Ice Cream Man

There are films that are so bad they’re good. Then there are films that are simply bad. And then, right at the bottom of the barrel, there are films that aren’t merely bad but deeply offensive. Ice Cream Man is what Eli Roth has scraped from beneath that barrel.

Remember Hostel? One of Roth’s earliest films, it caused such a furore that it helped popularise an entire subgenre: “torture porn”. Yet, for all its reputation, Roth actually demonstrated considerable restraint. Some of its most frightening moments occur precisely when the camera turns away from the violence.

His subsequent films—including Hostel: Part II, The Green Inferno and Knock Knock—suggested a steady erosion of that restraint and a descent into gleeful gore, obnoxious provocation and increasingly cringeworthy camp.

There is plenty of all three in Ice Cream Man, and that is not necessarily a problem. Gore and camp can be enormously entertaining when handled with wit, imagination or technical skill. Here, however, everything is executed so artlessly that the film quickly becomes numbing. The effects look fake, the dialogue is juvenile, and the characters are little more than bodies waiting to be dissected. The performances are uniformly amateurish, from adults and children alike. Even allowing for the leeway usually afforded to young actors, it is painfully apparent that Roth has no idea how to direct them. Nothing is shocking because nothing feels consequential. It is simply boring.

The film never finds a workable pace or tone. It lurches constantly between idiotic adults walking willingly towards their deaths, extreme close-ups of mutilation and tedious scenes in which the child protagonists recite dialogue so insipid that it sounds as though they wrote it themselves—although that is probably an insult to child writers.

One character, temporarily paralysed, spends what feels like two solid minutes flopping from room to room like a landed fish. Whatever comic potential the...

I was hoping Ice Cream Man would be a fun piece of schlock, and there was some of that in the film. Sadly, Ice Cream Man was a one-joke movie that rammed it hard into the ground. Eli Roth's mean-spirited nature was present in the film, and it felt uncomfortable watching very young children commit violent acts, and a joke involving a 12-year-old girl's eating disorder.

Also, fuck generative AI!

popculturemaniacs.com/ice-cream-man-2026-review/

Oh, now come on - who hasn't enjoyed delicious Mint Romney ice cream? Unfortunately, there is a side effect if you feed it to our children - it turns them into marauding murderers intent on killing every adult they see whether they be parent, guardian, granny or teacher. Luckily, though, "Jared" (Charlie Zelzter) is lactose intolerant and his sister "Lizzie" (Sarah Abbott) won't let him have any. Phew! That leaves him, "Mia" (Kiori Mirza Waldman) and "Tommy" (Shiloh O'Reilly) as the only kids in the town not determined on a rampage of gory slaughter. What's causing all of this? Well they (and we) quickly deduce that it must have something to do with the creepy ice cream man (Ari Millen) whose van appears at all hours of the day and night to top up their dose of coned-delights and so fuel their antics - even the hunky fireman isn't safe! After about ten minutes, this descended into a most puerile and unsophisticated dose of CGI-driven nonsense that did, at least, invoke a degree of unanimity from the dozen or so of us in the cinema who were all looking at each other wondering how this ever got off the drawing board. It's repetitious; there's no jeopardy nor is there even the vaguest attempt to craft any characters that we might care less about as their killing spree finds as many ways of carving someone up and then sets it all to music. It's as if Messrs. Belson and Roth just typed the word kill into a digital thesaurus and then let their computers run riot with the results. To be fair to Zeltzer, he tries to inject a little stoic humanity in to the proceedings - even if his some of his riper dialogue uses language that people his own age wouldn't be able to sit on the other side of the screen and actually watch; but the remainder of the cast just look like they've been just been told to go make some mess for the cameras. Even Hammer or John Carpenter at their abject worst managed to keep us interested in what was happening to some extent, but this really hasn't anyt...

I don't understand what movie others were watching on social media. This film ROCKED!!!!

From what I was hearing, there were 4 things that people have been complaining about which I DO NOT AGREE WITH and honestly I think most of them is just people being WAY to sensitive and looking for things to be offended about:

1. The dinner table comment.

Basically the sister says she is going to a water park and brother asks if he can go. The sister say why so you can look at girls in bikinis and the dad chimes in with something like "I wanna go too".

People are complaining that the comment was pedish which I think is taking it WAY out of context. Anyone with a quick whit would have said that comeback. It was just a dad teasing his daughter after the brother already did. I think people reading into it have some self reflection to do.

2. Tommy (the black kid) wearing a t-shirt that says "Problem" on it.

Again, people just taking something WAY out of context in order to drum up the whole "this movie is racist" card. The kid was the BEST part of the movie. In not one seen was any gangster sterotype used. He has some of the best lines in the movie and was the only one with the foresight to get tools to dig up the grave.

3. The use of generative AI

Eli Roth has stated that generative AI was used in some scenes and you can defiantly tell that it was. However, to give credit, it was only used in scenes where you would have used CGI and didn't take away from the movie. Also, NONE of the gore was CGI. All of the gore is practical effects!

For instance in the over head shot of the ice cream truck driving through town. That would have been an overhead drone shot that you have seen in 10,000 other movies anyway.

When the sister looks out at the town and the houses and cars are on fire. It looked VERY Sci-Fi channel effects so you can tell it was AI generated. Again, nothing taking away from the move and honestly, they could have removed that scene.

The big...

This is a very competent and well executed slasher movie with a fun twist and an interesting plot that makes you engaged enough to follow it. The protagonists are relatable and understandable in their choices and actions, and the difficulties they face are strange and twisting and dangerous. The tension builds quite naturally, and the actors do a fine job of portraying the situations they are in. The twist is welcome and works just fine and the setup for a potential sequel is nice as well. I had a lot of fun watching this movie and I recommend it to all slasher fans.