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Ice Cream Man
Ice Cream Man poster

Slasher

Ice Cream Man

2026 · Not rated · 1h 26m

Curator Score5.8/ 10
We all scream.

Release & where to watch

In theaters
August 7, 2026
Home release
Not announced

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Curator Score

5.8Overall
Fear3.1
Gore8.2
Atmosphere5.2
Intensity6.7

Based on 2 curator ratings · How we score

Leans into gore.

Jump scares

Ice Cream Man has no jump scares. Compare counts

Counted first-hand by Watch Darkly while watching, not compiled from another database.

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We scored it 5.8. Where do you land?

ours 5.8
Didn't workOne of the greats

Tap the bar for a whole number, drag it for halves. The full scorecard — fear, gore, atmosphere, intensity — is further down.

An idyllic summer town descends into madness when an ice cream man serves kids sweet delights with horrifying results.

Plot summary via TMDB

Genres

horrorthriller

Tags

Setting

Content Warnings

Child endangermentBody fluids
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Details

Box office$2M

Editorial · Full Write-Up

Ice Cream Man (2026) Review: Is It Scary, and Where to Watch

In US theaters now · Unrated · Directed by Eli Roth · Starring Ari Millen

Read the full write-up →

Directed by

Eli Roth

Cinematography

Simon Shohet

Starring

Ari Millen as The Ice Cream Man · Charlie Zeltzer as Jared · Shiloh O’Reilly as Tommy · Kiori Mirza Waldman as Mia · Sarah Abbott as Lizzie · Benjamin Byron Davis as The Priest · Karen Cliche as Alison · Dylan Hawco as Chris

Production

dentsu, Head Gear Films, Mass Appeal, Media Capital Technologies, Metrol Technology, Sixth Dimension, The Horror Section

Deep Cuts

Ending

Ice Cream Man (2026) ending explained

Reveal (spoilers)
The Ice Cream Man exacts his revenge. Everyone who wronged him is killed: the people who took the witness stand and lied under oath, implicating him in horrific crimes he was innocent of and putting him in prison for something he did not do. The parents die at the hands of their own children. Believing they are attacking a grave containing the villain, the surviving kids accidentally murder and decapitate their own masked parents, including the character Eli Roth plays himself. Jared and Lizzie's parents are among the dead. With the reckoning finished, the Ice Cream Man leaves town, and the children go with him in his wake. The film ends there. It does not say what becomes of them, or whether what he started stops when he goes, which is why we tag the ending ambiguous rather than settled. There is a post-credits sting: one of the decapitated men rides a Segway across the bridge and out of town. It is a gag, not a sequel setup.

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