Neapolitan soft scoop has never been more terrifying, as Eli Roth prepares to make his “insane” horror film, Ice Cream Man.
It’s probably fair to say that Eli Roth found little success with Borderlands, his highly expected videogame adaptation that bombed at both the box office and with critics. This writer didn’t mind the film, but it does seem that Roth is more comfortable working in horror than action blockbusters. (“You can’t prep a movie on that scale over Zoom,” was how the director described the whole experience last month.)
Roth is set to return to horror with Ice Cream Man: a new, original movie idea he’s been working on for over 20 years, as Variety notes.
Roth has written the script and will direct, but plot details are being kept under wraps, though it sounds likely that Roth is back on similar darkly comic territory to his 2023 movie, Thanksgiving.
All we currently know is that there will be ice cream and there will be blood. Roth will also produce under his The Horror Section banner, which he founded to support horror films just like this.
“I’ve had this idea for a long, long time, and studios were too afraid of my early drafts,” Roth said. “Now’s the time to push the envelope farther than I ever have with what I think will be my most terrifying and insane film to date. Films like Ice Cream Man are what we created The Horror Section for, to make unrated, boundary-pushing theatrical events the horror fans can all scream about for years. I’m very lucky to have such fantastic partners like MCT and, of course, all the investors in The Horror Section.”
Read more: Thanksgiving review | I am thankful for Eli Roth
Filming will start later this summer and Ice Cream Man is heading to Cannes in the hope of catching the interest of international distributors, although The Horror Section has the US rights – a cinema release is planned for 2026.
We had a long chat with Roth last year about his career in horror for Film Stories Issue 51, which is still available to purchase from our store.
More on Ice Cream Man as we hear it.
