RELEASE DATE: 1995
RATED: R
REVIEWED BY: The DarkSider - 2/25/08
Our film opens with a black and white shot of suburbia in the 50s. The ice cream man of the town gets gunned down with a firearm that seems a bit too advanced for that time. A witness to this event is a young boy named Gregory who seems to enjoy his push pop despite having a guy bleeding to death in front of him.
Fast forward to current time where a bunch of kids are running out to see the ice cream man. The main focuses are named Tuna, Johnny, Heather, and Roger. The ice cream man is indeed Gregory from the beginning and he grew up to be Clint Howard. What a b*tch that must be. The ICM (figure I�d abbreviate now) serves the kids in a disturbing manner from a less than sanitary situation. Basically there are cockroaches and mice running around in the ice cream. I never knew pests enjoyed the frozen goodies but I�m guarding my popsicles from now on with pesticides.
All the kids meet up with the local nerdy looking kid named Small Paul who is being stalked by the local park keeper. I�m assuming by this point in the film that this town doesn�t check references of people working around children. Anyhow, Roger hangs out after the fact and the ICM comes by the park. ICM starts having some flashbacks to his good old days in a mental hospital. Roger goes up to him and ends up missing a few scenes later.
The kids head back to their average American homes. Tuna�s father is cheating on his mother, Heather�s father is a Jesus freak and Johnny has a Wonder Years Esq. older brother. ICM also calls it a night and does the standard end of day duties. He unloads the truck, cleans up a bit and kills a dog sending it�s corpse through a grinder. Nothing out of the ordinary there, no way indeed. Before calling it a night, he checks in with his caretaker Nurse Wharton who notes some red liquid on his face. ICM claims its grenadine which I guess could resemble blood.
ICM proceeds to fall asleep and heads off to work the next day. Immediately he is questioned regarding the disappearance of Roger and claims not to know anything. The officer orders an ice cream which ICM serves up with a bit of eyeball. In a scene I found rather funny, they show the eyeball getting tossed around in the officer�s mouth.
Later that night, the kids all head home and Small Paul runs into the ICM. Immediately the two set up an odd connection and ICM gives him some treats on the house. However, Small Paul notices the park caretaker�s stick in the ICM�s truck. Tuna arrives to see ICM drag Small Paul into his truck. ICM claims he will hurt him if he tells anyone. Tuna runs away and somehow finds Roger hiding in a bush. He saw the ICM kill the caretaker but is afraid to tell anyone as well. The boys make it home but no one really cares to listen to them.
Anyhow, Tuna ends up escaping and is found in the deli department. Doug Llewelyn begs Tuna�s mom not to take them to court. I can�t put into words how f*cking funny that was to me. Tuna tells his mom that he saw ICM abduct Small Paul. This causes the local police to get a police warrant to search ICM�s home base. The cops, acting in a bit of a nothing like real life over the top manner, virtually destroy his pad and find nothing. However, ICM does have Small Paul on the premises very much alive. He gives him more ice cream to keep him happy. Somehow that suffices to Small Paul who I guess doesn�t miss his parents all that much. Meanwhile, the police decide all is not well and put a tail on ICM.
The neighborhood kids decide to tail him too one night. Somehow they do better than local law enforcement. They throw together a half assed battalion of model rockets attached to their bikes. They follow ICM to the grave of the former ICM who was gunned down in the beginning of the film. Apparently gentlemen in their field of work make ice cream sacrifices when they pass on. After a bit, ICM packs up and calls it a night. The kids follow him and Heather invades his truck while he parks to take some pictures. Although Tuna gets taken in by the police, all the kids make it home safely.
So the main two officers decide to go to the asylum where old ICM stayed at one point. I haven�t really talked about the officers too much because they really don�t accomplish much law enforcement wise. They find out it is a madhouse of sorts packed with people undergoing quack experiments. So I had to wonder exactly how a place like this could exist. You figure at least one safety committee would check into the hospital�s validity. Either way I imagine they made things real easy on HMOs.
Moving on, the cops escape the situation and the movie switches back to the kids. Tuna gets abducted by ICM which prompts Johnny to contact his older brother. They go to the ICM�s fortress of sugar and quickly Johnny�s brother gets knocked off. ICM chases the kids around a bit with a few severed heads on ice cream scoops (apparently scoopers are multipurpose). The cops arrive but surprise surprise screw things up.
However, all the kid�s saving grace is Small Paul who comes out of the ice cream factory with a picture of the old ICM. The current ICM follows him and is offd when Small Paul makes him fall into the mixer. The film ends with a bittersweet (no pun intended) ending that shows most of the kids safe. However Small Paul finds himself in therapy mixing ice cream in the hopes of a non-existent sequel.
This film is quite a unique entry into the maniac on the loose kind of film series. Instead of having a dude wielding all sort of weapon standards you have guy who fights with waffle irons and ice cream scoops. Which brings me to Clint Howard who hams it up in the film�s title role and makes the character enjoyable to watch. Howard can be the subject of many jokes (some thrown by me) but the man can truly make roles happen. This one he shines in with sadistic delight.
ICM is a bit like an ice cream cone if you think about it. Its goopy, messy and really bad for you. However, its also sweet and a lot of fun to intake.
