Summer horror has always had a soft spot for turning familiar pleasures into something nasty, and Eli Roth seems ready to ruin the ice cream truck jingle for everyone. The official trailer for “Ice Cream Man,” Roth’s new horror film from The Horror Section, has been released ahead of a nationwide theatrical release on August 7, 2026.
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Roth directed, produced, and stars in the film, which follows an idyllic summer town that descends into madness after an ice cream man serves kids sweet treats with horrifying results. The premise is blunt, simple, and very much in Roth’s wheelhouse: an ordinary piece of Americana pushed into grotesque, blood-splattered territory.
The film also brings Roth back to horror after “Thanksgiving,” the 2023 slasher that successfully expanded his fake trailer from “Grindhouse” into a full feature. “Ice Cream Man” continues that recent run of holiday-adjacent, nostalgia-poisoning genre material, this time trading carving knives and parade floats for cones, kids, and small-town summer dread.
“Orphan Black” and “Vicious Fun” actor Ari Millen plays the title character, with Benjamin Byron Davis (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3”), Karen Cliche (“Thanksgiving”), Dylan Hawco (“Heartland”), Sarah Abbott (“The Body,” “Poser”), Shiloh O’Reilly (“Thanksgiving”), Kiori Mirza Waldman, Charlie Zeltzer (“The Handmaid’s Tale”), and Charlie Storey (“Thanksgiving”) rounding out the cast.
Roth wrote the story and co-wrote the script with longtime collaborator Noah Belson, whose credits include “Cabin Fever.” Roth’s earlier horror work—“Hostel,” “Cabin Fever,” “The Green Inferno,” and “Thanksgiving”—has often been built around gross-out escalation, bodily punishment, and the sick joke hiding inside a familiar setup, and “Ice Cream Man” appears designed from that same nasty comic impulse.
The film also has a notable music team. Snoop Dogg contributed original music alongside Emmy-winning composer Brandon Roberts, while Grammy-winning rap icon Nas serves as executive producer. That combination gives the project a broader pop-cultural hook beyond Roth’s horror audience, particularly with The Horror Section positioning itself as a genre banner built around theatrical, event-minded horror.
“Ice Cream Man” opens in theaters nationwide on August 7, 2026. Watch the trailer below.
