The primary setting of The Devil All the Time is based on a real American town, but is it anything like the one depicted in the movie? Directed by Antonio Campos, the Netflix crime film begins in post-World War II Virginia and then shifts to a small Ohio community. According to author Donald Ray Pollock, who wrote the film's source material, Knockemstiff has a reputation for being a tough place to live.
In The Devil All the Time, Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgård) and wife Charlotte (Haley Bennett) move from Coal River, Virginia to Knockemstiff in 1957. They raise a son named Arvin (Michael Banks Repeta), who learns about the cruel ways of the world, certainly within his Ohio community. Campos depicts Knockemstiff as a place where loyalty only emerges through family members, and so the odds are stacked against Arvin when Willard kills himself after Charlotte dies from cancer. The Devil All the Time follows the life experiences of Arvin as a teenager (Tom Holland), and includes various crime-themed subplots that further reinforce Knockemstiff's reputation.
The real Knockemstiff from The Devil All the Time is the hometown of Pollock, the author of The Devil All the Time, and also the narrator of the movie adaptation. In 2009, Pollock published a collection of short stories entitled Knockemstiff, which are all about the gritty nature of the region. In 2008, The New York Times attempted to unravel the mystery of the town's name. One theory suggests that a traveling preacher witnessed two women quarreling over a man, and stated that they should "knock him stiff." Another theory implies that Knockemstiff's name somehow correlates with its history of moonshine distribution and bar fights. Given that The Devil All the Time actually features a traveling reverend, Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson, The Batman), it seems that Pollock buys into the preacher theory.
By featuring Knockemstiff as the main setting in The Devil All the Time, Pollock makes the narrative feel more authentic. And given that the author's hometown is known for being rowdy, it's the ideal setting for a crime author who grew up there. Aesthetically, Knockemstiff also works as an attention-grabber, especially if the name was indeed inspired by an actual phrase like "knock him stiff." Wheres many fiction writers, such as Stephen King, use made-up towns for supernatural stories, Pollock's narrative is purely rooted in reality, though he admits that he took some creative liberties, stating "When I started writing, I took that [Knockemstiff's reputation] and cranked it up a few amps.”
In the present, Pollock reportedly lives in Chillicothe, just eight miles from Knockemstiff. After publishing two works about his hometown, the author has undoubtedly received feedback from locals. In the aforementioned NYT report, there's a story about Knockemstiff residents retreating into a general store when a photographer showed with a camera, which suggests that it's not quite a friendly place—at least back then. By 2008, only 200 people remained in the town, with Shady Glen Church of Christ serving as the main attraction. As the legend of Knockemstiff continues to grow, the town that Pollock remembers could indeed fade away, but there's plenty of evidence to suggest that the Ohio town will remain unchanged by pop culture and films like The Devil All the Time.