It's a little-known but worthy maxim that the family that slays together, stays together.

Following this line of reasoning, the Meiks must be the most closely bonded family unit in America.

Widowed dad (Paxton) is an oily-overalled car mechanic and doting father who suddenly has a vision of the Almighty.

Nothing wrong in that you may think, but His Nibs instructs him to destroy 'demons' who pose as ordinary men and women.

His impressionable nine-year-old son, Adam (Jeremy Sumpter), goes along with dad's visions of divine justice but 12-year-old Fenton (O'Leary) is sceptical.

Cheerfully undeterred, Dad - rather than pack the boys off to Alton Towers or Legoland - launches a murderous spree based on a list provided by the avenging angel.

Twenty-odd years later, a grown-up Fenton (McConaughey) walks into the office of Wesley Doyle (Boothe), the FBI agent searching for the 'God's Hand' murderer.

It's a bit of a weird one, this - how could the case be dubbed 'God's Hand' by the press when none of the victims have ever been found and the killer is unknown?

Anyway, it's still a compelling horror yarn; modestly unassuming but packing a punch with a deliciously deceptive sleight of hand.

Paxton - a veteran actor of the seminal vampire tale, Near Dark, and the superlative chiller, A Simple Plan - directs with a sure touch.

He imbues Pop Meiks with a disturbing Joe ordinariness - straight after a brutal axe slaying he's getting the kids ready for school.

Rather than dilute the tension, the decision to begin the movie with Fenton's confession to Agent Doyle actually acts as a shrewd set-up for the clever denouement.

There's nothing frail about this muscular thriller.

Tim Evans