All the Devils Are Here
Any plan is only as good as the parts which fit together to make it happen: Ronald Lake a veteran of the gangster fraternity, entrusted to make the heist run smoothly and given the details by Harold Laing, right-hand man of Mister Reynolds who must not be disappointed and must never be crossed, he is told who his team will be, the unstable psychopath Grady, who immediately unleashes his bloody temper, and newbie wheelman Royce, distracted in the getaway and causing another casualty.
Their passage to foggy Dartmoor and rendezvous with accountant “Numbers” undertaken without further incident, their firm instructions are to lay low in the farmhouse until they are contacted by agents of Mister Reynolds, but with the supplies in the fridge and the booze in the pantry dwindling as tempers fray and Numbers hides out in the attic, it becomes apparent Hell is empty and all the devils are here.
Its world premiere at the Edinburgh International Film Festival attended by cast and crew, All the Devils Are Here is a dark and claustrophobic crime thriller moving into the shadows of horror, the four men confined to the crumbling building and with nowhere to go beyond those walls even if they were not under strict order to stay inside and unseen, Ronnie (Eddie Marsan) trying to maintain order and dignity in what he hopes might be his last job, a man who clings to what little honour a thief can claim in such ugly company.
Grady (Sam Claflin) obvious as the man who will bring trouble to them all, incapable of moderation in his behaviour, drinking to excess, goading and harassing those around him, he trusts none of the others but in particular the rodent-faced Numbers (Burn Gorman) who prefers the company of Cilla Black to the other men, while Royce (Tienne Simon) is newly inducted into the fraternity, finding his feet, overwhelmed and easily swayed when the wind blows across the barren land of thorns.
Directed by Barnaby Roper from a script by John Patrick Dover, All the Devils Are Here is not a game of happy families on a weekend break nor is their pig farm the Ritz, the plumbing hostile and the electricity erratic and the visit from “C” (Suki Waterhouse) bringing no good news, only causing more ructions, the stolen cash upstairs more tempting as the days crawl by with no word of what is expected of them or when they will be released from limbo.
With no reasonable expectation that this is time spent in the company of men upstanding and pure, it is inevitable that it is a film of blood, mud and tears, Ronnie trying to guide Royce into not making the same mistakes as he did but the cards already dealt, yet despite the performances of the ensemble, earnest, creepy and frightening, that All the Devils Are Here is not enough, needing a greater and more shocking twist than what is offered to elevate it beyond the realm of many films of parallel theme and intent.
The Edinburgh International Film Festival continues until Wednesday 20th August
