The Devil All The Time: The Hidden Meaning Behind Carl & Sandy’s Photographs

WARNING: Major spoilers for The Devil All The Time

Netflix’s The Devil All The Time is a character-driven psychological thriller that focuses on the details, including a secret hidden meaning behind Sandy and Carl’s photographs. An adaptation of the novel of the same name, The Devil All The Time is an extremely violent southern gothic melodrama that has already proven controversial with audiences. The film is filled with symbolism and metaphor, further complicating its convoluted story of various tragedies intersecting in small-town, post-war America. With an ensemble cast including the likes of Eliza Scanlen, Bill Skarsgård, and Haley Bennett, it’s a surprisingly brutal and uncompromising fusion of horror and crime cinema.

However, many viewers missed out on the subtle hints toward the film’s meaning on first viewing, understandably distracted by the tense plotting, superb performances, constant gore, and Robert Pattinson’s interesting accent choice as the predatory preacher Preston Teagardin. Luckily, a closer look at one of the film’s recurring motifs—the image of murderous duo Carl and Sandy’s photographs—can clarify the movie’s stark commentary on America’s history of war abroad.

The Devil All The Time tells the tale of numerous antiheroes and straight-up villains across a pair of remote southern towns, and one presence never far from the film’s focus are lovers Carl and Sandy. A pair of frisky sweethearts, the duo are soon revealed to be psychotic killers who pick up hitchhikers and drifters only to mutilate, murder, and dismember them in short order, knowing the victims are unlikely to ever be found. As portrayed by The Lodge‘s Riley Keough and Pet Sematary‘s Jason Clarke, Sandy and Carl are a far cry from the glamorous thrill killers of Bonnie and Clyde and, unlike those antiheroes or the stars of Natural Born Killers, they’re not based on a real couple. The pair are sad, sordid, and only able to pull off their sick spree because Sandy’s adopted brother is the town’s corrupt sheriff. So what is the significance of Arvin leaving the photographic evidence of their crimes behind on Sheriff Lee’s corpse?

The Devil All The Time Is Full Of Lying Authorities

From Pattinson’s preacher to Sebastian Stan’s Sheriff Bodecker, the latest addition to this growing rogues’ gallery of memorable villains, The Devil All The Time is filled with lying authority figures who use their friendly public image to mask horrific behavior. It’s important to note that Tom Holland’s disturbed protagonist, Arvin, is no saint either. Notably, all of the violence meted out by himself and his father is done in full view of the public. Both father and son are unwell people in need of serious psychological help, and like the original ending of First Blood, the film offers a heartbreakingly realistic depiction of society’s dismissal of PTSD. Both are ignored and written off as largely harmless by a public who doesn’t want to deal with their obvious instability. This is where Arvin and his father can be read as an embodiment of the US military’s worst aspects, as the pair are prone to outbursts of extreme violence that are viewed as understandable because they’re protecting their family and home.

Like a lot of soldiers, Arvin and his father genuinely mean well, so it’s important to note that the violence, cruelty, and moral rot they constantly encounter comes from preachers, sheriffs, and other corrupt authority figures. As such, it’s pretty significant that Sandy and Carl’s most graphically mutilated victim is a young male soldier who they castrate in the movie’s most upsetting image. Gory horror is less controversial than it used to be, so there has to be more to this sight than merely cheap shock value.

To clarify the metaphor, the evidence of their crimes is soon destroyed by a political figure and lawman who has a vested interest in maintaining an outwardly acceptable, all-American veneer. The repeated refrain of “I have an election coming up” is used by Sheriff Bodecker to excuse covering up mob affiliations, murders, and torture throughout the film. This a phrase that would sound right coming from any of America’s many presidents during the country’s 20 year occupation of Vietnam, which points to The Devil All The Time‘s most poignant connection with the photographs.

The Photographs Represent Vietnam’s ‘Televised War’

The film opens with the story of Arvin’s father witnessing the horrors of WWII. In a bit of clear symbolism, he sees an American soldier bloodied and crucified on the battlefield, a secret he never shares, but which contributes to the PTSD that leads to his eventual suicide. By the time The Devil All The Time reaches its ending, Arvin is considering enlisting in the Vietnam war, which was then entering the middle of its two-decade duration. In the decades since the conflict drew to a close, the Vietnam war has been known among scholars and media historians as the first “televised war”.

While WWII and Korea had their fair share of atrocities, the constant barrage of gruesome imagery broadcast into homes across America via television sets had a massive impact on the public perception of the war. Coverage of events like the My Lai massacre, the Incident on Hill 192, the use of Agent Orange, and other war crimes led to an international outcry that drove the US out of Vietnam, and permanently altered the public image of America’s army abroad as “peacekeepers” who were “bringing American values overseas“.

Arvin, America, And Dirty Secrets Made Public

This isn’t the first time Netflix productions have addressed America’s legacy history in Vietnam, with Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods controversially featuring footage of real-life wartime atrocities. This more subtle evocation of the nation’s misadventures abroad allows The Devil All The Time to make a broader critique of America’s short memory when it comes to unjustifiable invasions. Lee’s complicity in the crimes of his sister—and Arvin’s revelation thereof—can be read as a metaphor for Vietnam’s legacy of exposing the brutal enforcement of American values abroad and opening the eyes of the public to the horrors that their authority figures are responsible for. Significantly, a local lawman tells Lee that the preacher Arvin killed “had it coming“.

Thus, Lee actively chooses to kill Arvin and cover up his sister’s crimes even though she’s already dead, meaning his only remaining aim is to ruthlessly consolidate power and influence for their own sake at the cost of Arvin’s life. The Devil All The Time’s ending is lifted almost verbatim from the source novel and, in both cases, the sheriff can be seen as an embodiment of an uncaring class of career politicians, willing to sacrifice the lives and minds of countless civilians and soldiers alike for their gain. With the continuing occupation of Afghanistan overtaking Vietnam as the longest war in American history, The Devil All The Time‘s unsparing critique couldn’t come at a better time. As the film’s title tells audiences, Arvin’s father spent his whole life fighting because the enemy killing him was at home in America all along.

About The Author

Cathal Gunning
(1446 Articles Published)

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Cathal Gunning has been writing about movies and TV online since 2020. His obsessions include The Simpsons, Stephen King, the Scream series, and the horror genre in general. He has spent more time thinking about Stranger Things than the writers of Stranger Things, and he has never seen a Star War.

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