THE ICE CREAM TRUCK (2017)

Studio:       Uncork’d Entertainment
Director:    Megan Freels Johnston
Writer:       Megan Freels Johnston
Producer:  Megan Freels Johnston, YuMee Jang, Omid Shamsoddini
Stars:     Deanna Russo, John Redlinger, Lisa Ann Walter, Hilary Barraford, LaTeace Towns-Cuellar, Bailey Anne Borders, Dana Gaier, Sam Schweikert, Jeff Daniel Phillips, Emil Johnsen

Review Score:

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Summary:

A lonely housewife flirts with temptation in a serene suburban neighborhood haunted by a murderous ice cream man.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

While her husband Steve stays one more week in Seattle to wait for their children to finish school, struggling writer Mary Marsh moves back to the suburban neighborhood where she grew up as a child. Mary notices an odd ice cream truck driving around the neighborhood and begins seeing and hearing it at all hours.

Mary meets her nosy neighbor Jessica, talks to her family on the phone, and has an uncomfortable encounter with a frightening deliveryman. Jessica introduces Mary to her friend Christina, who invites Mary to a graduation party for Christina’s son Max.

Outside the party, Mary meets Max and his girlfriend Tracy. Mary sneaks away with the two of them to smoke pot before heading into the actual party.

Max is called back to the party by his father. Tracy stays behind alone to finish her beer. The ice cream truck pulls up. Tracy gets into the truck to select a flavor and the strange ice cream man slits her throat.

Mary and Max get to know each other over a conversation at the party. Jessica curiously notices the two of them together.

Upon returning home, Mary suspects someone may have intruded in her house. While smoking a cigarette in quiet contemplation, Mary hears a scream in the distance.

While jogging the next morning, Mary finds a hairpin Tracy dropped when she was killed. Mary mentions the hairpin to Christina. Christina dismisses the hairpin and says more things that confuse Mary during an odd conversation. Christina appears suspicious when Mary asks about hiring Max to do yard work.

Max comes over with his friends Joe and Nick to work on Mary’s yard. Nick bails when he gets a text from his girlfriend Brie.

During an unusual encounter on his way to Brie’s house, Nick purchases two chocolate cones from the ice cream truck. The ice cream man follows Nick to Brie’s house. The ice cream man forces his way inside and kills both Nick and Brie.

Max returns to Mary’s house later that night. Max flirts with Mary. Even though she had been considering giving in to the temptation to cheat, Mary ultimately sends Max away.

With only one day left before her family arrives, Mary hesitantly agrees to meet Max at night in the park. The ice cream man follows Mary to the meeting place. The ice cream man makes Mary a shake before driving away.

After smoking pot and sharing the shake, Mary finally succumbs to Max’s advances. Max and Mary have sex on the playground. Afterward, Mary tells Max that they cannot see each other again.

The ice cream man suddenly appears with a knife. Following a brief chase, the ice cream man murders Max. Mary hides in the ice cream truck. When the ice cream man returns, Mary kills him using the shake mixer. Bloodied, Mary staggers away from the truck in a daze.

Steve and the kids arrive at the house the next day. Mary welcomes them lovingly. Jessica smiles next door. Max and Tracy walk by holding hands on the sidewalk and say hello. Mary goes inside with her family. The odd deliveryman from earlier is seen watching Mary through her window from a street outside.

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Review:

While her husband stays behind in Seattle waiting for their kids to finish school, Mary makes an early move to the Midwest, back to the secluded suburban neighborhood where she grew up.  The quiet area hasn’t changed much since childhood.  Manicured lawns are still dotted by picket fences and pleasant kids riding bikes.  But plastic smiles on intrusive neighbors hint at some sort of Stepford vibe going on behind the scenes.

Mary’s white bread boredom gets a break when she is invited to a graduation party for Max, the teenage son of one of the bizarre biddies.  Max has a girlfriend his age, but offers Mary a smile, a joint, and a glimpse back in time at opportunities her younger self had.

Mary’s loneliness manifests as temptation when Max gets flirtatious, performing yard work shirtless and sending certain signals with a very clear endgame.  Mary can’t tell if she is being seduced by Max or the environment itself, as strange situations continually suggest not everything is as it seems.

Circling the block in the meanwhile is an odd ice cream truck operated by an equally odd ice cream man.  Good Humor isn’t on his menu.  Murder is.  Those who stop for a scoop end up with a knife to the throat instead.

Does it sound like that last paragraph doesn’t fit snugly with the others?  That’s because the weirdly titled “The Ice Cream Truck” plays two plots in parallel with conflicting narrative tones, and there is no indication how they might eventually tie together.  The movie essentially tells the tale of a married mother teasing the idea of a Mrs. Robinson affair, yet it is intermittently interrupted by scenes of an ice cream man butchering random residents.  This makes “The Ice Cream Truck” something like “Desperate Housewives” meets… well, I’m not exactly sure what.  The movie isn’t entirely sure either.

“The Ice Cream Truck” is incredibly stagnant as a motion picture, with an out of synch sense of timing.  A perfect example is a throwaway scene where food is delivered to Mary’s house.  Mary takes the bag and starts signing the receipt.  The camera cuts to the deliveryman waiting patiently before Mary hands back the paper and finally closes the door.  It is surplus sequences like these that the movie has too many of, and energy suffers significantly because of it.

Another such scene features Mary talking to her family on the phone.  Mary doesn’t walk.  Mary doesn’t move.  There isn’t even a shot of what’s happening on the other end of the line.  It is simply Mary sitting still and chatting, without the film attempting to make something cinematic out of the moment.

With this being only her second feature, writer/director Megan Freels Johnston is still learning the language of telling a story with metaphors as a movie.  Dialogue is straightforward, often geared toward being either expository or unnecessary, even though it is in service to interpretive ideas.  Megan Freels Johnston clearly wants to be experimental and exploratory with her examination of Mary’s psyche, yet can’t communicate her intentions with the tame material put onscreen.

Mary isn’t completely charismatic, although actress Deanna Russo wrings enough from the writing to make her compelling through an effectively understated performance.  Russo’s commitment to her character and the director’s sincerity of purpose salvages the movie’s score.  Ultimately, “The Ice Cream Truck” is a pretty weirdo effort that probably means well creatively.  Unfortunately, that meaning doesn’t make it to the viewer.

As a horror film, “The Ice Cream Truck” isn’t much of anything.  The ice cream man is too plain to be positioned as an iconic slasher.  Kills come so far out of left field, they feel like they don’t belong with the middle-aged melodrama.  In fact, there is often a notion that the movie fights against its true nature of being a psychological character study to include these scenes in the first place.

As a Lifetime Network portrait of a woman at a crossroads reconciling who she once was with who she is now, the film fares marginally better.  But by trying to appeal to two types of audiences, “The Ice Cream Truck” ends up satisfying neither.

Review Score:  50

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