In a stark departure from his previous body of work, where life is usually portrayed in a strange mind bending fashion, Cronenberg has gone more mainstream with his latest offering.

Based on a graphic novel by John Wagner and Vince Locke, the scene is set in small town Indiana where Tom Stall (Mortensen) and his wife Edie (Bello) live a picture postcard life in their picture postcard town with their, you guessed it, picture postcard kids.

But when a film has a title such as this, you know that it’s inevitable that this image will be soon be shattered before our very eyes, and shattered it is.

We’re given a notion of things to come with the very first scene of the film, where two bad guys are shown leaving a motel in one long continuous shot, which, bit by bit, reveals the gruesome nature of their characters.

As they drive off toward the horizon we cut to Millbrook, Indiana and the diner run by Tom Stall.

He’s a regular down to earth unassuming kind of chap, who loves his family and is well respected by friends and employees alike.

But having witnessed the brutality of the opening scene, you end up with a sinking feeling because you just know that these nice law abiding people are about to have a very rude awakening.

After gunning down the aforementioned mobsters and being acclaimed by the townsfolk, a fairly sheepish Tom soon returns to work in the diner and tries to get on with his regular life.

It’s not long however before a mobster from Philadelphia - played by an impressively scarred and menacing Ed Harris - walks into the diner convinced that Tom is in fact a former colleague from the city of brotherly love.

Tom insists that he’s mistaken, but its here that we start to suspect that the whiter than white Tom may be hiding something.

Playing out like a modern day western, the moments of violence in the film are fairly few and far between.

But when they do happen they demonstrate exactly how much of a polar opposite Tom Stall’s real identity is to his made up small town persona.

Dealing with issues such as identity and family divides; the film contains some powerful scenes which manage to sit comfortably alongside lighter scenes without detracting from the overall feel.

If you’re a fan of Cronenburg’s previous films then you may be a little disappointed that he’s held back on the style that made his reputation.

But as a mainstream film this works on all levels.

Matt Harris