movies
‘Ice Cream Man’ Review: Eli Roth’s Gruesome Gore-Fe
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.
Release date: Friday, August 7
Cast: Ari Millen, Benjamin Byron Davis, Eli Roth, Karen Cliche, Dylan Hawco, Sarah Abbott, Shiloh O’Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman, Charlie Zeltzer, Charlie Storey
Director: Eli Roth
Screenwriters: Eli Roth, Noah Benson
1 hour 26 minutes
The film doesn’t feature a particularly complicated scenario. The strange-looking driver of a weirdly decorated ice cream truck driving through the sort of idyllic American small town painted by Norman Rockwell distributes his frozen wares to the local children, and they promptly turn into homicidal little creatures staring blankly into space and sporting severely discolored lips. They go after their adult prey with such demonic enthusiasm it makes you wonder why George Romero never thought of the idea, a sort of “Bugsy Malone of the Living Dead.”
One hopes Roth has gotten his worst instincts out with this effort, which, considering that it comes from the maker of such films as Cabin Fever, Hostel and Thanksgiving, is saying something.
The silent, perpetually smiling ice cream truck vendor, played chillingly by Canadian actor Ari Millen (Orphan Black), is certainly a creepy figure who could give Art the Clown in the Terrifier movies a run for his money. Except that the Ice Cream Man is less a psycho killer than an evil enabler, one whose frozen treats turn otherwise normal children into pint-sized killing machines displaying remarkable ingenuity in their methods of slaughter. The Ice Cream Man does pitch in at times, including serving a teacher’s scooped-out brains to him in a cone.
The little darlings, who include a girl who walks around the neighborhood holding her mother’s severed head like a trophy, display the usual playfulness of summer campers. They also seek to swell their ranks by force-feeding the ice cream to any fellow children who haven’t yet been infected. Their carnage — exemplified in a lengthy, virtuosic sequence in which they attack the adult teachers and employees at their grade school with frenzied abandon — includes the sort of gruesome playground activities involving severed body parts that makes one hope the child actors had recourse to on-set psychiatric counseling.
There’s a backstory of sorts, told by a local priest (Benjamin Byron Davis) and involving a travesty of justice followed by revenge facilitated by a necromancer. But it almost seems unnecessary, since the film’s true raison d’etre is demonstrating the amazing talents of its prosthetics designers, who have created such a relentless series of horrific bodily images that it’s easy to imagine blood-crazed audiences applauding them like musical numbers. The reliance on practical effects rather than the CGI employed by so many current horror films at least proves refreshing.
The visuals are also packed with throwaway jokes, including one drive-by decapitation that should be accompanied by a rim shot, and deadpan visual flourishes like a crow pecking out the eyes of a corpse in the foreground of a shot.
There have been plenty of horror movies involving murderous children over the years, such as Village of the Damned and its sequel and, of course, Children of the Corn. But Roth doesn’t hide his desire to outdo them all with this effort that can only be described as sick and twisted. And I’m sure he’ll take that as a compliment.
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movies
Mary Holland Joins DC’s Jimmy Olsen ‘Superman’ Spinoff Series
EXCLUSIVE: Mary Holland (Ghosts, The Little House on the Prairie) has been cast as the female lead in DC’s Superman spinoff series centering on Jimmy Olsen from HBO Max, sources close to production tell Deadline. She will play the role of Sandra, we hear.
Holland joins the previously announced Jimmy Tatro, who we confirmed last month would play Gorilla Grodd, the hyper-intelligent telepathic ape who has sought to rule both the simian and human worlds, though the Flash has frequently thwarted his plans.
HBO Max and DCS declined to comment for this story.
The spinoff is billed as being akin to a true-crime docuseries/mockumentary with the Daily Planet’s Jimmy Olsen (played by Skyler Gisondo in the summer blockbuster directed by James Gunn) from Superman hosting. Season 1 will be centered around DC bad guy Gorilla Grodd, who has psychic powers and other skills after his encounter with an alien spaceship. The character was created in 1959 by John Broome and Carmine Infantino, and was most recently featured as part of DC’s Arrowverse.
The new series comes from Tony Yacenda and Dan Perrault, creators of Netflix’s American Vandal series, a true-crime satire series that ran from 2017-18. They’ll write, executive produce and showrun the series. DC Studios bosses James Gunn and Peter Safran are EPs, with Galen Vaisman overseeing production. Warner Bros. Television is also producing.
Holland is an actress, writer and comedian who can currently be seen recurring on CBS’s hit sitcom Ghosts, and Netflix’s The Little House on the Prairie reboot. Before, she starred in Apple’s The Big Door Prize, and on the big screen in Under the Lights opposite Nick Offerman, Annapurna’s Nightbitch, Neon’s Self Reliance, opposite Kristen Bell in Netflix’s Woman in the House, and Senior Year. She is currently in production on The Earliest Show, a TV series from Amplify Pictures. She is repped by Atlas Artists, Paradigm Talent Agency, and Ziffren Brittenham.
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movies
Geno Segers Apologizes After Being Fired From ‘Hadestown’ Over Transgender Comments: “I Accept Full Responsibility For My Words”
Geno Segers is breaking his silence after being fired from Broadway’s Hadestown following backlash over resurfaced transgender comments.
The actor issues an apology following public outcry over the social media posts being brought back to light.
“I wish to extend my most sincere apologies to everyone impacted by my words,” Segers said in a statement shared on Instagram. “While I never intended to inflict harm, I recognize that the impact of my statements is what matters most.”
He continued, “I am fully committed to listening, educating myself, and elevating my standards. I will work tirelessly to earn the opportunity to make things right.”
The actor also apologized to the cast, the creative team, and producers of Hadestown “for the stress my actions have brought to this production,” adding, “I accept full responsibility for my words and acknowledge the necessity of immediate accountability.”
Segers ended his statement saying, “I extended my wholehearted support to the cast, crew, and my replacement. I wish you all tremendous success during your run. I have complete confidence that each of you will be phenomenal.”
Hadestown had announced Segers as part of the new cast of the Broadway show in the role of Hades. The actor would’ve shared the stage with Amber Iman, Jasmin Savoy Brown, and Norbert Leo Butz. Shortly after the announcement, past videos resurfaced on theater blogs where the actor expressed anti-trans sentiments around pronouns and trans athletes in women’s sports.
Amid the backlash, the Hadestown producers took swift action and parted ways with Segers, saying in a statement, “The producers of Hadestown and Geno Segers have mutually agreed that Mr. Segers will no longer join the Broadway production. Additional casting will be announced shortly.”
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movies
‘Chicago Fire’s Dermot Mulroney Says “It’s Bitter To Have To Leave” NBC Series After Two Seasons
Dermot Mulroney is leaving Chicago Fire after two seasons on the show, with his character wrapping up in the upcoming Season 15.
While attending Flashback Weekend Chicago Horror Convention, Mulroney gave his first reaction after news of his exit from the NBC series.
“Loved every minute of it. Became friends with this incredible crew of people,” Mulroney said at the fan convention.
Mulroney acknowledged the “incredible cast” he worked with and noted that they gave him “incredibly challenging scenes” throughout his time on the show.
The actor said that he only had one episode left, which will be part of Season 15, “and they write the character off, adding, “We gave it our all for two seasons.”
“They wrote an incredible storyline that put me as an actor on [a] high challenge,” he continued. “I loved every minute of it. Sad to see it go.”
Mulroney, who played Chief Pascal, talked about the support from fans and how much these shows mean to first responders and their families.
“That’s how meaningful that is, which makes it that much more- I won’t say bittersweet; it’s better to have to leave that,” he said.
On Friday, July 31, Deadline reported that Mulroney was saying goodbye to Chicago Fire. The actor joined the Wolft Entertainment and Universal Television show in Season 13 after Eamonn Walker’s exit. Mulroney went on hiatus for the latter half of Season 14, returning in the finale. Season 15 is set to premiere on October 7 at 9 p.m. ET on NBC.
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