Joey Magidson
If anyone was worried that a horror filmmaker like Eli Roth wouldn’t be able to keep up with a current gorefests like the Terrifier franchise, think again. Whether you like or hate Ice Cream Man, and I suspect there will be plenty of folks on both sides of the aisle, it’s impossible to deny that Roth has really delivered on the gore front with this film. A splatter picture that takes inspiration from Children of the Corn and The Pied Piper, among other things, the movie wants to gross you out, and in that regard, it 100% delivers.
Ice Cream Man is a film Roth has been trying to make his whole career, and in a way, it only makes sense to have done it now, coming off of one of his most highly regarded works (Thanksgiving) and most disregarded as well (Borderlands). It’s a back to basics effort that out gores The Green Inferno, while giving the admittedly novel visuals of little kids doing absolutely insane things to the adults of a small town. You won’t forget some of these kills, mark my words.
Jared (Charlie Zeltzer) is your average kid enjoying pre-teen life in his idyllic small town. He has an older sister in Lizzie (Sarah Abbott) planning to hang out all summer, and lawyer parents in Allison (Karen Cliche) and Marty (Roth). One day, while Jared is blowing a Little League baseball game for his team, an unusual Ice Cream truck and its driver (Ari Millen) shows up. Doling out treats to all the kids, Jared is prevented from having any by Lizzie, given his lactose intolerance. That will come in handy once the night comes and dessert turns every kid who ate it into murderous zombies.
As the adults and parents of the town are butchered by the little demons, Lizzie find out that teens who eat the treats are paralyzed, while Jared ends up with a few other kids who didn’t eat the ice cream at school. As the zombies attempt to turn them, they begin to piece together what might be going on, and with the help of a priest (Benjamin Byron Davis), how they might be able to beat the Ice Cream Man, saving the town.
The acting here is certainly nothing to write home about, but Roth isn’t asking too much of his young cast, either. Ari Millen cuts a striking figure as the title character, silent yet decidedly unsettling. There’s not a lot of “there” there, but Millen does make the role memorable. Charlie Zeltzer is a bland lead, but he does a solid enough job. Again, you’re not going to Ice Cream Man for the acting, so the performances not blowing you away is hardly a big issue.
Co-writer/director Eli Roth is having a great time having these kids slaughter adults in increasingly gruesome manners. Along with co-writer Noah Belson, it’s all mostly set up for the carnage that kicks off the second act. Now, the third act introduces some town lore and a new supernatural element that I don’t think is particularly well realized, but it does lead to a bit of a surprise ending, so there’s that. Belson and Roth don’t make things overly plot heavy, and Roth’s visuals are on par with his usual work. What’s setting this apart here is the gore, which is the most vivid of his career. Armed with ace work from prosthetics designers Steve Newburn and Adrien Morot, the blood and guts on the screen is practical, unsettling, and will please any gorehound.
Ice Cream Man is meant to be shocking, and for some it will be, but as long as you like horror and aren’t easily grossed out, this is a decently entertaining gorefest from Eli Roth. Is it high art? Not in the slightest. Is it effective at what it sets out to do? Ultimately, yes. You probably already know if this flick is for you or not, so act accordingly.
SCORE: ★★★
Comments
Loading…