Ice Cream Man

The Ice Cream Man is the most hilarious movie I've ever seen. It's even more hilarious than Evil Dead 2. I especially like the pillow under Tuna's shirt that's supposed to make him appear to be fat. There's some real talent behind those actors and actresses, they're the best.

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

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.

Clint Howard is no stranger to 80s exploitation and low budget horror. "Ice Cream Man" (directed by Norman Apstein) could have be his 90s shining comeback stone, an uncut gem (stirring away from 80s slasher tropes) as an unintentional contribution to meta-horror genre: to be or not be ice creamed. Or it's an influence from 70s/80s exploitation forerunners of cannibal and edible horror: "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", "Motel Hell" and of course Larry Cohen's "The Stuff". Although it's subplot is a resemblance of 70s "Don't Look in the Basement" story.

This film over the years has acquired an underground fanatic but Cult-Horror host persona, Joe Bob Briggs rejuvenates it within Middle America's "counter-cultural" mainstream. Film initially debuted in 1995 on VHS home entertainment then Briggs helped to bring it back as a black comedy slasher (but it's more like a R-rated Goosebumps story) in the 2000s.

Howard is the main star and villainous he is as deranged Gregory Tudor! A young man suffered a childhood trauma the leads him to be a psychotic hot mess. This storyline revolves a ice cream parlor-like factory (now operated by Tudor) in a suburban area with terror to churn.

Other known horror/cult genre stars play small, almost comedic roles from Olivia Hussey ("Black Christmas" fame), David Warner ("Time After Time" cult status) and the infamous David Naughton ("An American Werewolf in London").

If you are a Gen Zer (or leftover of Millennial mutations) you may want to catch this film and see what the fuss 90s physical media culture was all about! Films like this were a dime a dozen at then suburban/small town Bockbuster/Hollywood Video rental outlets!

A supposed sequel (with Howard backing it up) is still a brewing even after a 2014 failed crowdfunding effort. Howard also can be remembered as a possessed Satanic computer nerd in the 80s "Evilspeak", an unforgettable performance!

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.