Eli Roth Unleashes Bloody Red Band Trailer for Ice Cream Man
Love him or hate him, there are very few horror filmmakers quite like Eli Roth. Now he returns with Ice Cream Man
From helping spearhead the so-called “Splat Pack” movement of the 2000s with Cabin Fever and Hostel, to more recent crowd-pleasers like Thanksgiving, Roth has built a career on pushing buttons, testing audience limits and delivering horror with a wicked grin on its face. This summer, he’s back with another slice of outrageous carnage, and judging by the newly released Red Band trailer, Ice Cream Man might be one of his wildest films yet.
The upcoming horror movie arrives in cinemas on August 7 through Roth’s own distribution label, The Horror Section.
Watch the trailer below.
Written by Roth alongside longtime friend and collaborator Noah Belson, Ice Cream Man takes place in the seemingly peaceful coastal town of Bayleen Bay. Naturally, things do not stay peaceful for long.
According to the film’s official synopsis, a mysterious ice cream vendor begins serving treats that have horrifying consequences for the town’s children. Before long, Bayleen Bay descends into complete chaos as the youngsters become violently unhinged, turning against the adults around them in increasingly gruesome fashion.
If the trailer is anything to go by, subtlety has not been invited to the party.
The footage quickly establishes the film’s gleefully over-the-top tone, mixing buckets of gore, pitch-black comedy and exploitation movie madness. What begins as a sunny small-town nightmare soon transforms into a blood-soaked free-for-all as children rampage through the community with murder on their minds.
The premise immediately calls to mind cult exploitation films such as Beware! Children at Play, the controversial 1989 Troma release that similarly explored homicidal children turning against adults. Longtime horror fans will likely spot several other influences woven throughout the trailer, though the final result still feels distinctly Roth.
After all, this is the filmmaker who introduced audiences to the sadistic torture chambers of Hostel and later delivered one of the most unexpectedly entertaining slashers of recent years with Thanksgiving.
Roth first broke through with Cabin Fever in 2002, a low-budget horror hit that blended gruesome body horror with dark humour. He followed it with Hostel and Hostel: Part II, films that became hugely influential within the horror genre and helped popularise the term “torture porn,” even if Roth himself has often pushed back against the label.
While his career has expanded beyond horror with projects including The House with a Clock in Its Walls, Borderlands, and various producing ventures, he has repeatedly returned to the genre that made his name. Last year’s Thanksgiving, adapted from the fake trailer he originally created for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez’s Grindhouse, became both a critical and commercial success, proving Roth still knows how to entertain horror audiences.
That same mischievous energy appears to be running through Ice Cream Man.
Leading the cast is Ari Millen, best known for his multiple performances across the acclaimed sci-fi series Orphan Black. He is joined by Benjamin Byron Davis, familiar to gamers worldwide as Dutch van der Linde from Red Dead Redemption, alongside Karen Cliche, who previously appeared in Roth’s Thanksgiving.
The supporting cast also includes Dylan Hawco, Sarah Abbott, Shiloh O’Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman, Charlie Zeltzer and Charlie Storey.
Behind the scenes, Roth has assembled an impressive team of collaborators. Music for the film includes contributions from legendary rapper Snoop Dogg, who is also working with Roth on another upcoming project, Don’t Go in That House, Bitch. The score comes from Brandon Roberts, whose previous credits include Thanksgiving.
The practical effects should be a major attraction for horror fans. Prosthetic makeup effects are being handled by Academy Award winner Adrien Morot, whose recent work includes The Whale and Thanksgiving, alongside veteran effects artist Steve Newburn.
Meanwhile, hip-hop icon Nas serves as executive producer.
This is a new Ice Cream Man
One thing worth clarifying is that Ice Cream Man has absolutely no connection to the cult 1995 horror movie starring Clint Howard. Although both films feature sinister ice cream vendors, Roth’s project is an entirely original creation.
That said, horror fans of a certain age may find themselves thinking back to Howard’s bizarre cult classic while watching the trailer.
The difference is that Eli Roth appears to have thrown the concept into a blender filled with blood, sugar, razor blades and complete insanity.
If the trailer is any indication, Ice Cream Man is shaping up to be exactly the kind of outrageous, no-holds-barred horror movie that has defined Roth’s career for more than twenty years. It is messy, offensive, violent, ridiculous and seemingly determined to leave audiences wondering what on earth they have just watched.
In other words, it looks exactly like an Eli Roth movie.
Ice Cream Man scoops its way into cinemas on August 7.
