THE DEVIL AND THE DAYLONG BROTHERS Review: A Revenge-Fueled Southern Gothic Fable That Hits All The Right Notes
The Devil and The Daylong Brothers opens in North American January 31, 2025 from Quiver Distribution.
Brandon McCormick’s new film, The Devil And The Daylong Brothers, took me by surprise. It’s definitely one of those films I blindly went into a little bit, save for what I got from the trailer released last month from Quiver Distribution, and I can gladly assert how pleased I am from this latest watch.
A Biblical dark fantasy fable in the American South lands us in the throes of three brothers, Ishmael (Brendan Bradley), Enoch (Nican Robinson), and Abraham (Jordan Bolden), sworn to damnation in the years since their father, Nehemiah (Keith Carradine), made a deal with the devil. In an effort to redeem their own souls, the Daylongs are contracted to kill their own extensive list of the Damned, traveling via their loyal Grace (a 1958 Chrysler Imperial), and leaving a trail of select bodies in their wake while consulting their flesh-collecting middle man, Clarence (Mark Ashworth).
When their latest hit goes awry thanks to a band of mysterious hooded gunmen, the trio set out to find the elusive Clarence with the help of Frankie (Rainey Qualley), an enigmatic seductress whose own past bears her an axe to grind that the brothers barely see coming. What remains to be seen is if whether or not their long-awaited redemption is within reach, before they realize they’ve been duped into something insidious, forcing the doomed sibs to dig down deeper, and confront their darkness once and for all.
Far from the usual direct-to-digital crime flicks and neo-western dramas, The Devil And The Daylong Brothers offers something I probably haven’t seen in a long time. Think Drive Angry by way of IdleWild, fashioning a high-energy road thriller laced with bullets and blood, and a fusion of rock and country blues that gets your blood boiling. That feeling never really leaves you, from the opening shot of The Devil And The Daylong Brothers, as McCormick’s vision comes to life.
Bradley, Robinson, and Bolden all have different looks, but they play off each other excellently between the drama and the music, with each character representative of their own personal struggles the trio are each familiar with in some way or another. Honestly, I would say Qualley’s character picked my brain the most; there’s a peculiarity to her character with respect to one of the main roles that I couldn’t get my head around, so all I could really do is deduce it as an addendum to the film’s supernatural backdrop. Otherwise, the role of Frankie is as seductive, wily, and as cumbersome a challenge for the titular brothers as you might expect. To that end, there’s a scene where Frankie tells Ishmael “Snake’s gotta shed her skin once in a while” – talk about foreshadowing.
The violence gets its day here as well with enough gun-toting thrills and high-octane road carnage to garner excitement. Scenes of torture and loss of limbs are a plus to bode a promising feat for the R-rated crowd, while the music really is the main course of McCormick’s whole entrée. That’s where co-writer Nicholas Kirk’s score comes in, paired up with vocals by the multi-talented cast, including the aforementioned Carradine whose Nehemiah finally comes out to bring things full circle.
The Devil And The Daylong Brothers is a dark, violent odyssey that explores penance through a musical lens, charting the depths of how blues translates the pain of a broken heart from youth until old, and casting a glimmering reminder that it’s never really too late for absolution. It communicates that conditions for the completion we seek in our introspection and journeying are often come in the form of tempting inflection points shrouded in opportunity and quick fixes, moments of truth that invariably define anyone as time passes.
In my view, such themes are palatable for all audiences here in The Devil And The Daylong Brothers, regardless if you believe the faith or read the book that comes with it. I don’t, but I believe there’s plenty to take away from this film if you enjoy a seething, otherworldly revenge tale that’ll set any jukebox ablaze.
