Ice Cream Man (1995) User Reviews

Creme de la Creme?

[hamandcheesecroissant · 4/10 · 17 October 2020]

Here's a film that will chill you to the bone, or maybe just leave you cold. Ice Cream Man is two scoops of scary fun from the good old days when R-rated movies were marketed to children. When kids hear this ice cream truck coming, they run...for their lives! It may not be the cream of the crop but could leave you frozen with fear.

Ron Howard's brother plays an overtly creepy Ice Cream Man. From behind the barred windows of his ice cream truck, he doles out ice cream from bloody, pest ridden tubs and commits the occasional murder. Soon his antics attract the attention of the neighborhood kids as well as two police detectives played by Jean Michael Vincent and Lee Majors II. Will the ice cream man's dreams of having a shop of his own melt away under the heat of his own un-cone-trollable killing sprees?

Clint Howard is well cast as a murderous creep. He inhabits the role the way a hand inhabits a mitten. Similar in style to Peewee's Big Adventure and Serial Mom: upright and proper suburban facades concealing abnormality, the way my t-shirt hides a dark underbelly. Violent scenes are few and not very explicit. If anything it's worth watching just to see Clint Howard hamming it up.

85 Minutes Campy Horror 4.5/10 flavors of slow-churned, creamy murder

Poor Clint Howard...

[Mr. Pulse · 4/10 · 14 March 2001]

You can see that if the flick ain't directed by his brother, this is the best he can do. And sad to say, his best just doesn't cut it. "Ice Cream Man" is a very bizarre horror film, that's a real blast to watch if you're in the right mood. In the wrong mood, it has been known to cause people to lash out violently at loved ones, so please, watch with caution.

Clint Howard stars (Does anything really star Clint Howard though?) as the "evil" "psychotic" "bizarre" (Yes all in quotes, he's not quite any of these, but he's getting close) ice cream man, who tortures the local children with bomb pops that are really melty and ice cream that has chopped up humans and dogs in them. Ick.

Anyway, the plot's really just an excuse to show of the...well, the...um, well it's a plot. Oh wait, I know! It's an excuse to show off all the loser actor cameos! There's Jan Michael Vincent and Lee Majors II (The sequel?) as cops tracking the elusive man o' ice cream. And even Doug Lleyweln appears as a supermarket clerk.

Even better than that, are some of the bizarre goofs in the film. I really like the fact that for some reason, instead of hiring a fat actor to play the unhappy "fat" kid of the group, they just make this one kid wearing padding under his clothes. And the entire premise that anyone would by scoops of ice cream from a ice cream man. Who buys ice cream scoops from the ice cream man? Then there's the entire psychiatric ward scene, in which Jan Michael Vincent's acting ranges from mildly interested, to bored beyond the state of consciousness. These are the cops who also scour the Ice Cream Man's place for clues but manage to complete gloss over the ice cream truck (where, of course, the various bodies and such are kept). Oh well, better luck next time troops.

Howard himself overacts like he's making sure people two towns over can see and hear him. It's all just plain dumb. And fairly fun to laugh at in the fine tradition of The Pumaman or Gymkata. You'll have a GOOD laugh with the right sense of HUMOR. I love that one.

"That's classified ice cream man. Classified." The best killer ice cream man film. Ever.

[poolandrews · 5/10 · 28 December 2006]

Ice Cream Man tells the tale of a bunch of kids in suburban America, friends Johnny Spodak (Justin Isfeld), Heather Langley (Anndi McAfee), Chris 'Tuna' Cassera (Jojo Adams) & Small Paul (Mikey LeBeau) are just your average group of adolescent mates who enjoy messing around, having a laugh & buying ice cream from the ice cream man (Clint Howard) who drives around in his ice cream van. However Gregory is a new ice cream man & there's something not right about him, maybe it's the fact that he had huge syringe's of green goo injected into his head when he was younger as part of his 'treatment' in Wishing Wells mental hospital? Maybe it's the fact he kills dogs & puts them though a food crusher? Maybe it's because he drives around with various body parts, eyeballs & combat knives in the back of his van? Or maybe it has something to do with the disturbing fact he makes his ice cream of people he kills? It's up to detectives Gifford (Jan-Michael Vincent) & Maldwyn (LeeMajors II) to try & discover what's happening to all the missing people...

Produced & directed by Paul Norman as Norman Apstein I though Ice Cream Man had potential that it didn't really live up to. The script by Sven Davison & David Dobkin has an intriguing premise, one that has that juxtaposition where ice cream men are considered good & deal with children all the time & this film turns the ice cream man into an evil killer. The film definitely does't take itself seriously & at times feels like a spoof, however the film-making is uneven & the horror, comedy & spoof elements seem almost random & don't gel that well. There are a few amusing moments in it like after having killed & used a local woman for ice cream ingredients Gregory finds a female condom in the bottom of his bowl, there are one or two gross moments in it like close-ups of people eating ice cream with eyeballs in but for the most part once I got over the initial premise I found it rather dull, pedestrian & boring. If it wasn't for the ice cream man turned killer gimmick this film would have nothing going for it, nothing at all. Some of the ice cream related one liners & twisted imagery paper over the cracks but underneath this is a poor film that runs out of ideas very quickly. The character's are alright, the kids weren't as annoying as I'd expected & while the parents are given some background & story to start with they are quickly forgotten & don't feature at all in the second half of the film.

Director Norman, or should that be Apstein, judging by his IMDb profile is far more used to porn & has over 100 credited to him including being responsible for the Edward Penishands (1991) series, he also seems to have appeared in the classic British horror film Village of the Damned (1960) as one of the village children, amazing eh? The film has a reasonable level of competence & it has a few memorable scenes but there's nothing spectacular here. In case your wondering no children at all are killed in Ice Cream Man. Gore wise things are OK, there's various body parts & eyeballs, someone has a spike stuck through their chin & it exits from the top of their head & there's a few impressive decapitated heads including one in an over-sized ice cream cone...

With a supposed budget of about $2,000,000 which is a fair amount Ice Cream Man is generally well made but nothing special, apparently according to the IMDb's 'Trivia' section it was sponsored by a shoe company & that it has a 'extraordinary number of shots of shoes', I must admit I can only remember one & the low level shots of peoples feet as Tuna hides under a shelf in the supermarket. Anyway, what difference does it make. The cast here is surprisingly good, Clint Howard, Jan-Michael Vincent, Olivia Hussey, David Warner, David Naughton & Lee Major's son! Unfortunately they aren't used that well & a potentially great cast is somewhat wasted.

Ice Cream Man has an attention grabbing title & central premise that once you get past there is actually very little here to like or recommend, a valiant effort at something a bit different but it doesn't quite come off.

The best bad movie I've ever seen

[JolietJerry · 3/10 · 11 December 2002]

Technically speaking, this movie sucks...lol. However, it's also hilarious. Whether or not it's intentionally funny I don't know. Horrible in every aspect, it also is the only movie I know of that has 1) a fat kid being played by a slim actor in a (very obvious) fat suit, 2) an attractive 30-something actress playing a character who's supposed to be in her late 60's, and 3) the most compliments for plastic yard daisies ever. Don't take this film seriously, just watch it for laughs....a great party movie.

The funniest movie of all time!!

[skalabaloo · 27 February 2002]

This has to be one of the funniest movies of all time. I can't imagine them making anything worse then this. Just from the opening scene you can tell that this movie will be worth every cent you used to rent it at the video store. It starts with an ice cream man unknowingly getting loaded with bullets (remember that there are vigilante groups everywhere trying to get rid of ice cream men). The greatest scene must be when the girl comes home to her minister father and him telling her that "the angel Gabrielle is speaking through your mother again". Every time I think about that scene I can't help but laugh. Trust me this movie is worth everything you spend on it.

"Can you ever have too much ice cream?"

[Hey_Sweden · 5/10 · 1 July 2015]

As a child, Gregory Tudor (Clint Howard) had witnessed his beloved ice cream truck driver getting gunned down. He grows up to be a very warped individual, not helped by his stay in one of the wackiest ever mental institutions in a movie. Now he himself is an ice cream man. He's determined to spread cheer to children, but there's no shortage of unappreciative tots and sleazy adults to be punished and potentially turned into ingredients for his frozen treats.

Most anybody would agree that this is a crap movie, but the filmmakers know it and just have fun with their premise. The result is a goofy 84 minute diversion, more a dark comedy than a true out-and-out horror film. It successfully goes for the gross out on a few occasions, especially when the camera prowls around the interior of the ice cream truck and shows roaches and rats crawling around in the ice cream. There's some gore, but not a large amount (director Paul Norman and company were originally going for a PG-13 rating), and sex appeal in the form of Wanda (Andrea Evans), though no nudity or sex.

Clearly, some fun was had with the casting decisions. Howard has one of the nuttiest lead roles of his acting career, and he makes the most of it, speaking in an affected growl that's a real hoot. Other familiar faces include Sandahl Bergman ("Conan the Barbarian" '82) and David Naughton ("An American Werewolf in London") as a married couple, Jan-Michael Vincent ('Airwolf') as an investigating detective, Olivia Hussey ("Black Christmas" '74) as a kooky nurse turned landlady, David Warner ("The Omen" '76) as the local reverend, and Doug Llewelyn ('The People's Court') as a store manager. The kids (Justin Isfeld as Johnny, Anndi McAfee as Heather, JoJo Adams as "Tuna", Mikey LeBeau as "Small Paul", Zachary Benjamin as Roger) are all quite appealing.

The highlight (or low point, depending on ones' tastes and sensibilities) is seeing a bored and very unconcerned Vincent unhurriedly walk away from a gaggle of encroaching but not very threatening mental inmates.

Five out of 10.

Clint Howard, thank you for traumatizing me as a child

[niziirokanojo · 5/10 · 24 May 2021]

So this movie, it's bizarre and a bit stupid. It's definitely entertaining enough. I saw this years ago, like when I was 4-5 years old. All I remember was the eyeball scene and it stuck with me for years and entirely disturbed me at that moment. Years later, I watch it again and can't believe it bothered me. The acting is okay, the over the top flashbacks of Gregory being in the sanitarium is hilarious. I dont know what effed him up more, that drive by shooting, or actually being "treated" either way, it's a stupid and funny movie and not at all scary like my child self thought. I recommend this for a fun party and to not be taken seriously.

Definitely in the so bad, it's good category.

[HomieG · 6/10 · 11 July 2001]

From the beginning to end, Ice Cream Man is one of the funniest and dumbest movies I've ever seen. Sure, it isn't scary as intended but the laughs are definitely there. A good movie to catch with friends and make fun of scene by scene. The way Clint Howard doesn't understand sexual innuendo from the girl flirting with him through the movie is hilarious and where he creates --(minor spoiler)-- ice cream cones out of the policemen's heads is comic genius. True, it isn't Shakespeare and isn't even close to the great horror movies but for cheesy fun with a fat kid named "Tuna", "Ice Cream Man" delivers. 6/10

Suckfest '95

[ZackRearick · 1/10 · 26 June 2003]

What can I say about this movie that hasn't already been said about the seventh circle of Hell?It has no redeeming qualities with the exception of being so mind-shatteringly awful that it actual goes all the way around to being funny.The acting is sub-par,if par is below "dead mouse" on the acting scale.The main character,Gregory Tudor,has the most grating,annoying voice in cinematic history.And what about the plot,you ask?This movie doesn't just have plot twists,it has plot knots.The majority of your viewing experience will be spent asking anyone present if they can understand what's going on.This movie blows.

Cheesy But Hilarious!

[SusieSalmonLikeTheFish · 7/10 · 15 August 2014]

I've seen a ton of bad reviews on this film, but I think what people don't realize is that Ice Cream Man is not a horror movie or a slasher movie, it was produced as a black comedy. That being said, re-watching this, it's hilarious! Sure, the gore is cheap and pathetic... it was supposed to be! Sure, the kids are by no means heroes, more like a pit of losers, but they're supposed to be! The scene with the fat kid being chased down in the grocery store, that was a laugh-riot! The police were a pair of bumbling idiots, exactly! The nurse was a clueless old crone, of course! Each of these elements and more are all there to create a funny atmosphere, the same as was done in Return of the Living Dead (1985) and I Drink Your Blood (1970). If you've watched this movie hoping for a spectacular and suspenseful horror-fest, chances are you were disappointed. Try watching it from a comedic point of view.

This said, the soundtrack and acting was excellent considering the movie's budget. The plot was original. How often does a movie have an evil ice cream man, a freaky insane asylum and oblivious parents all in one? You should check out Ice Cream Man if you haven't already; you might be pleasantly surprised.

Flavor of the Month: Soylent Cream!!

[zstar24 · 2/10 · 14 September 2006]

This is one of those movies you find when you stay up too late and only have basic cable. It's hard to believe this movie was made in '95, considering it looks like something out of the late 80s. Plucky youngsters with varied home problems face a demented ice cream man who's on a mission to make the best flavor ever: Soylent Cream!!!

This movie is extremely demented and is only scary in how creepy and absolutely, ridiculously gross it is. Actually, the really scary thing about this movie is the nature of the problems these kids face at home. The fact that these kids have no escape from their silent suburban sufferings makes any random loony loose in the neighborhood seem like a walk in the park.

The most laughable part of this movie is the fact that the stereotypical "fat kid" is so obviously a slim pre-teen with a mountain of padding under his baggy sweatshirts. I guess that either a) they hadn't invented/ couldn't afford a fat suit, b) the casting director was too lazy to find a pudgy child star or c) we are honestly supposed to believe that this child is starving and has an enormously distended belly.

So if you're up at 2 am and need something ridiculous and disgusting to rip on with your intoxicated friends, go ahead and take a look. Personally, I'd rather be sleeping.

The Best 80s B-Horror Movie from the 90s

[jack_kai · 10/10 · 22 February 2003]

A friend and I were down and needed a good 80s horror movie to perk us up. Ice Cream Man appeared to fulfill our needs down at the video store, esp. since our store only carried the version that lacked the blood on the outer box.

This movie was exactly what we expected, but better, a cheesey, histarically 80s horror movie with our favorite washed up stars, including Rebecca from Passions and the Proffesor from Teanage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2.

The only scary part of the movie was what we found out about it on imdb.com : 1) The movie was made in '95 although the entire thing is right out of the 80s, just look at what they are all wearing and the size of thier hair.

2) The director Paul Norman has directed over 100 films, with Ice Cream Man being the only film that was not pornographic.

All in all this is a great movie if you need a laugh, you will get more than one.

Good

[Amit9FW · 7/10 · 23 October 2020]

Even after 25 years, This movie is Watchable and also interesting.

Yeah it's pretty bad

[cgearheart · 2/10 · 20 September 2019]

I didn't exactly go into this movie with high expectations. In fact, it was actually a back up choice of a movie m I was watching that didn't have subtitles. Anyways, it was a very stupid but somewhat funny (mostly unintentionally) "horror" with tons of silly stupidity and not a lot of gore. The scariest thing in the movie, however, was how Clint Howard handled ice cream... his dirty, hairy, ungloved mits digging inside the tubs. That was enough to spark nightmares.

F

Cheesy but Funny...

[LVdesigner · 28 September 2002]

Ice Cream Man is ultimately cheesy but so funny! Is this movie actually supposed to be scarey? Clint Howard is the godfather of B- movies and he is so funny in this movie. What makes him so funny is that he's trying to be a scarey guy and he totally isn't. There is nothing scarey about Clint Howard, only humorous. So, for all of you fellow B-movie lovers, go check out Ice Cream Man. You will not be disappointed!

OK Movie

[spencewenn · 3/10 · 2 August 2005]

I bought this movie at a thrift store. Months before, my friend told me about it when we were talking about dumb movies we've seen. Once I spotted the cassette, I knew I had to have it. I watched it that night. I could tell it was going to be very cheesy and cheaply done. . . That's what drew me to it. I popped it in and I laughed the whole way through. I recognized Gregory (The Ice Cream Man), but I didn't recognize his name and I couldn't remember where I saw him. Later, while watching the Andy Griffith Show, Clint Howard (Ice Cream Man) was featured as an extra since he is Ron Howard (Opie Taylor)'s brother. I saw the credits and I gasped. I turned to my mom, who was also watching the show, and said, "That's the Ice Cream Man!!" She, too, gasped. This movie is great, but only for laughs and criticalness. It is the perfect example of a cheesy horror flick. If you feel like laughing as well as poking fun at low-budget movies, rent this video.

Ice Cream Dud

[StinkerCritics - T & L · 1/10 · 5 July 2000]

After reading other reviews on this site, we weren't sure if we were going to be able to critique this movie because it didn't sound bad enough. However, 2 minutes into the movie, we knew we were in for another flop. No summer is complete without ice cream, but this movie served up a melted, sour, broken-bottomed ice cream cone (you know, the kind that leaves you sticky and dirty and looking for a wet-nap). The biggest problem with this movie was the plot. What was it? It appeared to be a psychotic ice cream man driving around the neighborhood. That's it. Nothing else happens. First of all, what are the qualifications for becoming an ice-cream man in this crap town? 1. Spend several years in the most ridiculous mental hospital known to man. This hospital was plagued with clowns, graffiti, fake plastic sunflowers, and oversized syringes to the head. 2. Have extremely poor hygiene and a mutant face to scare the kids away. 3. Make sure your truck is stocked with severed body parts, roaches, and don't forget the eye whites!

The actors in this movie are pure B-Movie caliber. Mixed in with a bunch of unknowns is, who other than....a trailer-trash version of Macaulay Culkin!! Even his bratty charm couldn't save this kick in the pants. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason for any of the murders in this movie. The whole concept of the movie reeked! Who would kill an ice cream man in a drive-by shooting? Gangsters? Fiends? Vanna White? Who? We are still struggling with this question.

Whoever was in charge of the wardrobe for this movie should be immediately blacklisted from Hollywood. Did they honestly think a pillow under a kid's shirt would make the audience believe that he was really fat? Did they forget about the arms, face, legs, and all other body parts? Second of all, this movie was made in 1995, yet the wardrobe seemed to be picked from a lame 80's movie, evidenced by the big brother's white, crotch-hugging high-water pants.

While we were watching this shotty production, we both developed severe cases of ADD. We found ourselves leaving the room to walk around aimlessly. At many points it the movie, we found that staring at a blank wall behind the T.V. set was more entertaining than the actual movie. We were stunned that this movie didn't make it to the Bottom 100. Afterwards, we took the tape out of the VCR and left it on the black top to melt like a sub-standard ice cream cone.

Seriously, how do you screw this up?

[udar55 · 3/10 · 26 July 2009]

A conversation about how Jan-Michael Vincent is a lush led me to foolishly re-visit this mid-90s DTV entry. A kid is traumatized when he sees an Ice Cream man gunned down in the 1950s and he grows up to be a psycho Ice Cream man (Clint Howard). Something happens and people disappear and end up in the ice cream. Blah, blah, blah.

Director Norman Apstein (credited as Paul Norman) made a career of doing porn before this and went right back to it afterward. That is what you get for having all murders happen off screen. And for casting a skinny kid as a fat kid and making him wear a fat suit. Just cast a fat kid! Also, there is a scene where Vincent stoically reacts to a group of escaped loonies surrounding him. He was either totally drunk and was frightened for his life or the filmmakers captured his "Have I really sunk this low?" shame full on. Despite being low budget trash, this did line up a few good names including David Naughton, Olivia Hussey, David Warner and THE PEOPLE COURT's own Doug Llewelyn. How you can make a boring slasher with that cast is beyond me.

A Cheese Classic

[pizowell · 7/10 · 24 March 2001]

Who's gonna deliver the ice cream? The Ice Cream Man will, a psycho ice cream man that is. A wonderfully cheesy flick with a stellar performance from Clint Howard as the Ice Cream Man. Check it out. Perfect movie night flick to watch with your friends and a big pale of everclear. This is laugh your ass off material people.

Pretty stupid

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 1/10 · 17 November 2003]

I was looking for a movie with senseless violence, gore, sex, etc., etc. Just to kill a hour and a half, and I ended up wishing that hour and a half back. Why did I rent this movie?! Why? I thought it would be good. And it was just stupid. I didn't get the whole situation with the ice cream man. And there was like one bloody scene. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Did I mention it was stupid?

1/10

Always Stuck With Me

[michaelgarykelley1994 · 7/10 · 29 October 2018]

I was born in '94, and I will tell you that the old Sci-Fi channel played this once, and I caught glimpses of it, and fell in love with the whole thing. I used to see the VHS floating around in a store that's long gone, called Warehouse Music (a place my mother and I loved dearly). I never got to see the entire film, until this passed week. I happened to find it on YouTube, where someone had uploaded the thing, a few years ago, and it was such a fun ride.

Say what you will about Clint Howard, but I've always liked him. I don't care if it's his absolutely insane character here or his wannabe-type character from "How The Grinch Stole Christmas"-the guy ALWAYS makes his role fun. This is just the best example of that.

The film is gory, silly, cooky, and fun, but it's also VERY low-budget, and happens to be a slasher, which tends to be formulaic. And, yes, this film is formulaic, but it's excellent. If you're going to make a killer out of an ice cream man, this is the way to do it. It's very much like a Gingerdead Man type of film, so if you're into Full Moon Productions' work, you MUST see this flick!

There's just too many memorable moments and one-liners to pass this up!

"Ice Cream Man" knows exactly what it is, and it takes pride in that. There's absolutely ridiculous moments involving policemen characters that suck, but the creativity with this film makes it all worth sitting through.

I just really wish the asylum sequence was cut short. Seems like it goes on way too long. Everything else flows perfectly, however!

Seriously, try this out, if you haven't! I plan on buying this, at some point!

"What's Your Favorite Ice Cream Flavor?"

[gwnightscream · 4/10 · 5 February 2014]

Clint Howard (Ron Howard's Brother) stars in this 1995 horror comedy as creepy yet nice guy, Gregory Tudor who works as an ice cream man. He was traumatized by an ice cream man's murder as a kid and went to a sanitarium where the doctors brainwashed him. Gregory always tries to have a happy day trying to help the neighborhood kids, but he starts killing those who get in his way and uses them in his ice cream flavor recipes. Soon, some of the kids learn he's not who he appears to be. Olivia Hussey (Black Christmas), David Naughton (An American Werewolf in London), David Warner (The Omen), Jan-Michael Vincent (Airwolf) and porn legend, Tori Welles also appear in this. This isn't that great, but Howard makes it worthwhile. I'd still check this out at least once if you enjoy slasher/horror flicks.

Run Tuna!

[bela_bombastic · 10/10 · 19 September 2005]

Yes, this movie was complete crap. But I'm not sure if it was meant to be crap or not. But I sho did love it. Probably the funniest movie of all time, for these reasons:

1. It has a fat kid named Tuna in it...and he's actually not fat in real life, but they made him wear some sort of fat suit. As if they couldn't find some kid who was actually fat! Brilliant.

2. The Miami Vice police duo. One has the stoic presence you could only see in Don Johnson while the other is always confused. A great rag-tag team, lemme tell ya!

3. The scene where the police team (not Don Johnson and confused guy) go through the ice cream man's ice cream "factory" and break all of the stuff and then leave, not finding any evidence though it would be easy to find at least one eyeball somewhere.

4. Fake sunflowers.

5. The mental institution scene. The police must investigate. So they go to the mental institution where everyone is insanely happy. Of course, the head guy there starts dancing while the police are being attacked by all of the loonies. The best part comes when they're both leaving the place and Don Johnson seems not at all scared or worried but casually pushes or slugs the crazies that are bugging him. The other guy, on the other hand, at least tries to look scared. They sure could have used more extras, by the way. The massive uprising looked pretty weak. But oh, was it funny!

6. The head in the ice cream cone. Talk about genius.

Taste the flavor of terror

[lordzedd-3 · 7/10 · 8 September 2007]

A new twist on the serial killer genre, which shows that anyone can be a serial killer. Why didn't the ending credits mention his name which was Gregory not just Ice Cream Man? There was a scene when the cops were asking Greg a couple of questions and he gave one a scoop of Rocky Road with a human eye ball and he eats it. Besides a moment of ewww! You'd never see the cops on CSI taking anything from a suspect, they would have said "No thank you." Either the cops in Pasadena are complete morons or they didn't write it correctly. That and the fact Greg was just a normal guy with no mask or anything, stimulating yes, perfect, no. 7 STARS.

B movie gold right here! (referring to Rifftrax version)

[reddiemurf81 · 5/10 · 22 July 2021]

This movie is so terrible it's outstanding,, and perfect for the Rifftrax guys to riff along with.