WE ALL SCREAM FOR ICE CREAM is just like a lot of the MOH entries that have ultimately turned out to be disappointments. It certainly has the pedigree for a top-notch episode: David J. Schow (PICK ME UP) adapting a short story from John Farris (THE FURY), and FRIGHT NIGHT and CHILD'S PLAY director Tom Holland at the wheel. Unfortunately, unless you have a deathly fear of clowns (which I understand quite a few people do), the most this episode will do for you is provide about an hour's worth of mild amusement, nothing more.
The cast really tries hard to sell it, but I don't think not as many audience members will be buying as the number of kids in the story taking catatonic, after-midnight strolls to buy cursed ice-cream effigies from a supernatural, vengeful, undead clown. (Say THAT fast five times).
Lee Tergesen (formerly of HBO's OZ) stars as Layne, a guy who has moved his family back to the town of his childhood. Not a good idea, as it turns out, because the old friends he used to hang with when they were all kids, are all dropping like flies. And of course, natural causes have nothing to do with it.
I wonder if Stephen King should sue? Because the story felt for all the world like a clumsy cross-pollination of IT and SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK. Buster, a mentally-challenged guy working as an ice-cream vendor in a clown suit (a solid performance turned in by William Forsythe), is a victim of a horrible prank played on him by Layne and his friends - emphasis on 'victim', since Buster ends up dead...but not for long. Soon, he's trolling the streets in the dead of night, selling his putrid ice pops to kids who want to get a little payback on their parents...especially their dads. Dads who were part of a little trick that went bad some thirty years ago...
I think Holland and his cast tried really hard, but you can't shake the King-like similarities, as if he sold Farris this story idea on a whim some years ago. The King connection isn't lessened one iota by the fact that one of the characters drives a vintage car that looks EXACTLY like King's CHRISTINE. Every scene where Buster made his nightly run, I half expected to see CUJO sitting next to him in the ice-cream truck! Apart from a couple of scenes that get some good, creepy staging and some pretty good effects work, (a scene in a homemade hot-tub is a definite highlight), there just isn't much in the way of genuine scares here.
I know what a fantastic director Tom Holland usually is, but I don't know..MOH seems to have a way of sucking all the creative juices out of some directors' efforts. In any case, I hope he gets a chance to take a shot at another MOH episode, based on better material.
The cast really tries hard to sell it, but I don't think not as many audience members will be buying as the number of kids in the story taking catatonic, after-midnight strolls to buy cursed ice-cream effigies from a supernatural, vengeful, undead clown. (Say THAT fast five times).
Lee Tergesen (formerly of HBO's OZ) stars as Layne, a guy who has moved his family back to the town of his childhood. Not a good idea, as it turns out, because the old friends he used to hang with when they were all kids, are all dropping like flies. And of course, natural causes have nothing to do with it.
I wonder if Stephen King should sue? Because the story felt for all the world like a clumsy cross-pollination of IT and SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK. Buster, a mentally-challenged guy working as an ice-cream vendor in a clown suit (a solid performance turned in by William Forsythe), is a victim of a horrible prank played on him by Layne and his friends - emphasis on 'victim', since Buster ends up dead...but not for long. Soon, he's trolling the streets in the dead of night, selling his putrid ice pops to kids who want to get a little payback on their parents...especially their dads. Dads who were part of a little trick that went bad some thirty years ago...
I think Holland and his cast tried really hard, but you can't shake the King-like similarities, as if he sold Farris this story idea on a whim some years ago. The King connection isn't lessened one iota by the fact that one of the characters drives a vintage car that looks EXACTLY like King's CHRISTINE. Every scene where Buster made his nightly run, I half expected to see CUJO sitting next to him in the ice-cream truck! Apart from a couple of scenes that get some good, creepy staging and some pretty good effects work, (a scene in a homemade hot-tub is a definite highlight), there just isn't much in the way of genuine scares here.
I know what a fantastic director Tom Holland usually is, but I don't know..MOH seems to have a way of sucking all the creative juices out of some directors' efforts. In any case, I hope he gets a chance to take a shot at another MOH episode, based on better material.