Ice Cream Man (2026) Dir Eli Roth, Iconic Events Releasing ⭐ Review by Matthew Alicoon

Ice Cream Man (2026)

Dir Eli Roth

Iconic Events Releasing

⭐Review by Matthew Alicoon

Running Time: 86 Minutes

“Torture replaces tension and gore replaces storytelling.”

Ice Cream Man takes place in the suburban town of Bayleen Bay and the area falls into utter chaos after the children consume sweet delights that lead to a horrifying turn of events.

Ice Cream Man is a nasty, gore-infested vicious parade of violence involving all sorts of body parts and this film tests the limits of what the audience can truly endure. Eli Roth has established a reputation for extremity, however here he seems to take gratuity into how extensively drawn out the violence is. There is a gag involving someone on a segway which did achieve sadistic absurdity; however this film has an appetite for an overbearing excess of violence. The film did have ambition with its approach towards the ending but this is one of the worst films of the year. 

Eli Roth is now going head-to-head in a particularly unpleasant contest with Damien Leone (Terrifier Franchise) for making the most disgusting films imaginable. The problem with violence prolonged to this disagree is not just the extremity, it is strangely the emotional response it generates. At times rather than feeling discomfort, the persistence of brutality becomes surprisingly slapstick and comedic. The famous term of “torture porn” is pushed to its maximum capacity dehumanising the pain of everything and anything in the film. However, in a film like Evil Dead Burn you are really made to inhabit the excruciating ordeal of its characters and the distinctions between 18 rated violence in horror films is becoming increasingly apparent.

The dialogue was equally disastrous, as the story almost felt like it was being assembled in real time rather than constructed with a distinguishable dramatic framework. Almost every character is immediately dislikeable except Tommy (Shiloh O’Reilly). There is just an obnoxious level of bullying that Eli Roth thinks every young teenager has to have to create conflict, where this feels like a mishandled mechanism for establishing hysteria. The plot exposition when the backstory of The Ice Cream Man is revealed is incoherent, inert and underdeveloped. By the time it is revealed, the narrative has exhausted any goodwill it may have had. It makes you appreciate the Poohniverse films for their modest attempts at corrupting childhood fairy tales. The film drags out the ingenuity with the ending to Weapons and there is nowhere near enough material here.

One of the controversies surrounding this film is the use of Artificial Intelligence in the making of this film used for the animated graphics sequences. Peculiarly, this felt incidental to the larger problems. The animated graphic sequences are visually mundane, lacking creative flair. The technology controversy did feel secondary. After the film finished there was overriding thoughts of how and why the violence needed to be exerted this extremely. It is aggressively unpleasant and dramatically underdeveloped. One of the worst horror films I have ever seen.

Cast

Ari Millen - Ice Cream Man

Charlie Zeltzer - Jared

Shiloh O'Reilly- Tommy

Kiori Mirza Waldman - Mia

Sarah Abbott - Lizzie

Benjamin Byron Davis - Priest / The Necromancer

Crew

Director - Eli Roth

Screenwriters - Eli Roth & Noah Belson

Producers - Eli Roth, Kate Harrison Karman, Christopher Woodrow, Raj Singh

Cinematographer - Simon Shohet

Editor - Matt Lyon

Music - Brandon Roberts