I am a real financial wiz. For the first time in my life I invested in something. It wasn’t Apple or Microsoft or Amazon. Not Netflix. No, I put some money into Eli Roth’s The Horror Section.
There’ve been two releases from The Horror Section. Little movies distributed by the company rather than in-house productions. Neither did much business, but hopes were high for the first big movie from the company: Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man!
I signed on the bottom line and invested a year-and-a-half ago and I’ve been excited about Ice Cream Man the whole time.
Maybe this will be it. A movie to bring the fans together. An unrated, unhinged gorefest, from the lunatic who gave us Hostel.
It, ah, hasn’t worked out so well.
I have never, and I mean never, seen such virulent animosity toward a movie in my life. People were upset and let the world know how much they disapproved of the Dawn of the Dead remake, but the hostility about Ice Cream Man has to be come kind of record breaker.
Much of it comes from the admitted use of AI in the movie. Yeah, I don’t like it either, but I’m not joining the ranks of people shaking their fists at each other from the sidelines. That does no one any good.
Maybe I am a hypocrite, but few issues are truly black and white, good or bad. I don’t see a place for AI in writing. I can write, you can write, anyone can write. Ah, but how many can write well?
As tempers flared about AI in Ice Cream Man, a scandal about AI in the horror fiction community ignited. Same thing: name-calling, cheap shots, refusal to give an inch. Nothing solved, nothing gained.
I believe AI is in more movies than we know about. Netflix admits to using it in approximately three-hundred of their productions. How many of the self-righteous fans calling for an Ice Cream Man boycott are canceling their subscriptions? Precious few, is my guess. I'm sure this is merely the beginning.
People simply don’t like Eli Roth. For the very life of me, I don't understand why. Roth is one of us, a real fan. Well, he’s one of me. I don’t know what some of these rabid dogs are, but they don’t seem like genuine fans to me.
They all seem to be saying nearly the exact same things. Are they really even people? You just don’t know what to think or believe these days.
I don’t like Rob Zombie movies, but you don’t see me cursing him, wishing him dead, begging the movie gods for him to go away and disappear forever. If people like him, good. I don’t have to watch the movies. As far as I'm concerned, what’s good for one movie is good for all of horror.
We’re supposed to be family. I wish we could put down the politics and anger and celebrate the genre we supposedly love. Too many people are unwilling to compromise their self-righteous attitudes and their passion for drama for that to happen.
Eli Roth is bringing gory, unrated movies to theaters. Yes, I wish he hired an animator for the offending bits of AI, but most of the effects are practical. Why can’t we celebrate that?
Why? What kind of thrill do people get by hating Eli Roth? It seems like mass hysteria to me.
Like it or not, Ice Cream Man is here, in a wide release. I saw an early morning screening today.
Well, you know, I wasn’t exactly expecting The Innocents. This is hardly anyone’s idea of elevated horror. Ice Cream Man is a wild ride, quite a bit like a goofy old paperback from hell horror novel.
Eli’s been around and the movie mostly looks good. There’s a nice small town American atmosphere in Ice Cream Man. Don’t go expecting originality or social significance here. This is a gory thrillride, and one that’s quite funny at times.
It’s good to see Jordan Peele in a role, and Snoop contributes to the soundtrack.
Ice Cream Man clocks in under ninety minutes, which is a relief. Honestly, the welcome was wearing off a little by then.
Ice Cream Man is exactly what I expected it to be. I liked it in the same way I enjoyed last year’s Toxic Avenger remake. It’s stupid, but intentionally so.
I’ve seen some people upset about kids inflicting violence on adults, but they looked to be having a fine old time. From everything I’ve heard, the young actors totally got into the idea of slaughtering grown-ups.
The story is thin, but the dialogue is disturbingly accurate. I think a lot of kids in real like talk like the foul-mouthed little monsters in the movie.
They say no publicity is bad publicity. We’ll see about that. There were a handful of people at the 8:45 screening I attended. I hope, hell, I pray people, real horror fans, get out and see for themselves.
I say that not merely to get my investment back. I didn’t contribute in order to make a profit. I did it for horror. I honestly think Eli Roth is in it for the love of the genre too.
Do what you will. See Ice Cream Man or don’t see it. I’d just like to see the hysteria die down. I’m losing my faith in not only the horror community, but in all of humanity.
Written by Mark Sieber
There’ve been two releases from The Horror Section. Little movies distributed by the company rather than in-house productions. Neither did much business, but hopes were high for the first big movie from the company: Eli Roth’s Ice Cream Man!
I signed on the bottom line and invested a year-and-a-half ago and I’ve been excited about Ice Cream Man the whole time.
Maybe this will be it. A movie to bring the fans together. An unrated, unhinged gorefest, from the lunatic who gave us Hostel.
It, ah, hasn’t worked out so well.
I have never, and I mean never, seen such virulent animosity toward a movie in my life. People were upset and let the world know how much they disapproved of the Dawn of the Dead remake, but the hostility about Ice Cream Man has to be come kind of record breaker.
Much of it comes from the admitted use of AI in the movie. Yeah, I don’t like it either, but I’m not joining the ranks of people shaking their fists at each other from the sidelines. That does no one any good.
Maybe I am a hypocrite, but few issues are truly black and white, good or bad. I don’t see a place for AI in writing. I can write, you can write, anyone can write. Ah, but how many can write well?
As tempers flared about AI in Ice Cream Man, a scandal about AI in the horror fiction community ignited. Same thing: name-calling, cheap shots, refusal to give an inch. Nothing solved, nothing gained.
I believe AI is in more movies than we know about. Netflix admits to using it in approximately three-hundred of their productions. How many of the self-righteous fans calling for an Ice Cream Man boycott are canceling their subscriptions? Precious few, is my guess. I'm sure this is merely the beginning.
People simply don’t like Eli Roth. For the very life of me, I don't understand why. Roth is one of us, a real fan. Well, he’s one of me. I don’t know what some of these rabid dogs are, but they don’t seem like genuine fans to me.
They all seem to be saying nearly the exact same things. Are they really even people? You just don’t know what to think or believe these days.
I don’t like Rob Zombie movies, but you don’t see me cursing him, wishing him dead, begging the movie gods for him to go away and disappear forever. If people like him, good. I don’t have to watch the movies. As far as I'm concerned, what’s good for one movie is good for all of horror.
We’re supposed to be family. I wish we could put down the politics and anger and celebrate the genre we supposedly love. Too many people are unwilling to compromise their self-righteous attitudes and their passion for drama for that to happen.
Eli Roth is bringing gory, unrated movies to theaters. Yes, I wish he hired an animator for the offending bits of AI, but most of the effects are practical. Why can’t we celebrate that?
Why? What kind of thrill do people get by hating Eli Roth? It seems like mass hysteria to me.
Like it or not, Ice Cream Man is here, in a wide release. I saw an early morning screening today.
Well, you know, I wasn’t exactly expecting The Innocents. This is hardly anyone’s idea of elevated horror. Ice Cream Man is a wild ride, quite a bit like a goofy old paperback from hell horror novel.
Eli’s been around and the movie mostly looks good. There’s a nice small town American atmosphere in Ice Cream Man. Don’t go expecting originality or social significance here. This is a gory thrillride, and one that’s quite funny at times.
It’s good to see Jordan Peele in a role, and Snoop contributes to the soundtrack.
Ice Cream Man clocks in under ninety minutes, which is a relief. Honestly, the welcome was wearing off a little by then.
Ice Cream Man is exactly what I expected it to be. I liked it in the same way I enjoyed last year’s Toxic Avenger remake. It’s stupid, but intentionally so.
I’ve seen some people upset about kids inflicting violence on adults, but they looked to be having a fine old time. From everything I’ve heard, the young actors totally got into the idea of slaughtering grown-ups.
The story is thin, but the dialogue is disturbingly accurate. I think a lot of kids in real like talk like the foul-mouthed little monsters in the movie.
They say no publicity is bad publicity. We’ll see about that. There were a handful of people at the 8:45 screening I attended. I hope, hell, I pray people, real horror fans, get out and see for themselves.
I say that not merely to get my investment back. I didn’t contribute in order to make a profit. I did it for horror. I honestly think Eli Roth is in it for the love of the genre too.
Do what you will. See Ice Cream Man or don’t see it. I’d just like to see the hysteria die down. I’m losing my faith in not only the horror community, but in all of humanity.
Written by Mark Sieber
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