch a terrified father brutalize his child and sacrifice a dog, genuinely believing that violent prayer will cure his wife's cancer. We witness a man murder his own wife, entirely convinced that the Lord will grant him the power to resurrect her. We see a corrupt priest leveraging his spiritual authority to groom, mislead, and commit horrendous acts against the vulnerable young women who look to him for guidance. The overarching thesis of this film is brutally clear: religion's biggest weakness is people.

To anchor a story this heavy, the performances had to be flawless. The ensemble completely delivers. It is a testament to their craft that I never once saw Spider-Man, Bucky Barnes, Edward Cullen, or the clown from IT on screen. They completely shed their franchise armor, disappearing into these deeply damaged roles and forcing a visceral, emotional reaction to every single character.

This is not an easy watch. There are people I would highly recommend this film to, and there are people I wouldn't let anywhere near it. Proceed with caution.