STACK #265 November 2026

FEATURE MOVIE

GENRE: Horror RUN TIME: 1hr 27m

Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man is a sweet and syrupy smorgasbord of everything gross and gloopy.

D on’t let the colourful, sweet, ice cream-covered look of this movie fool you. This is very much a hardcore splatter flick, packed with blood, guts, and lots of sprinkles on top. Following the children of a small town who fall under the diabolical spell of a mysterious ice cream man, the film draws on Roth’s love of classic horror and cult cinema. ”There’s a lot of things that got in there, starting with The Birds ,” he explains. ”But then also The Bad News Bears and Philip Kaufman’s Invasion of the Body Snatchers . And I remember seeing the trailer for the movie The Children from 1980. That movie freaked me out.” Roth originally wrote the script in 2003 with Noah Belson, inspired by his fascination with killer-kid movies. But it was the 1976 Spanish horror classic Who MORE ELI ROTH TREATS:

get back to my roots, where it has that element of danger, but it’s like Pee-wee’s Playhouse on crack, splattered with blood, and you can’t believe what you’re watching.” Perhaps most confronting is that much of the violence is committed by children. Roth says the young cast embraced the material. ”The parents were all horror fans. They wanted their kids to be in this movie,” he explains. ”And the kids loved it! They know what this is.” Even the parents got into the spirit of the gore. ”All of the parents were angling for me to cover their kids in blood, and then we ran out of body parts.” For Roth, that’s precisely the point. ”It’s a horrible idea, and that’s what makes horror movies work. It’s a transgressive idea.” Glenn Cochrane

Fun fact: The soundtrack features original and exclusive music by Snoop Dogg, produced by Nas.

Director Eli Roth

Can Kill a Child? that ultimately got to him the most. ”I thought, ’There is not a better film than this. This is one of the greatest films ever made,’ and it stopped me in my tracks,” he says. ”Then I said, ’Now I can do my own version of this.’” Roth wanted Ice Cream Man to capture the anarchic spirit of movies such as Re Animator, Society, and Evil Dead . ”I wanted to make this movie and

• Ice Cream Man is out Nov 4

Thanksgiving, Borderlands, Green Inferno, Hostel, Cabin Fever, The House with a Clock in Its Walls

Inset: Director Sébastien Vani č ek Below: Souheila Yacoub

GENRE: Horror RUN TIME: 1hr 51m

The Evil Dead returns, and nothing is off limits in this latest, unapologetically vicious entry.

M aybe the most shocking thing about Evil Dead Burn is that its young director, Sébastien Vani č ek, had no idea an entire trilogy existed before the 2013 reboot. “The first one I saw was Fede Álvarez’s 2013 movie and I was really, really shocked. I remember thinking, ‘What is this?’” admits Vani č ek. “Then I dug and discovered it was a remake of the movies from the '80s. I wasn’t a guy who watched movies from the '80s, so that was my first experience.” He subsequently discovered Sam Raimi’s work and felt an immediate connection. “He was 25 years old at the time and he was just really, really angry and just wanted to show things. And I was feeling the same way.” Perhaps that unfamiliarity with the original trilogy is ultimately an

advantage. With Evil Dead creators Sam Raimi and Rob Tapert retaining control of the franchise and carefully selecting filmmakers, Vani č ek has embraced the opportunity to surprise audiences. “It was so much fun. Playing with an amazing franchise that people love, and I tried to twist some things and be incorrect. I think that’s what fans want. The audience wants to be surprised, more than just being a fun film.” For Vani č ek, even the film’s outrageous gore has a purpose. “The script is always layer after layer, and the first layer is always character. It’s about characters and conflict between them. Then you add the layer of supernatural, you shake it up, and that’s when you discover the good bits.”

That philosophy extends to the kills. “What would happen that has meaning? Meaning is always the answer. And that’s why the kills in Evil Dead feel cathartic all the time.” Vani č ek also looked to the franchise’s past, particularly Evil Dead 2 . “That’s the first one that’s really putting rules in place and saying things about a bigger lore and a bigger universe.” The result is a film that acknowledges the franchise’s history while standing on its own. It's gruesome, ultra-violent, and deeply shocking, but also a worthy addition to the Evil Dead legacy. Glenn Cochrane

• Evil Dead Burn is out Nov 11

IF YOU LIKE THIS, YOU’LL LOVE THESE:

The Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, Army of Darkness, Evil Dead (2013) , Ash vs Evil Dead Seasons 1-3, Evil Dead Rise

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