‘Ice Cream Man’ Review: Eli Roth’s Small-Town Horror Flick Is for Diehard Slasher Fans, and Absolutely No One Else
The Hollywood Reporter's Frank Scheck reviews "Ice Cream Man," Eli Roth's new gore-drenched horror film about children in an idyllic small town who are transformed into murderous killers after eating from a sinister ice cream truck. The critic argues the film's real achievement lies in its practical make-up and prosthetics work rather than Roth's direction or screenplay, calling it a project designed purely to satisfy hardcore fans of extreme slasher gore rather than a wider audience.
The film, which Roth conceived over two decades ago after studios rejected the concept, stars Ari Millen as the silent, unsettling ice cream vendor whose treats turn local children into gleeful killers, alongside Benjamin Byron Davis, Karen Cliche and Roth himself. Having been passed over by major studios, Roth financed and distributed it through his own company, The Horror Section, and it will be released unrated in cinemas from Friday, August 7, running 86 minutes.
- Eli Roth's gruesome new horror film "Ice Cream Man" reviewed by Hollywood Reporter
- Praised for gore effects, but seen as niche, only for hardcore slasher fans
- Self-distributed, unrated, in cinemas from 7 August
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Ice Cream Man is a new horror film from writer-director Eli Roth, best known for gory shockers such as Hostel and Cannibal Holocaust-inspired The Green Inferno. It imagines an idyllic small town where children who eat from a creepy ice cream van are turned into remorseless child killers, and it leans heavily on practical make-up and prosthetic effects rather than digital gore. Roth reportedly first came up with the idea more than twenty years ago, but major studios turned it down.
Unable to get traditional backing, Roth made and released the film himself through his own outfit, The Horror Section. It stars Ari Millen as the mute, menacing ice cream vendor, with support from Benjamin Byron Davis, Karen Cliche and Roth in a supporting role. It is an 86-minute film going into cinemas unrated from Friday, August 7.
The film matters less as a mainstream release and more as a test case for independent, self-financed horror aimed squarely at a niche audience of extreme slasher enthusiasts, rather than general cinemagoers.