Forgotten Horror - Ice Cream Man (1995)

Poor Gregory. After being released from the Wishing Well Sanatorium, all he wants to do is make the children happy. So Gregory reopens the old ice cream factory, and all the unappreciative brats are reprocessed into the flavor of the day.

This movie is so bad it’s good - at times it’s hard to believe this movie is actually real! It was made in the mid 90s which seems strange as it has a huge cheesy 80s slasher flick vibe. This movie was directed by Norman Apstein who only had experience in porn movies previous to this. This movie is actually hard to believe at times, we seem to switch from family/comedy vibes ala Monster Squad to sick and twisted gore scenes with no real warning.

Clint Howard really makes an impression here and plays the part of Gregory (Ice-Cream Man) very well. Using is odd look, he talks in a bizarre fashion and pulls some strange and unsettling faces while doing it! I genuinely can’t believe this movie ever got green-lit but I’m also very glad it was. The kills are over the top and ridiculous from the start, but also the reason we all watch this movie - an insane ice-cream man who kills people and uses body parts etc to put in the cones… what more could you want from a movie??!

The movie does suffer from a slight feeling of maybe not knowing where its place was to a degree, I would have preferred a straight horror flick (kids being killed etc) or a comedy/family PG-13 flick. Unfortunately this movie rides the thin line between the two of those without ever really deciding which one it is. Clint saves the entire movie in my opinion with his role as the villain! He is truly fantastic and I can’t picture anyone making the character so bad he’s good.

The dialogue is awful, the effects are awful and just about most things in this movie are awful… which is why it works. For the most part it seem’s that everyone involved was very self aware about what this movie was trying to be and achieve. The first time I saw this movie it was based on the artwork alone and it did not disappoint one bit. It’s finally gotten a fantastic blu-ray release and you should treat yourself to it.

Another movie that is lost in the sands of time, although not an Oscar worthy movie whatsoever it deserves a huge pat on the back for being exactly what it should have been!

I guess not every day is a happy, happy, happy day!