Ice Cream Man (2026) Movie Review

Movie Review: Ice Cream Man

So, the PR people for Eli Roth’s new splatter horror Ice Cream Man were very adamant that it has absolutely nothing to do with the 1995 Clint Howard movie of the exact same name. So, there you go. Also, I’m having an ice cream cone.

An idyllic summer town descends into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results. Okay, so this is an 86-minute barrage of bloody gruesomeness where, instead of teens being the victims of some sadistic killer, it’s the kids who are going ham on the adults.

Vibrant Visuals and The Setup

This takes place in a highly simplified small town where everybody knows everyone. Streets are lined with huge, leafy trees, and everyone comes running when the ice cream man slowly drives down the street with his infective tune. Something that’s probably going to stick out to you immediately is the use of vibrant colors. They’re almost oversaturated to give this bright and shiny appearance, making the visuals appear as though we’re looking back to a more innocent time period. This also helps to make the blood and the gore pop off the screen even more, providing a nice contrast and complement.

The story follows a kid who quickly discovers that any child who chows down on the ice cream man’s treats soon becomes a drone-like slaying machine without the actual machinery. They’re still kids, just a bit like zombies; you get the point. For reasons that are mainly unexplained, the frozen desserts don’t affect adults, but that needs to happen for the carnage to take place.

The Sweet, Sweet Carnage

I appreciate the simpleness of the plot and delivery. It’s lean, presented in less than 90 minutes, and utilizes some great and gnarly brutality without getting bogged down by overly complex messaging or plot progressions. But that’s also what contributes to a lot of the glaring negatives within the film.

If you’re going into this just for the splatter, when it’s there, you’re going to be satisfied. However, there’s a lot less violence than you may expect, and it’s not consistently delivered. When it is present, there are moments that can make you wince, maybe urp a little bit, and then laugh out loud because of the abrupt or silly executions. I can’t knock the camp of the movie. It knows exactly what it is, and it plays to the ridiculousness. We watch adults being easily overpowered by sugar-possessed children, creating eye rolls so massive they could put a kink in your neck. Then there are the overblown and exaggerated reactions; they almost become absurd but are reeled back in thanks to the surrounding violent circumstances.

One of the best sequences of organized chaos takes place on a school playground, and it’s brilliant. The camera keeps the central, non-killer kids at the focal point, all while allowing us to watch the beheadings, smashings, and all sorts of other acts of barbarity being executed on any adults in the vicinity. It’s one of those scenes that you’re going to want to watch multiple times because you’ll pick up on new actions happening in the periphery that make the whole segment hilarious and wild.

Thin Plot and Clunky Lore

If, though, you want a bit of story amidst all the smashings and decapitations, what we get is thin at best. There’s no character development. As harsh as it sounds, I didn’t even care about the well-being of the child protagonists. I knew nothing about them; I can’t even remember their names. That’s not the fault of the actors. They do a convincing job of doing the whole terrified running while attempting to think rationally, delivering a little bit of comedy and suspense along the way. But at the end of it, I didn’t care what their outcome would be.

And then there’s the lore. We get an exposition dump towards the finale of the movie that is meant to explain everything, and it does, but it’s clunky. It feels like such an unnatural way to deliver all of this background, which is still coming entirely too late to be effective. I’d almost rather have a completely unexplained villain no rationale for why he’s doing what he’s doing, just being evil for evil’s sake. It worked for Michael Myers! Instead, all tension and momentum halt so some rando can provide awkward context.

A Melted Finale

The storytelling attempts to create a weighty presence for the finale, seeking some emotionality and a reckoning to explain everything that has gone down in the previous 24 hours. But because there’s almost a complete lack of world-building to create the impetus for this ice cream man to bring about these massacres, the finale actually falls flat. It becomes a rote and expected ending that could have been haunting, but instead is just like a sticky mess left on the ground after an ice cream cone falls.

It’s got to be said, especially because we live in a world that has now experienced Art the Clown: the ice cream man here isn’t scary, creepy, or even charming. He’s silent almost like a Temu version of Art but without all the charisma and endearment that the other silent slasher possesses. I don’t fault the actor, Ari Lehman, for this. He’s emotive and expressive in both his facial movements and his stature, but the story sets him up to be a transparent copy of a better character, immediately hamstringing him and reducing him to an afterthought.

The Final Verdict

I really wanted this to be a great summer splatterfest, especially considering Roth’s fall outing with Thanksgiving. But despite some excellently grotesque effects, wickedly brutal kills, and some deeply ingrained camp, that’s all the film has to stand on. Even then, the gore is sparingly doled out. With little character development and a belated, ham fisted delivery of the lore, the story lacks any memorability that would keep me flocking back to its sweetly bloody butchery.

I give  Ice Cream Man 2.5 out of 5 couches.

what are some fun, ideally memorable, splatter films? Let me know in the comments below! If you enjoyed this review.