Eye Scream!

The 1990's was the worst decade for horror movies, there were a couple of gems like Dead Alive, Blair witch project and others but for the most part it was a sad time for horror fans. The horror movies that did come out were not serious films but very tongue and cheek, almost a parody of all those that came before them. Ice cream man is no exception to the not-so-serious horror film and it follows the standard blueprint of those films very closely. Clint Howard stars as Gregory Tudor, an ice cream man with a bit of a shady past just released from a sanatorium where he was held for a while after witnessing the murder of his best friend "The Ice Cream King". Gregory just wants to give back to the community by offering up some tasty treats to the kids of the neighborhood. There is one catch though, the kids that are not nice to the ice cream man end up the flavor of the day as Gregory lures them into his truck for free ice cream and then kills them, cuts them up and adds the parts to the vat of ice cream.
Lee Majors II plays detective Maldwyn who is hot on the trail of the killer, and in one scene buys a "eyece" cream from Gregory after questioning him, not knowing Gregory is the killer all along. Some of the kids in the neighborhood figure out Gregory's secret and try to expose the truth without becoming the next tasty frozen treat.
Some of the other actors are Sandahl Bergman, Olivia Hussey, David Naughton, Jan Michael Vincent, David Warner and Steve Garvey who all bring some pretty weak performances and some hammy acting.
The film was sponsored by Converse shoes which can be seen on many actors throughout the movie.
Ardustry put out a bare bones DVD in 2004 with no extras, I would like to see a nice release with commentary and so on, The Ice Cream Man deserves it.
Clint Howard is perfect as the crazy ice cream man because he looks so damn crazy anyway, and he really hams it up for the role in this movie and a lot of movies he is in. Clint has had quite the career with 190 films under his belt since 1963. Clint has been through drug addiction and has had other problems throughout his life, and while living in the shadow of his brother Ron Howard he has really made a name for himself. The director, Paul Norman, has directed a lot of "adult" films with Ice Cream Man being one of the few films that does not fall into that genre in his career.
Ice Cream Man is just a really fun movie not to be taken seriously, for example about half way through the film we are treated to a fantastic scene where Gregory serves up the Ice cream with a mans decapitated head on a huge cone to the man's wife which is so over the top it serves as almost pure comedy rather than horror. You get the feeling that there was a lot of laughing and joking around on the set of Ice Cream Man. Comedy films were huge in the 90's so it is no wonder why most of the horror films from that decade are humorous with a few exceptions. I personally have a affection for these kind of horror movies, and although Ice Cream man would not make my top ten horror movie list, it is still a blast to watch with some like minded friends for a good laugh. I recommend this movie on a triple bill with Killer Klowns From Outerspace and Dr. Giggles.

Review by Jason

Rating: C