The Ice Cream Truck (2017) User Reviews (65)

Either this movie is brilliant or I am way over thinking this.

[michaelsei · 5/10 · 22 September 2019]

My theory about the finale shot in the movie.

I feel that the majority of the movie is Mary's short story/blog that she is writing. However, the very beginning when she has the moving company come to move her stuff in, that is happening in real time.

When she goes to the graduation party I feel that she did indeed meet Max and his girlfriend and right there at that moment, before she says yes to smoking with them, that starts her short story.

The reason for this can be accounted for the long awkward pauses in dialogue. In real time, Mary is thinking about what to write next and needs time to come up with an action before the characters can continue their stories.

The ice cream truck killer can be her subconscious showing that she is having a thrill. Since the killer seems to meet a thrill killer profile.

The killer seems to go after people of sexual sin. She knows it's wrong to even imagine and write about having an affair, so the killer can also be a duality. Her thrill and her sin that she is trying to stop.

Her short story is about the mundane. The boring and average day to day in a perfect town like Celebration FL. There is no fun, no excitement, nothing that gets your heart pumping. It's all perfect and in line.

All the characters seem off and removed from reality. Her thrill (ice cream truck killer) is her way of letting loose and living life again.

To confirm all of this goes back to the beginning with the mover. He wanted to sleep with Mary but Mary declined. She was talking on the phone with her husband on how she would start writing but it would fall apart shortly after. She needed inspiration. That is what the mover is to her. A thrill from being attractive and having sexual fun.

That's why he showed up at the very end.

Missing Key Elements

[lsmithlarry · 5/10 · 20 August 2017]

From the beginning, I thought this movie had potential to be a decent Horror flick. Woman returning to her hometown, nosy neighbors, crazy ice cream truck driver. Then it feel apart.

The slasher ice cream truck driver didn't have a back story or reason for for his killings other than stating he was a "traditional guy." A flashback or two could've given the audience a motive for his deadly obsession.

Again, it sounds cliché but if the main character had a disturbing childhood experience with an ice cream truck driver it would've added tension to the plot and made sense to the viewer. Without it, the villain could've been a dog catcher, paper boy, etc.

The result? I fancied an ice cream. That's it.

[peterp-450-298716 · 3/10 · 21 August 2017]

"Welcome to the neighborhood"

What's more applicable with this sultry weather than a horror about a murderous ice cream man? Let me assure you though. Next time you see an ice cream truck, you won't be running away in full panic and loudly screaming. Not after watching this movie at least, because this low-budget movie isn't really scary or frightening. To be honest, I found the ice cream man (Emil Johnsen) a kind of a dork. Even during his killings, he looked rather like a sissy. I'm sure that one well-aimed smack with a scoop, would be enough to hit him unconsciously. And for the most sensitive viewers: don't expect a bloody slaughtering as you could see in "Friday the 13th".

There's one thing I was enthusiastic about. And that's the ice cream truck itself. A beautifully maintained pastel tinted old-timer. Even the noise of the engine was a pleasure to hear. So this item also isn't something to be afraid of. Only Mary (Deanna Russo) had her doubts about it, the very first moment the ice cream truck drove by. The only peculiar thing to me was the ridiculous times this truck drove through the neighborhood while playing his childish tune.

The whole story focuses on Mary, a so-called freelance writer who apparently has problems with writing some new stuff. So she moved back to a suburb where she once grew up. However, she has to wait a few days before her husband and two children arrive. And during that time she gets to know some of the local people. Like a couple of curious neighbor women and Max (John Redlinger), the son of one of them who just graduated. And also someone from the moving company. A scary, rough looking guy with a huge walrus mustache who acted quite intimidating. They had better promoted him to be the Ice Cream man because he looked like a real terrifying psychopath.

You can hardly call this a horror. It's more a story about Mary in her midlife crisis who starts realizing that she isn't a young teen-girl anymore. What you get is a trivial story about a woman whose hormones go berserk again after seeing a young muscular guy whose six-pack reminds her of her student time. To be honest, I didn't think Mary was so bad looking. And in my opinion she's is in real life much younger than the age she has in the movie. Max, on the other hand, looks older. Let's say that Max's acting like a stud and Mary's behavior as a teenybopper take most of the time of this somewhat faint horror. Oh yes, it's a horror. Thus, in addition, some innocent adolescents are being killed as well in between. Almost forgot about that.

"The ice cream truck" isn't really a very good movie. It's not terribly bad either. It's a dull would-be slasher. Actually, the film left me cold (how applicable). Fortunately, the acting of the main characters was adequate. The denouement was quite abrupt (and the place Mary decided to hide herself, was absolutely laughable). The makers tried to give it a bit of a horror feeling by thinking of a surprising end. But to be honest there was only one thing the film did to me. I felt like having a huge ice cream with a lot of whipped cream and red fruit on it. As a reward.

More reviews here : http://bit.ly/2qtGQoc

No Idea what the point is!

[stephenw-30180 · 2/10 · 18 August 2017]

To say this movie is bad is a gross understatement!

I love the Horror genre and am always willing to watch anything new and indie. That said, I do try to always give a movie a chance and never write a review without viewing the entire film.

Horror/Mystery fans abound, DO NOT WASTE YOUR TIME on this pile of dung.

First, the acting is terrible. The plot makes no sense, as you will discover at the very end of the film. I think I know what the film maker/s were trying to suggest but won't divulge that and let the potential viewers decide.

The character of the "teenage" boy who just graduated and lives next door looks like he's 35! Hello casting agent, you could not find an actual teenager to play this role??

The film meanders throughout in a slow and uninteresting pace. There is not one scare or surprise or shock scene in this mess. I think the only reason the film is called "ice cream Truck" is probably because it's the biggest set subject in the film. Other then, of course, the home the protagonist moves into and you see very little of.

I won't give away what I think the story is supposed to amount to.....although I should and prevent anyone from wasting their time on this low budget exercise in boredom.

Stray way clear.....!!

Add time to your life and avoid watching this meaningless garbage

[romneymeredith · 1/10 · 22 November 2018]

Let me tell you how much I absolutely despise these kinds of movies, movies which promise you a certain style and then completely crap on it in the last few minutes, which this definitely does.

I get it - I get that these low-life directors without sufficient resources, scripts or actors decide that by somehow pasting in a few scenes at the beginning and the end of a movie will magically transform an ugly duckling into a swan. It doesn't.

I didn't think the acting was all that bad - it was passable. The problem was that the directing and the scenes were banal, with the exception of the murders by supposedly the Ice Cream Truck vendor. It dragged. Really dragged. It turns out that almost everything you're watching happened in the imagination of Mary, the wife with children whose husband has been delayed joining her in a move to a new house. A creepy house moving van guy sets her off, and she being a writer struggling to come up with a new story 'naturally' (that's sarcastic, for anyone missing that) imagines almost all of the rest of the movie in her mind, because, of course, that's what movies do, they sell you on a concept and then, hey, it's all not real! Don't you feel stupid for not getting our impossible to get clues?

In reality, Mary is the mother of a couple of children with a loving husband. In the movie when she thinks about the 12 years she's been saddled with children, she longs for her high school days, apparently when she would make love to any bad boy within reach, based on her behavior in this movie with an 17 year old buff teenager going to college who peddles her dope. In Mary's mind, it was fine to smoke dope with and boff that kid in a public park before her husband came home. Good for you, Mary, but hey, it's only her fantasy, so it's hard to fault her on that and I won't.

Mind you, none of the scenes remotely make you think that she's imagining them - they are seemingly completely real - but at the end of the movie you know they're not because 2 of the people supposedly killed by the crazy Ice Cream Truck driver are alive and greet Mary, which is when you know that the director of this garbage is laughing in your face for having spent almost an hour and a half of your life expecting horror and instead experiencing a screw job. And oh yeah, that creepy moving van guy shows up in the background at the movie's end, the director's 'tell' that somehow he's real (having triggered Mary's paranoia and fantasy thinking) and the rest of the movie wasn't real - woo hoo!

So, to recap: no one dies in the movie. There is no Ice Cream Truck. There is no psycho killer driver of the non-existent Ice Cream Truck. None of what you see from the time you hear the Ice Cream Truck's music in the beginning to the almost end of the movie actually happened, except in Mary's head. She's simply trying to work out her next fiction book, because Mary is a writer who got triggered by the creepy moving van driver, don't you see? Aren't you THRILLED by this revelation? Isn' the director BRILLIANT???

It's a classic dream-sequence movie, where you get cheated at the end, trying to figure out what's happening because you, being an actual reasoning human being, figured it was a straight-forward horror movie and didn't realize how brilliant the low-budget director was to make it almost incomprehensible so they could feel 'arty'. It's the worst kind of sloppy and cheating kind of movie you can make, so my assumption is that the director Megan Freels Johnson is a hack. An absolute hack. I will look for her future work and avoid it by all means necessary.

Not a great movie, but strangely enjoyable

[mark-179-360743 · 4/10 · 19 August 2017]

OK, brass tacks. It isn't a horror. Its got the innuendo of a horror laid against a backdrop of an illicit romance, and I think was actually a kind of inept black comedy, whether intentionally or otherwise. The main character is moderately fleshed out, the others are empty and underused. The pacing is not good, the story equally isn't very good. The lighting and cinematography, for what it is, is actually decent. The lead was well cast, and the sub plot, almost hit the mark, almost a good effort at a black comedy, which is its main problem. It could have been a decent film about an illicit love affair if it ditched the largely pointless Icecream Truck part, and focused on the neighbors and relationships. The actual slasher bits just weren't shot well enough and really rather got in the way. The ending, we are suddenly forced to accept she made the whole thing up to pass the time daydreaming - which turns a below average movie with a few redeeming features in to a crock of ****. And yet, like I said, I strangely enjoyed it - better edited, better paced and slightly fleshed out and it would have been reasonable. As it stands, its not that its not worth your time, its almost a perfect education in how to almost make a good movie, and you can use your imagination to see what bits you need to change to make it work well in a number of different genres. The nice final touch, the delivery guy, showing that maybe the spit-storm is coming for real is nice, but this really isn't something to seek out. Even though I strangely enjoyed it. Go figure.

Not really a horror movie

[draftdubya · 3/10 · 13 March 2018]

The lady Mary is basically trying to cheat on her hubby with a 18 year old guy. The supposed killer comes off a a creepy bisexual male. The only good part is the creepy moving guy with the 70's porn mustache.

My eyes are still sizzling

[eucristian · 1/10 · 19 August 2017]

It's surprising how more than 10 people actually filmed and edited this thing and not even one of them thought 'Hey, those 5 second breaks between dialog lines are a bit off'.

It's a total mess, literally worst movie I've ever seen. Bad acting, bad set, worst fake blood, 10 y.o. kids could've written a better script.

TL;DR don't watch it, it's a waste of time..

Alternate Ending

[attorneyanisaasha · 6/10 · 4 July 2019]

Ok but the ending was rushed and it sucked and made zero sense

It's not that the acting was bad, but slow.

[Cracracracroft · 2/10 · 10 December 2018]

It was like a 6 minute short you'd find on YouTube was stretched just thin enough to make a feature length movie. The dialogue was a slow back and forth between characters and the story line was practically non existent.

Spoilers ahead

[SteverB · 8/10 · 1 April 2018]

SPOILERS ahead because it seems necessary. The people here that rated this film 4 or less did so because they couldn't follow the plot of this film. Of course the acting was stilted. Of course the characters were undeveloped. Of course there were uncomfortably long stretches between lines. The entire movie is a story that the main character, Mary, a freelance writer, is writing in her head while waiting for her husband and family to arrive at their new home.

There was no ice cream truck or ice cream man. She didn't have sex with Max in the park. Max isn't killed by the ice cream man who doesn't exist. Max's girlfriend isn't killed either. Nor are Max's friend and his girlfriend. The film represents the first draft of a new story/novel that Mary is working on. The only true thing that may have happened is the creepy, ridiculous moving man. He shows up in the real world at the film's end. Hardly anything else is real.

This is a good film to waste 2 hours with on a Saturday afternoon or evening. It's not "The Shawshank Redemption", but it's not this horrible film that some are making it out to be. No, it's not a typical slasher film and that's good because most of that stuff is pure dreck. It's an interesting film with an interesting storyline and I thoroughly enjoyed it.

IMDb should have deleted the user review section and left the comments forum alone. At least then people who can't follow a simple film could be corrected without having to write a review to do so.

Interesting

[justin-w-nadolski · 6/10 · 28 November 2018]

This was a fascinating film due mostly to the potential for what it could have become. In the end, you are definitely left with questions, or a WTF moment. Overall, it is a suspensefully smooth ride.

Weird, creepy, awkward, but somehow interesting?

[efmo · 5/10 · 22 August 2017]

The entire plot doesn't really make sense, there are many plot holes, but with the way the film ends, it does sort of answer as to why everyone in this neighborhood is just so strange! Its absurd and weird, but the awkwardness manages to keep me interested. It's not a perfect movie, but it definitely can find its audience if you're open minded. It's very different from what you are used to as a slasher film, and that could be another reason as to why it isn't well received, but in the end I can't say that I was not interested. This movie won't make you run away from the ice cream truck, but actually make you want some!

Creepy feelings.

[timmoss-26387 · 4/10 · 31 October 2021]

Not as bad as some reviewers have said. As a horror it manages a few gory moments,but it scores most of all in the atmosphere it generates.

There is an unsettling feeling of menace throughout,with the characters reminiscent of Stepford.

Although I enjoyed the film,after a slow start,I was more than a little bemused by the ending.

Did she dream it all?if so,there is no obvious indication of that.

If anyone else can explain it to me,and others,I'd be grateful.

In short,enjoyable if you enjoy films that make the hairs on your neck bristle a little.

Did a toddler write this?

[breannawiskari · 1/10 · 10 October 2018]

The dialogue was horribly written and the ending makes absolutely no sense and is never explained I wish I could give this a 0.

Wes Anderson Suburban Infidelity Drama guest starring weirdo ice cream truck slasher

[punisherversion1 · 1/10 · 29 November 2018]

The Ice Cream Truck: Written and Directed by Megan Freels Johnston

How I imagine the pitch meeting went with this movie... Megan comes in with an idea for a movie about a woman who comes back to her hometown to live in the suburbs. She finds herself at odds with the weird neighborhood and wants to instead relive her youth. The producer then proceeded to tell her that he can't sell a drama about the suburbs without a big movie star but if she could just add a horror element. She thought what was commonly associated with the suburbs. Well duh ice cream trucks. But everyone else is weird and uncomfortable so naturally the ice cream man needed to be dressed as a 50s style ice cream/soda jerk driving an old ice cream truck at all hours of the day and night.

It seems like an element completely out of place in this story. The ice cream truck must be about maintaining the wholesome aspect of living in the suburbs. The rest of the story doesn't really support this. Everything is just a little off kilter. They talk with unwarranted sarcasm and bile. The lead actress throws pauses in strange places. It felt like a horror movie version of a Wes Anderson movie without all those wacky pastel colors. It's uncomfortable but not in a good way.

The question that ranks foremost in folks' minds is how it works as a horror movie and the answer to that one is it doesn't. Those parts only have some blood to recommend them but they come out of nowhere. There is no attempt to put in tension or suspense of any kind.

None of these story elements work together at all. This is a very short movie but it drags so much in the middle. You know the ice cream truck is sinister but that's not the focus of the movie. You have to be interested and involved in whatever existential crisis the former teen mom turned freelance writer is going through. It's not clear what is happening in the scheme of things. The one thing that is abundantly clear is how utterly loathsome everyone is. They say one thing but mean another. Their tone betrays their choice of words. But it's so obvious you're scratching your head wondering why she tolerates this.

This is one to skip. Stay with the Clint Howard Ice Cream Man rather than this mess. This is just a giant disaster of a horror movie. Ignore the misleading poster or trailer. I give this movie an F.

Ding, ding. Ding, ding. Oh, who cares?...

[paul_haakonsen · 3/10 · 9 June 2018]

This movie was definitely not what I had expected.

The movie started out quite okay, but quickly settled into a monotonous tone and just trotted onwards without any pacing or purpose.

The storyline was rather pointless. And then the ending just totally makes everything come crashing down hard. Of course I will not spoil the ending here, but let's just say that you are in for a very hard slap to the face with a dead, cold fish.

The acting in "The Ice Cream Truck" was good, but the actors and actresses had next to nothing to work with.

The killer in the movie was generic and boring. So there was nothing in terms of a sense of thrill or danger here, which made it just all the more pointless. If you are looking for a proper horror movie or a slasher movie, then your money and time is definitely better spent elsewhere.

Made no sense

[johnanthonymazzei · 2/10 · 23 September 2017]

It gets a 2 instead of a 1 because Deanna Russo is hot.

The director, Megan Freels Johnston, announced at a Q&A after the premiere that there might be sequel about a delivery truck driver.

This would be helpful if they were to shoot additional footage and re-edit the original. The goal being to put an actual plot into the movie.

What is with the creepy mover?

What is with the creepy party guest ?

Why is the ice cream man killing people ? How can he stay in business when he only stops to kill people ? Why doesn't his truck have license plates ?

Character development is done with all the subtlety of a sledge hammer. Odd when there are so many threads left hanging let alone the lack of a plot. IMDb listing is not correct. Avoid this movie.

interesting...

[thekierankumar · 6/10 · 4 October 2018]

Interesting film...quirky. Wasn't for me- as far as horror comedy flicks go, this isn't what I was expecting.

One of the worst movies 2017

[maylashac0-172-189780 · 1/10 · 7 September 2017]

The characters could not act and the plot was ultimately ridiculous. So much more could have been done to make this a better movie. Pass this one by, it is a waste of good time. You can not go by a tittle of a movie. I expected more chills and thrills not just confused characters that confused me even more. I waiting for a big anything to carry this movie over but it never happened.

I liked It for It's Creep Factor and Weirdness

[Dark_Lord_Mark · 8/10 · 20 August 2017]

Keeping in mind it is small budget, it does have a nice pace and some realistic line delivery which is helped with the camera work.

It is shot very well, and has some interesting characters, being the main 2 leads. They were both very likable and the main male lead, kept you somewhat guessing his intentions.

It started a but like most small budget, but the characters and dialogue kept me wondering, where is this going. Usually I am one of those guys, who says is this leading somewhere, but this movie, the lines had a bit a creep factor to them that made me wonder, who is the antagonist/villain? I recommend a watch.

I will give it an 8 out of 10.Good watch by yourself or a girlfriend.

Creepy, quirky, interesting, original

[TheSchinppenSchnaff · 7/10 · 21 August 2017]

From the opening, the score and the cinematography tell you this is not going to be your typical low budget paint-by-numbers film.

The pacing is not great, but easily forgotten as you take in each awkward scene. The awkwardness is really what makes this film so creepy. The score grates on your nerves and the pregnant pauses punctuating the labored dialogue give yous a sense of being disconnected from reality. It's a clever and really original way of creating the ominous horror undertones your seeking in a scary movie.

The ending twist came as a surprise - but if you stop and think about it, there were quite a few hints.

In all, I really liked this film. There are so many crappy horror movies out there that rely and cheep jump scenes and a twist that is wholly irrelevant to the plot.

If you're looking for something a little different, give this movie a try.

Stupid

[shodangojuryu · 1/10 · 11 September 2022]

It seemed like it was going to have the feel of a good 80s horror film. After the opening credits it went downhill. The main character was going through a mid-life crisis in her 20s I'm guessing. She was a bit of a tramp.

Some of the characters could have had more of a storyline. The weird moving guy had no purpose, why was he even in the movie? The ice cream man was a creepy dork and nobody in the neighborhood blinked an eye at this 70 year old ice cream truck roaming the neighborhood with nobody ever buying his ice cream.

This movie had the worst ending I've seen in a long time.

It was very very very very very very very boring and stupid.

Boring

[eburton984 · 3/10 · 18 October 2018]

You can take a nap in between anything worth watching. Bore-fest

Wow.

[jasonbama · 1/10 · 14 December 2018]

What an incredible turd this is. Feels like I got punk'd. Waiting for someone to pop out and tell me how this was just a terribly horrible prank.