has put Eli Roth Ice Cream Man near the bottom of the 2020s horror pile, calling it one of the year’s worst horrors. The review lands hard because this is Roth’s first direct contribution to Horror Section, his new horror-focused company, and it arrives after Thanksgiving.
Ari Millen and Charlie Zeltzer
Ari Millen plays the creepy-looking ice-cream man at the center of the film, while Charlie Zeltzer plays Jared, the twelve-year-old who is lactose-intolerant and therefore does not eat the cursed free ice-cream. That setup gives the movie a simple mechanism: the treats turn children into feral, zombie-like killers, so one kid’s restriction becomes the only thing separating him from the chaos.
Cheap Look, Bad CG
The review says the film looks cheap and moves too fast, which is a rough outcome for a retro horror that is clearly aiming at VHS-style gorehounds. It also calls out the bad CG blood spatter, and that combination leaves the movie with the kind of unfinished feel that can sink a low-budget horror before word of mouth has a chance to help it.
1995 and Horror Section
Ice Cream Man also shares its title with a 1995 direct-to-video curiosity starring Clint Howard, but the two films are unrelated. That matters less as a trivia point than as a market reality: the title carries no built-in link to the older release, so Horror Section has to sell this one on Roth’s name and the film itself.
Roth co-wrote the film with Noah Belson, and the review places it after the filmmaker’s move from Thanksgiving into a company meant to release movies, shows and experiences. My read is blunt: if Horror Section wants Ice Cream Man to function as a calling card, it needs a stronger launch path than a review that brands the film one of the year’s worst horrors.
