Talk about a film without a good ending.

My gosh!

Hell no. Did the writers even care about the effects such a movie could have on children? These could range from immediate physical stress responses to long-term psychological effects. Because a child’s brain is still developing, particularly the prefrontal cortex, which is involved in decision-making, reasoning, and impulse control, intense visual imagery can affect children differently from adults. Or was it all about creating the perfect hook for the movie? Or was it just all about the money?

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Even as an adult, I was distraught watching this film because some of it made no sense. Some scenes were so horrific that they could give you bad nightmares.

First of all, I have to say I'm a fan of horror and slasher films, and I’ve seen many, from Scream to House of Wax, Candyman, Chucky and others. And personally, I’m not a fan of the new film Ice Cream Man, and I have my reasons for that.

First, the use of children in such gruesome scenes doesn’t quite work for me. I think the film would have been better if it had revolved around teenagers or people in their early twenties rather than using young children throughout the story.

Come on, we saw some really gruesome scenes. These are the kind of scenes you wouldn’t want a child of eight or ten watching on television. I particularly don’t get the idea of a director using young children as the main subjects of a movie like this. What exactly was the director trying to achieve by putting them at the centre of all this? They were even kids of about five or six holding hammers and chainsaws.

That’s a pass for me.

Secondly, the plot. The plot still leaves me confused. Even after watching the movie about four or five times, I still find it hard to understand what the plot was actually about.

Revenge? Really?

According to the writer and director Eli Roth, the story is about revenge. An ice cream man, Jonathan Smiley (Ari Millen), gets convicted of a crime he didn’t commit in Bayleen Bay and is sentenced to death after children from wealthy families in the town testify against him.

He then makes a deal with a necromancer: his life in exchange for revenge. After being raised from the dead by the necromancer, he swears to take revenge on the people who convicted him for a crime he didn’t commit.

After so many years and decades, he comes back from the dead and uses some kind of demonic substance to make children go after the people and families who accused him of something he didn’t do.

The children then become part of the killings, and this is where the whole thing becomes even more confusing for me.

I’m also curious about the ending. Jared Mayfair (Charlie Zeltzer) and Lizzie Mayfair (Sarah Abbott) kill their parents, Marty Mayfair, after being advised by the priest to kill the necromancer and the siren accompanying him in his unmarked grave during the last scene.

Jared and Lizzie stab the bodies in the grave but realise too late that they have killed their own parents. The priest is then revealed to be the necromancer, having tricked them into helping finish the job for Jonathan.

After all the killings and everything that happened, why weren’t they able to stop the Ice Cream Man? Eventually, they are unable to kill him, while the children are not freed from whatever demonic possession or influence they were under.

I don’t really understand what the film was trying to say with that ending or what message it was trying to pass. We’ve seen even more gruesome horror movies in the past with satisfying endings, but this one—I still don’t get it.

Was it trying to justify all the gruesome acts and killings the Ice Cream Man carried out in the town? For me, that is a bad plot twist. It doesn’t make much sense that the Ice Cream Man can go free at the end while the children remain possessed and under his influence.

That said, the visual effects are quite realistic. I would praise the VFX artists and the special-effects team because the gruesome scenes, killings, chopped bodies, and everything else look quite real. If there is anything I would praise about the movie, it is that aspect. The special effects do a good job of making the violence look convincing.

As for the actors’ performances, I wouldn’t say I was impressed. Their performances felt a bit off to me, and they didn’t meet the expectations I had going into the movie.

Ice Cream Man is a movie that, for me, lacks what a horror movie is supposed to have. The decision to use young children in such gruesome scenes makes it even harder for me to enjoy.

Hell no. I wouldn’t want to see a movie like this ever again.