Ice Cream Man (1995) - Who is this film for?

I've seen a lot of horror movies starring teenagers being stalked and diced by [insert your own monster/serial killer here].  However, in 'Ice Cream Man' the teens are, er, much younger - as in roughly 12-13.  This makes the whole movie come across as more of a 'Goonies-like' rip-off, only with some brutal killing thrown in for good measure.  This all gave it a generally weird feel.

So, an ice cream man is a blatant freak (and I'm amazed that no one can figure out he's a nut-job just by looking at him!) and the produce inside his van is infested with bugs and vermin.  This, in my opinion was probably the more 'horrific' part of the film.  I've eaten a lot of ice cream in my time and to think that any of it had the 'extras' in it we see here.

However, it's only the kids who realise he's a Jason Vorhees in making and take it upon themselves the prove he's even gone as far as to kidnap one of their friends.  The young actors - well... they do the job.  It's always hard to put too much pressure on young actors who haven't had much experience with carrying a major film, but they're respectable enough in their performances.

It's the ice cream man who you'll remember when the credits roll.  He looks the part of your on-screen weirdo and every other adult actor needs a nod, as they all seem to be enjoying chewing up the scenery and making every moment of screen time memorable.

If there's one thing that stood out to me (besides the titular character himself) it was the odd direction here and there.  There are some weird edits and scenes just end abruptly while others have - seemingly random - close ups of actors' mouths or something, thrown in for no real reason.

It does feel like if you took out all the gore (and the gore is nice, but nothing that special, besides being practical effects) you'd be left with a film that wasn't any more frightening than your average 'Scooby Doo' cartoon, but they seem to have turned it into a horror aimed at adults, but starring kids.  It's certainly weird, so if you're in the mood for something like this then it may just entertain you.

6/10 Should probably keep you awake if Freddy Krueger was haunting your nights