Ice Cream Man
It’s a pleasant sunny day at Bayleen Bay in the affluent suburbs beyond the city, the little league game between the Whalers and the Landsharks underway and Jared Mayfield about to blow the match when he is distracted by the arrival of the Ice Cream Man in his van accompanied by his broken-down honky-tonk jingle, the children crowding around but Jared refused by elder sister Lizzie as he – as he well knows – is lactose intolerant.
The end of term almost upon them, Lizzie attempts to impress on parents Marty and Alison the importance of cutting class, but the former high school sweethearts are having none of it though the next day the corridors are silent and half empty, many of the children who do attend oddly subdued as though waiting to be triggered by the sound of that haunting jingle, only Jared, Mia and Tommy apparently immune.
Sharing a name but nothing else with the 1995 horror, Ice Cream Man is directed by The Green Inferno’s Eli Roth from a script co-written with Noah Belson, tangentially akin to that film in that it concerns the relationship of impressionable youth to food but targeting a much younger age group with many of the ensemble likely unable to view the relentless violence at the cinema as they are not yet old enough.
The obvious clues being that a murderous child is introduced as Piper and an unfortunate teacher as Mister Hamlin, the sinister song of the Ice Cream Man (Vicious Fun’s Ari Millen) is a trigger to the children who consumed his chilled delights to flock to him with further treats for all who do as they are tasked, unleashing a wave of killing which plays out its nastiness in a shiny wrapper of joy with the subversive feel of early Joe Dante.
Invasion of the Body Snatchers mediated by The Stuff, the trio at the centre of the classroom carnage are excellent, Charlie Zeltzer, Kiori Mirza Waldman and Shiloh O’Reilly as Jared, Mia and Tommy, with Karen Cliche as Alison and Roth himself as wholesome dad Marty, with special mention for Sarah Abbott as Lizzie who finds herself paralysed and must perform as a contortionist to get out of bed, while Benjamin Byron Davis is the Priest who knows the secrets of the town and may hold some of the answers.
A pleasing but insubstantial treat, Ice Cream Man wallows in its indulgence while offering little beyond the surface, the multitudinous murders played as gags but with little dread beyond the immediate threat, a cartoon caper with a focus on evasion and escape, as simple as the ring-a- ding-dong jingle and the accompanying cartoon antics which guide the attacks but one which has no higher pretensions, intended for adults to unwind to when the children are in bed.
Ice Cream Man will be on general release from Friday 7th August
