10 Crime Thrillers To Watch If You Liked Netflix’s The Devil All The Time

Netflix’s latest offering The Devil All The Time is a star-studded crime saga detailing the lives of several sinister characters in the American Midwest. Directed by Antonio Campos and based on a book by Donald Ray Pollock (who also narrates the film), the thriller drew praise mostly for the performances of Robert Pattinson and Tom Holland. Despite its few flaws, The Devil All The Time still makes for a highly engaging hyper-violent flick with religious undertones.

The gritty feel to its setting and characters make it a perfect recommendation for those who are into similar dark and violent crime sagas.

10 There Will Be Blood (2007)

Paul Thomas Anderson’s magnum opus There Will Be Blood is in a whole different league but it’s still similar to the Netflix thriller in terms of its visuals and tones.  The period drama is set during the California oil boom and chronicles the rise of ruthless oil tycoon Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis).

Religion too plays an important role in the narrative with Paul Dano’s character of Eli Sunday, a local preacher whose land the oilman usurps. The preacher suspects Plainview’s intentions and engages in a feud with him that spans over many years. Greed and capitalism are a few other themes that the film touches on by contrasting both the characters.

9 Sweet Virginia (2017)

The Punisher’s Jon Bernthal stars in this neo-noir as a rodeo rider who befriends a man (Christopher Abbott) in a sleepy town. When he discovers his new friend’s knack for violence, the protagonist tries to uncover the recent turbulence that has been plaguing the town.

Sweet Virginia deals with the philosophies of violence while detailing a highly engaging plot. The story initially feels like it has been ripped out of the pages of a pulp novel but transcends beyond genre conventions with the emotional take on its characters.

8 The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs (2018)

The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs charters more of comedic territory but still delivers on the thrills with the classic twists the Coen Brothers are known for. The Netflix film is an anthology weaving several tales in post-Civil War America. It plays around familiar tropes of the Western genre adding a certain edginess to the characters.

While all stories are different from each other, most of them explore the mindlessness of greed and violence behind human actions. Another amusing aspect of the film is the music, with several characters breaking into musical numbers at random.

7 Bad Times At The El Royale (2018)

The multi-starrer thriller by Drew Goddard can be seen as a modern-day Agatha Christie story with its multiple scenarios. The titular El Royale is a shady California hotel that forms the setting of the film. Seven strangers meet at the hotel in 1969, each carrying their own dark past. With these different stories divided into violent chapters, audiences also found the movie to be pretty Tarantino-esque.

While Bad Times At The El Royale‘s slow-burning duration might not be for everyone, the film’s cast pulls off a stellar job with the likes Cynthia Erivo, Chris Hemsworth, and Jeff Bridges.

6 Frailty (2001)

The concept of religious fundamentalism is echoed in this haunting thriller. Frailty stars Bill Paxton as a deranged Texas pastor who thinks that it’s his divine mission to kill corrupted humans who according to him, embody the devil. The stakes get higher when his two sons are forced to accept his ways. While one son blindly follows the preacher, the other questions his morality.

Frailty is a thoughtful yet disturbing look into the end of innocence and the extreme heights to which zealots can go. As the FBI tries to hunt down the man of God, the psychological horror brims with tones of a crime thriller too.

5 Gangs Of New York (2002)

The classic theme of revenge is evoked in this period gangster drama by Martin Scorsese. Gangs Of New York is ambitious in all aspects right from the fighting sequence in the start, the accurate production design, and the nuanced accents of the cast. This is a film that attempts to show the birth of modern-day America through hate crimes and street brawls, through personal vendettas, and changing leaders.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Amsterdam Vallon, a man seeking revenge from his father’s killed ‘Bill The Butcher’ (Daniel Day-Lewis). It’s in the backdrop of this revenge saga that the history of the city as well as the country gets reshaped as it’s set right at the start of the Civil War.

4 Hell Or High Water (2016)

To put it in a nutshell, Hell or High Water is the story of an aging Texas Ranger (Jeff Bridges) chasing two desperate bank robbers (Ben Foster and Chris Pine). However, this doesn’t imply that the neo-Western is an adrenaline-fueled heist film. It is instead a slow-burning thriller that focuses on its multi-dimensional characters.

The bank robbers are given a proper backstory as they attempt to buy back their ranch in the wake of an economic collapse. The Ranger, on the other hand, explores Western Texas in his pursuit of those criminals. His partner of half-Mexican and half-Native American descent (Gil Birmingham) often brings up observations in the journey that question White American colonization. Taylor Sheridan’s screenplay weaves out several introspective story arcs in this manner.

3 Prisoners (2013)

Denis Villeneuve’s English debut Prisoners stars Hugh Jackman as a father whose child has been kidnapped while Jake Gyllenhaal plays a detective assigned to the kidnapping case. When the case seems to be heading towards a dead-end, the deranged father attempts to find the truth in his own way.

Prisoners tragically shows the extent to which humans can go to protect their loved ones. It has enough elements to make it a fast-paced thriller but Prisoners takes its own pace at attempting to fully understand its broken, troubled characters.

2 Unforgiven (1992)

Clint Eastwood had started his career with a slew of Western heroes but in his directorial venture Unforgiven, Eastwood stars as a far cry from his yesteryear glory. His character William Munny is an old gunfighter and a widower who’s trying to distance himself with his violent past. He’s forced out of retirement for one last job with a new protégé and his old partner.

A Western of epic proportions, Unforgiven doesn’t glorify violence but explores redemption and the never-ending cycle of guilt. Munny wants to avoid violence but his circumstances force him to pick up arms again. Morgan Freeman as his partner in crime and Gene Hackman as the primary antagonist also deliver some of their career-best performances.

1 No Country For Old Men (2007)

Another introspective neo-Western, No Country For Old Men finds the Coens in their most serious mood. The premise is simple. A homicidal maniac (Javier Bardem) chases two million dollars that a hunter (Josh Brolin) chances upon. A disillusioned sheriff embarks to deliver justice in his so-called final case.

Bardem’s Anton Chigurh doesn’t speak much but his terrifying expressions are enough to make him a modern-day Bogeyman. The desolate Texas landscape complements the film’s tone of hopeless bloodshed. The violent world of this film is disturbingly raw and real.

About The Author

Shaurya Thapa
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Shaurya Thapa is an Indian freelance journalist who mostly dabbles in writings on cinema, music, and human interest features. When it comes to Screen Rant, he writes lists on a wide array of subjects ranging from international films to mainstream Netflix series and comic book trivia. He also hosts a podcast called ‘BhindiWire’, an Indian parody of IndieWire.

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