Shawn Van Horn is a Senior Author for Collider. He's watched way too many slasher movies over the decades, which makes him an aficionado on all things Halloween and Friday the 13th. Don't ask him to choose between Michael Myers and Jason Voorhees because he can't do it. He grew up in the 90s, when Seinfeld, Everybody Loves Raymond, and TGIF were his life, and still watches them religiously to this day. Larry David is his spirit animal. His love for entertainment spreads to the written word as well. He has written two novels and is neck deep in the querying trenches. He is also a short story maker upper and poet with a dozen publishing credits to his name. He lives in small town Ohio, where he likes to watch professional wrestling and movies.

Horror movies in the present moment generally fall into one of two categories. On one side, you have psychological horror that seeks to dig into the viewer's mind, like this summer's hits Obsession and Backrooms, as well as Weapons and Talk to Me. On the other side, you have films that seek to give viewers the simple fun of old-school splatter and gore. Though long maligned, this subgenre has recently bounced back, thanks to the popularity of the Terrifier franchise and 2023's Thanksgiving.

Eli Roth, the director behind the latter film, is no newcomer to thrilling crowds with splatter effects; he's been grossing out audiences for two decades with movies like Cabin Fever and Hostel. Now, he's back with Ice Cream Man, a horror comedy about a grinning villain whose sweet treats turn a town violently against itself. If you're looking for the kind of stunning practical effects that made the Terrifier films such a sensation, you'll definitely find them here. But that's where the fun ends. Despite looking good, Ice Cream Man is a one-note movie with a forgettable bad guy.

Image via The Horror Section

Ice Cream Man (not to be confused with Clint Howard's 1995 horror comedy of the same name) starts off in an idyllic small town that feels like the perfect place to grow up. And what could a 1950s-perfect town need more than their own local ice cream man? Lurking in the background in scenes of kids playing in the park and participating in Little League games, the ice cream truck dispenses sweet treats to youngsters via a silent character simply known as the Ice Cream Man (Ari Millen). With his white hat, red bow-tie, and mustache, he too feels like a relic of bygone times.

Of course, we're in a horror movie, so this ice cream comes at a steep price. At night, the ice cream truck drives through darkened neighborhoods, playing its signature tune, and all the kiddos who ate the ice cream are turned into zombie-like monsters whose only goal is to rip the adults in town to shreds. (Even Roth, who has a small part as a local dad, isn't safe.) The only ones who can save the day are a few kids and teens who didn't eat the ice cream, including the lactose intolerant Jared (Charlie Zeltzer) and his older sister Lizzie (Sarah Abbott). Ice Cream Man plays like the end scene of Weapons turned into a feature-length film. The film knows exactly what it is, and has no illusions of being anything else. But in the end, that's not enough to redeem it.

Eli Roth is famously a fan of grindhouse style. This love, though palpable in Cabin Fever and Hostel, came into full public view with his stellar Grindhouse trailer for the fake movie Thanksgiving — which was so well received that it was eventually developed into a hit feature. That love is on display here, too. Ice Cream Man is a horror comedy where the kill scenes are not scary; instead, they are so over-the-top that all you can do is laugh at the brilliance of the effects team, who presumably spent many hours coming up with wild new ways to slice someone up.

The film's preposterous plot is designed for the production to have fun with, and the gore is the real selling point. If you're a fan of splatter, you will not be disappointed by the many believable-looking scenes of kids cutting off the heads of their parents and smashing faces to a bloody pulp. The best of the bunch has a gang of little monsters at school cutting off the top of the skull of one adult, and — while he is still alive — yanking out part of his brain with an ice cream scoop, plopping it into a cone, and feeding it to him.

However, there are so many gore scenes that the shock quickly wears off. A viewer can only watch so many acts of gooey carnage before it loses all impact — especially because Ice Cream Man has a glossy look that contrasts with its passion for grindhouse kills. When the kill count gets so high that it no longer matters, there must be a plot to keep it going. This is where Ice Cream Man fails: if you take away the gore, there's nothing much else at work.

Image via The Horror Section

Ice Cream Man has a similar set-up to 2014's Cooties, another horror comedy in which kids are transformed into pint-sized killing machines. While that film was far from perfect, co-writer Leigh Whannell and talented actors such as Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson created a film that was at least cohesive. Ice Cream Man lacks this. The dialogue is bare bones and depends too heavily on delivery by children who, quite honestly, aren't great actors. It makes Ice Cream Man feel like a direct-to-streaming B-movie.

But perhaps worst of all is the titular villain, who's as soft and lacking in substance as the treats he serves. Ari Millen is a fine actor who has impressed in shows such as Orphan Black, but here, he has nothing to do, as this baddie never speaks a single word.

A movie can get around this, of course, if there's something substantial under the surface; the wordless Art the Clown is the heart of Terrifier. The Ice Cream Man, however, is no Art the Clown. He's just a guy, and one who doesn't come across as all that sinister to boot. Compounding the issue of his silence is that the Ice Cream Man never kills anyone himself; the best he can do is stand in the background while the monsters he created do the dirty work. While this could have been the beginning of an intriguing mystery, a third-act info dump explains who he is and why he does what he does. A few minutes later, after a lackadaisical climax, the movie is over.

Eli Roth has carved out a place for himself as one of the more visionary horror directors of the 21st century, creating both nightmare fuel films and funny chop-em-ups. With Ice Cream Man, Roth has an interesting idea, but with so little behind it, the movie quickly melts. Its brilliant gore scenes taste good at first. After a while, though, the sweetness wears off, leaving the audience without anything filling. As the end credits roll, you're still hungry for more.

Release Date August 7, 2026

Runtime 86 Minutes

Director Eli Roth

Writers Eli Roth, Noah Belson

Producers Kate Harrison Karman, Eli Roth

Cast

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  Benjamin Byron Davis

  The Priest

Pros & Cons

• The gore is shockingly realistic.
• The kill scenes are original and thoughtfully crafted.

• The screenplay and acting are thin and uninspired.
• The villain is too one-note.
• The glossy production style takes away from the wild premise.