The Ice Cream Truck (2017) is Slow, but Kind of Pretty. [Tubi Horror Review]

Genre – Horror
Director – Megan Freels Johnston
Writers – Megan Freels Johnston
Cast – Deanna Russo, John Redlinger, Emil Johnsen, Hilary Barraford, Jeff Daniel Phillips and Lisa Ann Walter
Runtime – 96 Minutes
My Rating – ⭐⭐⭐⭐☆☆☆☆☆☆

Watch/Stream The Ice Cream Truck on Tubi for free

If you know anything about me, you will know I like watching low budget horror films, and Tubi is the perfect platform to find them. I don’t actually like a lot of them, but I do find some of them dumb fun and good to put on when I want to turn my brain off. Although, some are just dumb without the fun part.

So I will be doing mini reviews, well more statements, about these films, much shorter than my other reviews, and my ratings for the films will generally be based on how much fun they are, because not many of them are actually good in the objective sense.

All my Tubi horror film reviews

The Ice Cream Truck

When a local ice cream man who has a love for nostalgia starts to kill some of her neighbours, Mary is torn between her mature instincts that something is wrong and the distracting memories of her younger days.

My Thoughts

Opens with suburbia

You’d think a horror movie called The Ice Cream Truck would open up with something abit more exciting than a woman moving into an empty house and drinking wine on the floor. But, nope.

Wants to be quirky

This film wants to be a satire, a black comedy, and a slasher. but It just can’t decide so never actually commits to anything.

Ice cream truck barely matters

Yes, there’s a killer, and there’s a truck. But it doesn’t really matter much.

Everyone’s kind of creepy

Every man Mary meets is vaguely unsettling. The mover. The delivery guy. The teenage neighbor who looks 30. Even the furniture guy gives off weird energy.

Speaking of the neighbor…

He’s supposed to be just out of high school, but he looks like he pays child support and drives a leased Audi. She flirts with him anyway, and he brings her weed. It’s a whole thing, apparently.

Main character’s just floating

Mary says she’s writing, but she’s not. She just stares at nothing and occasionally reacts to things like she’s on NyQuil. Maybe that’s the point. Maybe not, it’s really hard to tell.

Ice cream man looks like a serial killer

Luckily, he is one. So that works out. Great costume, and great truck. Zero backstory though. He murders like five people and then vanishes again.

One good kill

There’s a solid POV shot that’s good. You’ll know it when you see it. It’s the one time the film actually feels dangerous.

It’s pretty, at least

The movie looks great. Bright colors, dreamy lighting, good camera work. But that’s all surface. Underneath, it’s mostly just silence and people acting weird.

Tries to be deep

The film clearly wants to say something about motherhood, aging, and suburbia. But instead of saying it, it just kind of doesn’t, you know?.

The ending

It ends in a way that makes you say “Wait, what?”

Wasted potential

I think you have a decent film underneath it all, but it’s just bogged down by trying to be too bold and trying to say a bit too much, while not actually managing to say much at all. It’s just a bit dull and bland.

Final Thoughts on The Ice Cream Truck

This one’s frustrating. It’s got the look, the mood, and the potential. But it never pulls the trigger. It hints at horror and satire but delivers mostly filler.

There’s a good short film buried inside this , unfortunately, it’s padded with a lot of nothing.

Final Score: 4 out of 10
UP: Visuals, one great kill.
DOWN: Pacing, tone, plot, confusion, bit boring, and the fact that the title is a lie.

The Ice Cream Truck Trailer

Simon Leasher

A lover of cinema for over 35 years, I have watched many films from around the world in many different genres, yet I still normally always come back to trashy slasher horror films when in doubt. More

And yes, The Godfather 2 is better than The Godfather.