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Overall Rating : 3/10
Directed By : Tom Holland
Lee Tergesen (The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning)
William Forsythe (The Devil's Rejects)
Brent Sheppard (Ski School 2)
Tim Henry (Aliens vs. Predator - AvP2)
Supplied By : Anchor Bay Entertainment
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : August. 2, 2007
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| PLOT Buster The Clown, a mentally challenged man who sells ice cream in his Cheery Tyme truck until a cruel prank by a bunch of neighborhood boys goes horrifically wrong. A generation later they’re all grown men with families, but the crime of their past may now be trolling for their children: Buster and his truck have returned for sweet revenge, and every frozen treat will bring its own taste of Hell. |
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| THE REVIEW In Director Tom Holland's 2nd Season episode of MASTERS OF HORROR episode entitled WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM, he tells the story of another clown that comes back from the dead to punish all who wronged him. About 20 years ago in a small town there was a mentally challenged man named Buster whom was the neighborhood's ice cream vendor. It seemed that they only thing to give Buster any happiness in life was to drive his "Cheery Time" ice cream truck down the streets, delivering delicious frozen treats to all the kids. But Buster's happiness would come to an end when a group of friends who collectively called themselves "The West End Bunch" decided to play a prank on the unsuspecting vendor. The prank would end up going horribly wrong, as the urging from group bully Verge, caused Layne to send Buster's truck in reverse killing Buster. It is now years later since the incident and Layne and his family have recently moved back to the old neighborhood, in turn reuniting the "West End Bunch" - but as fate would have it, Layne wouldn't be the only one that would be returning to the neighborhood. When members of the old gang begin to die, Layne see's it as more than coincidence, and he is right. I it seems as if when night fall begins Buster the clown reemerges to lure the children of the members of the "West End Bunch" in for a tasty treat of their own. Except the ice scream he is serving these days are more like Voodoo dolls, and once they bite into the snacks....their Fathers?.....Well, they bite the proverbial dust. From CHILD'S PLAY Director, Tom Holland, adapted from a short story by novelist John Farris, comes this MASTERS OF HORROR episode entitled WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM, which seems to offer no new ground on the "back for revenge" plot that has been done many times before. Seeing as I have been a fan of the CHILD'S PLAY series for awhile now and I am also a huge fan of Brian De Palma's THE FURY, another story in which John Farris penned, I was excited to see this. But it wasn't long until I felt myself go from highly excited to just mildly entertained at best. The plot is kind of slow in the beginning to only pick up mid episode to the end, but really it's main problem is that the episode is only 60 minutes. The reason I bring that up is for the fact that it seems as if the story is too big and ambitious for the time allowed - so much is trying to be accomplished here, that in the end it just seems too rushed. The story in itself is nothing new, as it feels as is you are watching a retread of Stephen King's IT, combined with the Clint Howard Starring film THE ICE CREAM MAN, the plot of, now grown coming together to confront something from their childhood, is used here and is more or less ripped from the pages of IT, with some changes that were obligatory to differentiate the two. I do think the idea of the "Voodoo doll ice cream" was a bit cheesy, but innovative at the same time, but I felt that this angle, nor Buster's return from the dead, could've been more developed and fleshed out, but I chalk to up to, again the run time. When looking at the cast for this episode, names like Lee Tergesen and William Forsythe jump out, as the two are both great talents, so you expect something great. But not even the two stars can bring this episode past the point of mediocre, and as a fan of all things evil clowns, that's even hard for me to admit, but it's the truth. This episode lacks substance and has very little fright to dish out to it's audience, which is what the MASTERS OF HORROR series hopes to deliver with each and every episode. |
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| GORE
METER 1.5/10 Really no gore at all, unless you count people melting like ice cream.... |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 2/10 The score is really vague, and could've possible helped the store, but instead, you barely notice it. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM Since Tom Holland has given us great films like CHILD'S PLAY and FRIGHT NIGHT in the past, I expected a story a lot deeper, but instead we have a film whose plot is very thin and unoriginal. There's not much to remember from WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM, not even the film's villain who as very little to him to make him unique and memorable. As I hinted to earlier, there are other great episodes that this series offers, that show the fun and frightful brand of entertainment that MASTERS OF HORROR was made to offer, but unfortunately WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM, is not one of those. This DVD will be available August 14, 2007 |
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