We All Scream for Ice Cream

On paper, "We All Scream for Ice Cream" looks like a fantastic & ideal addition to the "Masters of Horror" concept. It's directed by Tom Holland, who deserves a listing among the master horror directors based on his "Fright Night" and "Child's Play", the premise offers possibilities for scares (a lot of people are petrified of clowns) as well as for laughs (death by gooey melting) and it stars no other than William Forsythe ("The Devil's Rejects") in the unconventional role of mentally disabled clown. Unfortunately Holland's installment isn't as great as it could – and should – have been, but still it's a more than entertaining enough way to spend an hour of your time. Layne Baxter returns to his hometown and learns that all members of his childhood posse are dying off in mysterious circumstances. Only their clothes are found, lying in a puddle of gooey substance, and this shortly after their offspring devoured figure-shaped ice cream coins handed out by an eerie clown. When his own children wait hypnotized on the sidewalk at midnight, Layne has no choice but to reveal his hideous childhood secret. He and his clique accidentally killed the friendly but mentally retarded ice cream clown Buster when a harmless prank ran out of hand, and it seems like he reincarnated as a purely evil avenger. The main shortcomings of "We All Scream for Ice Cream" are – surprisingly enough – the lack of humor and a painfully monotonous execution. The first couple of times you see the uncanny ice cream truck and hear the titular rhyme off screen, it's definitely creepy, but the same ritual is repeated so many times it loses all of its scary impact near the end. Buster's method of killing, albeit quite nasty to behold, rapidly gets repetitive as well. Instead of showing the same stuff over and over again, perhaps the screenplay could have focused on explaining how Buster returned from the dead and how come a retarded clown knows so much about the art of voodoo, but I guess that was too complex. Enough with the criticism now, as the scene with the guy melting in his improvised bathtub is quite awesome and the dialogs during that sequence even hint at pedophilia. William Forsyth is very impressive as Buster and even his most devoted fans will have to look twice before recognizing him underneath all that clown's make up.

Going to be interesting to see the reaction to this one. It's about supernatural revenge involving an ice cream truck vendor aptly portrayed by William Forsythe, who is accidentally killed by a prank many years earlier. Now he has returned and with the aid of the children of the pranksters, revenge is the name of the game. I liked this episode, it's silly, but still, it held my interest completely and some of the effects, especially the melting of a man in a hot tub, is some more extremely good effects work by KNB. And an episode without nudity, that's something new. This is like a fairy tale kind of horror film, where the ice cream man will take care of your parents if they are mean to you. Very nice direction by Tom Holland.

I loved this episode. Spoiler: It's supposed to be silly and a little goofy. You have a clown back from the dead turning people into ice cream. Seriously what are people expecting to happen with a plot like that? This is clearly a throwback to the cheesy horror movies from the 80s like Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Learn to have fun and enjoy things for what they are.

Yes this episode is silly, but honestly the gore is well done watching people slowly melt into ice cream. The acting is great, although the mom's lines are little off. She isn't a bad actress, but the dialogue comes off a little too forced as the "ever supportive wife." The story works for what it is, as you slowly learn through flashbacks why the clown is seeking vengence on the adults. I have to say, this is the first time I actually felt bad for a clown which goes to show how well William Forsythe did as Buster the Clown. I also think it's unqiue to see the Clown never directly confront the adults, but rather use their own kids to kill off his targets. It adds a different level of horror for the characters as they cant trust their own children.

Alll in all, good episode that had me hooked from start to finish.

We All Scream for Ice Cream (2007)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Masters of Horror film about a group of kids who play a prank on an ice cream clown, which eventually kills the clown. As adults, members of the group start getting killed in mysterious ways so has the dead clown returned to seek revenge? This is a horror film so what do you think? Director Tom Holland has delivered some good films in the genre like Fright Night, Child's Play and Thinner but this film here doesn't quite work. The idea behind the story and the way the killings are done is very interesting but outside of that there's not much going on here. All of the performances are rather bland, which doesn't help matters. William Forsythe is the main saving grace as he does a very good job as the clown.

So far during its second season, "Masters of Horror" has strictly been a hit-and-miss affair. While the first season was full of groundbreaking and daring one hour films, the second season has been a mixed bag. For every truly great episode like John Landis' "Family" and Joe Dante's "The Screwfly Solution", there's been a batch of unwatchable episodes like Tobe Hooper's "The Damned Thing", Daria Argento's "Pelts", and John Carpenter's "Pro-Life." With the exception of Rob Schmidt's "Right to Die", one element all them have had in common is that they haven't been very original. Tom Holland's "We All Scream for Ice Cream", on the other hand, is one of the most original horror tales to come along in quite some time. While shades of A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET can be found, "We All Scream for Ice Cream" is fresh and exciting, just like one would expect from the director of such classics as FRIGHT NIGHT and CHILD'S PLAY. This is Holland at his best, expertly directing an emotional and character-driven story with intensity, tight pacing, and style. Credit is also due to writer David J. Schow, who also wrote last season "Pick Me Up", which despite repeated viewing I still am not a fan of. Schow successfully adapted John Farris short story and even managed to improve it. Here's to hoping Holland and Schow team up again for Season Three. Final say: Best episode of Season Two. 10/10