Review | Ryan Morrissey-Smith
- Director: Eli Roth
- Writers: Eli Roth, Noah Belson
- Stars: Ari Millen, Benjamin Byron Davis, Eli Roth, Karen Cliche, Dylan Hawco, Sarah Abbott, Shiloh O’Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman, Charlie Zeltzer, Charlie Storey
On the back of ice cream vans is a sign that says: Caution Children. For the children in Ice Cream Man its a very apt warning.
It’s nearly the summer school holidays and as the school year drags its way through the last few days, the weather heats up and to cool everyone down, the local ice cream man (Millen) is handing out the cool treats from his van. Charlie (Zeltzer) can’t eat these treats because he has a lactose intolerance and it turns out that its really fortunate for him and his family. As the day turns into night, the kids that had the ice cream are then activated by the ice cream van’s jingle and go about slaughtering their parents and any adult that gets in their way with anything they can get their hands on. Charlie, his sister Lizzie (Abbott) and any remaining kids that aren’t posssessed have to find out how to stop this all from happening.
Eli Roth said he had a dream about this film early on in his career and couldn’t make it until now. The film follows the general outline of fairytales like the Pied Piper of Hamelin, with children being controlled by an outsider. You could make a case for it being a metaphor for social media challenges, podcasts that carry too much influence for children or even grooming but personally, I think that is looking way too deep into a surface level horror film.
The film looks good, Cinematographer Simon Shohet gives the film bright colours and sunny days that offset against the litany of horrors that befall the townspeople. The effects range from very good (a man’s scalp is removed and then is made to eat his brains from an ice cream cone) to the very average (computer generated scenes of multiple cars on fire). Roth keeps the film humming along but with the exception of one or two kills, it is all very standard, boilerplate stuff.
The story has its moments as well with a decent twist that is unfortunately telegraphed. The script is fragmented and doesn’t flow. The kids do well with what they have to do and Millen is very creepy and effective as the silent ice cream man.
Ice Cream Man does have enjoyable sequences but there aren’t nearly enough of them and despite an 86 minute run time, the film tends to drag.
ICE CREAM MAN will be In Theaters Nationwide on August 7, 2026.
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