Overview
- The film, which opens Friday, Aug. 7, centers on an ice cream vendor whose treats turn town children into violent aggressors and stars Ari Millen with a supporting cast that includes Charlie Zeltzer and Sarah Abbott.
- Roth says he shot the movie in 19 days and filmed a single‑take, large‑scale school massacre sequence using roughly 100 child actors after heavy previsualization with FrameForge.
- The Horror Section will distribute the unrated picture and the campaign includes a limited‑edition Humphry Slocombe ‘Brain Freeze’ flavor plus music and production contributions from Nas and Snoop Dogg.
- Early reviews are mixed: critics repeatedly praise the practical prosthetics and inventive kills from vendors such as Applied Arts and Marat FX while faulting the film’s thin plotting, weak character development, and repetitive reliance on shock.
- Roth says he vetted parents, kept them at monitors during shooting, and used on‑set safeguards for child performers, and observers note the unrated theatrical strategy follows a recent trend of indie horror films securing exhibitor bookings without MPAA cuts.