Film Review – Ice Cream Man (2026)

      Ice Cream Man, 2026.

      Directed by Eli Roth.

      Featuring Ari Millen, Charlie Zeltzer, Shiloh O’Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman, Sarah Abbott, Benjamin Byron Davis, Eli Roth, and Snoop Dogg.

      SYNOPSIS:

      A picturesque summer town spirals into chaos when an ice cream man delivers sweet treats to kids, resulting in terrifying consequences. Just as it becomes clear that the darkly comedic Ice Cream Man—where children are transformed into zombies from the enticingly cold dessert sold by the eccentric vendor (a silent, grinning character portrayed by Ari Millen) with an unquenchable thirst for slaying any adult they encounter, including their own parents—holds a fun and imaginative take on its violent antics, co-writer/director Eli Roth hinders the film's pace with a backstory that culminates in a needlessly grim and disappointing finale. In essence, he nearly succeeds in creating a worthy grindhouse film.

      It's probably for the best that the film lacks any substantial character development, as it focuses heavily on a relentless barrage of dismemberment and bloodshed, quickly numbing viewers to the deaths of various individuals, whether a teacher, elderly woman, or others. The film's initial extended scene features children awakening in the middle of the night to eliminate their parents in either brutally vicious (decapitating with a saw) or comically absurd (setting a mousetrap on a father’s foot, followed by a sibling hitting him with a frying pan as he cries out in pain) ways, with the latter exemplifying the type of violence that is effective here.

      There is a group of protagonists who avoided the ice cream due to various reasons (like lactose intolerance), including Jared (Charlie Zeltzer), his older sister Mia (Kiori Mirza Waldman, who impressively portrays a debilitating physical reaction after tasting the ice cream, reminiscent of the Quaaludes scene in The Wolf of Wall Street), and a couple of others (including a nerdy girl), who serve as characters for the audience to cheer for rather than possessing any true depth. Mia also has a dim-witted, off-and-on boyfriend named Chris (Dylan Hawco), who provides some assistance in surviving.

      The next day at school, the elementary students are confronted by their infected classmates, who quickly turn the classroom into a chaotic battleground; science teachers have their eyes pushed into microscopes, and the playground becomes a stage for inspired fatalities that blend elements of Looney Tunes and Home Alone, as if Macaulay Culkin were a zombie dripping with melted ice cream and intent on harming the adults around him in the school. However, not every death hits the mark—the film also features uninspired, humorless gore for the sake of shock.

      Even though the initial 20 minutes drag, particularly for a film that only runs 79 minutes without credits, it's impressive how Eli Roth (collaborating with screenwriter Noah Belson and familiar actors) maintains the chaos within the school, moving fluidly from one scene to the next. The main child characters never appear to be in real peril, allowing viewers to revel in the absurd deaths without forming any emotional attachment to the characters' fate. At times, the film approaches a delirious frenzy, as if Roth recognized the effective Black Friday sequence in Thanksgiving and sought to replicate that energy in this film.

      The downside to all this chaos is the lack of investment in the storyline, which becomes particularly problematic in the third act when the film reverts to an origin story for the Ice Cream Man, draining the film's momentum. This is further compounded by illogical lore regarding how to eliminate him, which is disappointing considering the flat and unsatisfying conclusion (focusing more on a twisted punchline than a rewarding triumph, unlike Weapons). Much like the ice cream itself, the moments of shockingly gruesome fun in Ice Cream Man ultimately run dry.

      Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★

      Robert Kojder