Ice Cream Man (2026)

“Ice Cream Man” stars Ari Millen, Charlie Zeltzer, Shiloh O’Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman, Sarah Abbott, and Benjamin Byron Davis.  Released on August 7, 2026, the film has the residents of a suburban town confronting a mysterious ice cream man.
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The film was directed by Eli Roth, who also directed films such as “Cabin Fever”, “Hostel”, “The Green Inferno”, “Thanksgiving”, and “Borderlands”.  There’s nothing more refreshing and sweet to eat during the summer than a cone of ice cream.  On a hot summer day, we would travel to the nearest ice cream truck or store and grab our favorite flavors to make our taste buds cool with delight.  I mean, who doesn’t love to eat ice cream during the summer or any other day?  Heck, I would even say that it’s to die for…literally.  After helming the poorly-received film adaptation of “Borderlands”, splatter master Eli Roth returns to the horror genre that made him a household name with another insanely bloody concept that’ll make his fans either cheer or wince in terror.  This time, he asks the question, “What if a harmless treat like ice cream can make people go crazy?”  As one of the movies from Roth and Media Capital Technologies’ horror label, The Horror Section, this latest slasher film aims to be another gore fest that pays tribute to the earlier days of splatter cinema, while ensuring that people will never pick up an ice cream cone again.  Is it as sweet and satisfying as our favorite dessert itself, or should audiences pick a different cinematic treat instead?  Let’s find out.

The story occurs in a peaceful suburban town, whose tranquility is interrupted by the arrival of an ice cream truck.  Driven by the mysterious Ice Cream Man (Millen), the truck captures the attention of the town’s children eager to try out its delicious treats.  While harmless at first glance, the residents get a horrific wake-up call when their children suddenly turn into zombified maniacs and start killing them.  The remaining survivors, including a young boy named Jared (Zeltzer), discover that the Ice Cream Man is selling ice cream that’s causing the kids to go rabid, prompting them to survive the onslaught and put an end to the server’s sweet terror.

I’ve watched enough of Roth’s films to understand his vision for the genre: “the gorier, the better.”  While I’m not a fan of “The Green Inferno”, I did enjoy the “Thanksgiving” segment from “Grindhouse”, as well as its film adaptation, for his take on the genre’s holiday-themed slasher theme.  He did helm films outside of horror, with the result being hit-or-miss, particularly the “Borderlands” movie, which I thought was just okay by entertainment standards, but was also admittedly his weakest film so far.  With my experience being mostly on his horror outings, I was both curious and cautious towards his idea about an evil ice cream man.  Of course, the former being whether Roth can inject enough creativity into its gore and concept to deliver another entertaining horror treat.  At the same time, it risks being too absurdly gross for its own good, making the experience unwatchable for general audiences.  In a way, it may seem like it’s only made for fans of Roth’s disgustingly insane vision and no one else.  After seeing it for myself, I can conclude that it’s exactly what it’s intended to be, for better or worse.
   
“Ice Cream Man” is better identified as an unused “Grindhouse” segment, with its modern exploitation aura and practical gore effects overshadowing its narrative substance.  It’s basically an 86-minute ride through one of adults’ most heinous nightmares: zombie kids with a sugar rush.  If that’s your thing, then you might find some delectably unhinged madness within this Children of the Corn-inspired massacre…assuming you have a strong stomach for it.  However, if you’re looking for a hint of depth in this blood-soaked chaos, I hate to say that you're not going to find much in this horrifying flavor.  Trust me, I tried.  The film does deliver on its concept, but other than that, it’s equivalent to having food from a very cheap restaurant.  It tastes okay, but the flavor doesn't last very long, even during the drive home.  Amid its reflection of old-school exploitation mayhem, “Ice Cream Man” is a run-of-the-mill and surprisingly tedious slasher that has the advantages of its twisted concept, but lacks a stronger narrative to complement its sadistic charm and shock value.

One thing I can credit Roth for is that he delivered the gore via practical effects pretty effectively.  There have been a few moments where the visuals looked cheap or uninspiring, though I did read that it used AI-generated imagery for specific sequences.  If so, then that would've explained the inconsistency of these effects.  However, when it comes to the scenes involving the kids killing the adults, Eli Roth knows that practical effects are the way to go.  As expected, “Ice Cream Man” is undeniably crazy through the kids “innocently” doing childish stuff with people’s guts.  With its practical effects, Roth captures the insanity and cheapness of a “Grindhouse” feature by expressing its dark innocence and having some fun with it.  It does come at the expense of not having enough compelling scares to make this nightmare truly terrifying, but Roth occasionally compensated for it with his dark humor.  Not all of the film’s comedy landed for me, but there were a couple that I found pretty humorous.

Unfortunately, despite the good intentions from a visual perspective, Eli Roth lacks a convincing narrative heft to make it stand alongside his earlier works.  As I said earlier, the film is basically all gore and no substance, with Jared and the other young survivors witnessing a horrific massacre stemming from the Ice Cream Man.  It plays through the similar narrative beats as other slasher films, such as the killings and the killer’s history, but none of these tropes work well enough to excuse its bland characters and clunky dialogue, which is pretty common for most modern horror movies.  It does have its moments of twisted entertainment, but without any characters worth rooting for, the blood-soaked premise ended up losing its flavor as it progresses.  If Eli Roth were to take some time developing the characters further, then the film’s twist ending would’ve been more impactful.  Instead, it just comes off as an eye-rolling copout attempt to potentially start a new horror franchise.
 
Most of the cast weren’t anything that special either, especially the kid actors.  Understandably, they’re not professionals, but that doesn’t mean they’re excused from their lack of effort.  Charlie Zeltzer did the best he could as Jared, the only child survivor who didn’t eat the ice cream due to him being lactose intolerant.  Even though his line delivery was anything but sweet, it was a bit more tolerable than the other supporting kid actors.  The only actor I thought made the most effort was Ari Millen as the Ice Cream Man.  Despite having no dialogue, Millen’s performance through his actions and menacing presence is as sadistically charming as the concept itself.  Was it enough to make the Ice Cream Man one of the best slasher villains of all time?  Not really, but I can tell you this.  He made me not want to buy ice cream from him and his ice cream truck.  I prefer the ice cream from Culver’s.

Overall, “Ice Cream Man” lacks the narrative flavor to make this cinematic horror treat worthy of my taste buds, cinematic or otherwise.  Eli Roth delivers another Grindhouse-like experience that’ll likely impress some of his fans with its sheer amount of gore, dark humor, and blood-soaked chaos.  Sadly, those looking for more substance underneath this dessert may not want to come back for another round.  It’s not without the sadistically amusing moments that nearly saved it from becoming a total disaster, including Ari Millen’s eerily entertaining turn as the ice cream man from Hell.  Other than that, this is another heavily cliched and surprisingly tedious splatter fest that’s better off serving its twisted creamy goodies far away from here.  With this and “Borderlands” being his recent stinkers, maybe it’s time for Roth to start getting that “Thanksgiving” sequel off the ground as soon as possible.

D+