If you’re looking up the credits for Ice Cream Man on IMDB, you might as well skip past director/co-screenwriter Eli Roth and the extensive cast list. Because the real stars of this ultra-gonzo horror film are the folks in the makeup department, especially prosthetics designers Steve Newburn and Adrien Morot (the latter an Oscar winner for his work on The Whale). Sure, Roth came up with the story and co-wrote the screenplay. But his efforts would have been for naught if you didn’t fully believe the sights of young children dismembering their parents’ bodies or playing games of tetherball and tag with human heads. Not to mention the tug of war using human intestines.
If all of that sounds like a euphoric cinematic experience, then this the film for you. It’s certainly the film for its auteur, who conceived the idea more than two decades ago and has been trying to make it ever since. Since the major studios passed on his idea about a townful of kids turned into crazed, murderous zombies, Roth formed his own company, The Horror Section, to distribute his labor of love. Not surprisingly, the film is being released unrated.
Ice Cream Man
The Bottom Line
Catnip for gorehounds.
