Ice Cream Man

Eli Roth returns to the horror-comedy sandbox with Ice Cream Man, a gleefully gory romp that turns a beloved childhood staple into a nightmare. The film follows a small town's summer of terror when its new ice cream man, played with unsettling charm by Ari Millen, begins serving up more than just frozen treats. Roth, who co-wrote the script with Noah Belson, directs with his signature blend of over-the-top violence and dark humor, creating a ride that's equal parts shocking and silly.

The cast mixes fresh faces with seasoned pros. Charlie Zeltzer leads the child ensemble as Jared, a curious kid who starts to suspect something is deeply wrong, while Shiloh O'Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman, and Sarah Abbott round out the group of kids caught in the crosshairs. Benjamin Byron Davis appears as a mysterious priest who seems to know more than he lets on. With a modest budget of $6 million, Roth and his team, including producers Christopher Woodrow and Kate Harrison Karman, craft a visually slick, fast-paced feature that doesn't overstay its welcome at just 86 minutes.

Ice Cream Man is an international co-production, with backing from studios in the US, Canada, UK, France, and Japan. It leans heavily into the slasher tradition, but its comedic tone sets it apart from straight-faced horror. Early audience reactions have been polarizing, with some praising its audacity and others finding it too silly for its own good. Regardless, it's a wild ride that delivers exactly what its title promises: a man, an ice cream truck, and a whole lot of blood. [edit]

The film opens on a sun-drenched suburban street in late June. Kids are out on bikes, sprinklers hiss on lawns, and the air smells like cut grass and chlorine. Then a tinny melody cuts through the hum of summer: “I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream.” The tune is slightly off-key, and the truck that rolls into view is a gleaming white-and-pink relic, its paint so fresh it practically glows. The driver, a pale man with a too-wide smile, introduces himself simply as the Ice Cream Man. Within a day, every kid on the block has a cone in hand.

Jared, a sharp-eyed twelve-year-old, is the first to notice something wrong. His friend Tommy starts acting strange after eating a double scoop of something called “Cherry Bomb.” Tommy’s eyes go glassy, his laugh turns mean, and he begins hoarding kitchen knives under his bed. Jared tries to tell his mom, Alison, but she dismisses it as preteen moodiness. The priest at the local parish, Father Callahan, seems to know more. He corners Jared after mass and mutters a warning: “Don’t eat his treats, boy. He’s been around longer than this town.” But the priest won’t say more, and Jared can’t get the adults to listen.

Over the next week, the Ice Cream Man’s truck becomes a fixture. He parks outside the school, the playground, the community pool. His menu is a twisted parody of childhood favorites: Brain Freeze Bars, Gutsicle Pops, and the ominously named “Last Lick.” Each flavor has a different effect. Some kids turn violent, others become eerily obedient, and a few simply stop speaking altogether. Mia, a quiet girl who lives next door to Jared, watches her younger brother devour a “Tantrum Twirl” and then smash his own toys against the wall. Lizzie, the town’s resident chatterbox, goes mute after a single bite of “Silent Sorbet.”

The adults remain blissfully oblivious. Principal Maloney dismisses the rising number of playground brawls as “summer heat.” Mrs. Valentine, a frazzled mother of three, insists the Ice Cream Man is a “blessing” because her kids finally nap. Only Marty, a washed-up handyman who’s been drinking since Memorial Day, seems to sense the danger. He spots the truck parked in an empty lot at 3 a.m., its engine running and the driver’s seat empty. But when he reports it to the police, they laugh him off.

As the body count climbs, Jared and his friends piece together clues. They find a faded newspaper clipping in the church basement about a similar outbreak of violence in a town called Millbrook back in 1977. The Ice Cream Man’s face is in the grainy photo, unchanged. Father Callahan finally admits the truth: the vendor is an ancient demon that feeds on chaos, returning every few decades to collect a harvest of corrupted children. The priest gives Jared a small vial of holy water and tells him, “You can’t kill him. But you can send him back.”

The kids hatch a plan to trap the Ice Cream Man at the town’s annual Fourth of July block party. They’ll lure him into the old fire station, where they’ve rigged a sprinkler system to spray holy water. But the plan goes sideways almost immediately. The truck arrives early, and the party is already packed with families. By the time Jared and his friends get into position, half the kids in town have already eaten their treats. The sun dips below the horizon, and the first scream cuts through the fireworks.[edit]