Eli Roth Calls Ice Cream Man His “Most Insane Film” and Teases What the Ratings Board Would Make Him Cut [EXCLUSIVE]
Eli Roth made a name for himself with shocking, gory horror films in the early 2000s, at a time when the genre itself was in need of some…new blood. The likes of Cabin Fever and Hostel gave way to even wilder movies like The Green Inferno and his long-awaited Grindhouse spinoff movie, Thanksgiving. His new film, though, Ice Cream Man, not only marks his latest work with his new production company, The Horror Section, but also a film that he deliberately wanted to test the limits of with all of its gore and violence. For Roth, it was about delivering a movie that harkened back to the “batshit crazy” horror of the \70s that surprises audiences.
“It’s definitely my most insane film; everyone gets scared by different things. It’s also oddly hilarious to watch children hack adults to pieces; unintentionally, it’s just funny to see, but I wanted to push the gore farther than I ever have in my other movies,” Roth told ComicBook at San Diego Comic-Con. “So I tried to pack in more kills, more gore, more violence. And we are releasing it unrated in theaters. The theater chains, thanks to Terrifier 3, are very kindly playing this movie unrated. So a ten-year-old could buy a ticket, which is terrifying and great.”
Fans of Roth’s work already know how liberating it probably is for him as a filmmaker to not have to answer to the Motion Picture Association, who would no doubt demand cuts to the film before it could be given an “R” rating. Roth has previously noted the discussions and battles that he’s had in having to make cuts to his films. Luckily for him, Ice Cream Man takes the gloves off entirely.
“Children and violence, and even when the kids are the perpetrators, is tricky with the ratings board,” Roth said. “But there are sequences in this movie that are like, staggeringly violent, like they’re fun, but it’s like operatic. It’s just over the top, and they would have said, ‘Oh, you can’t bash the fireman’s head in with a fire extinguisher seven times. You could do it maybe half of once,’ things like that.”
Roth did have praise for the ratings board, noting they were always able to have a conversation about the context of the violence, adding, “They’re actually helping you get your thing to a mainstream audience.”
“I just didn’t want to do that with Ice Cream Man,” Rothe said. “I don’t want to see the R-rated version of this movie. I would go right to the unrated director’s cut.”
Ice Cream Man debuts in theaters this week, Friday, August 7.
