After reading some hype on various horror websites I was lucky enough to get the Ice Cream Truck review gig for Snakebite Horror. Written and Directed by Megan Freels Johnston, this is here sophomore effort after 2016's Rebound.
The premise is fairly standard stuff, woman returns home to the town she grew up in, gets involved with the boy next door blah blah blah but it doesn't quite go in the direction you may think. Mary (Deanna Russo), feeling slightly isolated due to her family not joining her for another week decides to start smoking pot with the local teens, trying to recapture her youth. This is where she meets local lad Max and there is this instant chemistry between the two, even though Max does come off a little bit edgy and mysterious. Whilst Mary has to deal with nosy neighbours and keeping her feelings for Max at bay she notices the local old fashioned ice cream van and its awkward driver that seem to patrol the neighbourhood. Mary isn't sure if it is the weed playing tricks or whether something strange is actually afoot, obviously it is the latter and as you probably guessed it this ice cream van serves more than cones and cups!
Ok, so firstly I need to start with the score and say it's bloody awful, it's used to try and create this 80's trouble in suburbia vibe such as films like A Nightmare on Elm Street or more recently IT Follows but it just sounds like a 2 year old has been let loose on a Casio keyboard! However, I do have more positive things to say about other aspects of the film. Firstly, the tension is high, there is a scene at the start between Mary and the removal guy that is so awkward I wanted to turn it off! Also, the sript is decent, the conversation flows and the acting for the most part is good. As with most horror movies there is some dodgy decision making and the kills are ridicoulusly set-up rather than feeling natural but it's forgiveable based on the fact that this is a decent movie for what it is. A lot of the violence is kept off screen and the effects work isn't great but the effort is there, one death by ice cream scoop scene could have been so much more effective but it's mainly left to the imagination, which was a shame.
My biggest gripe with the movie is the way they try and throw a curve ball at the very end and it made no sense to me what so ever, i'm hoping when this movie goes on general release someone can clear it up for me because I was honestly flummoxed - even thinking about it 24 hours later i'm none the wiser!
I'm not very familiar with any of the cast or the director but i'm definitely keen to see what some of them do in the future, mainly Deanna (lead) and Megan (director), who is obviously a fan of the genre but I feel had so many ideas in her head, picked up from recent horror movies that she struggled to translate them onto the screen, making it a slight hodge podge of modern horror tropes. Go in with the expectations of seeing a good made for TV movie and you should enjoy it, it has been billed as a comedy on some websites but not for me, I would class it as a slasher all day.
The premise is fairly standard stuff, woman returns home to the town she grew up in, gets involved with the boy next door blah blah blah but it doesn't quite go in the direction you may think. Mary (Deanna Russo), feeling slightly isolated due to her family not joining her for another week decides to start smoking pot with the local teens, trying to recapture her youth. This is where she meets local lad Max and there is this instant chemistry between the two, even though Max does come off a little bit edgy and mysterious. Whilst Mary has to deal with nosy neighbours and keeping her feelings for Max at bay she notices the local old fashioned ice cream van and its awkward driver that seem to patrol the neighbourhood. Mary isn't sure if it is the weed playing tricks or whether something strange is actually afoot, obviously it is the latter and as you probably guessed it this ice cream van serves more than cones and cups!
Ok, so firstly I need to start with the score and say it's bloody awful, it's used to try and create this 80's trouble in suburbia vibe such as films like A Nightmare on Elm Street or more recently IT Follows but it just sounds like a 2 year old has been let loose on a Casio keyboard! However, I do have more positive things to say about other aspects of the film. Firstly, the tension is high, there is a scene at the start between Mary and the removal guy that is so awkward I wanted to turn it off! Also, the sript is decent, the conversation flows and the acting for the most part is good. As with most horror movies there is some dodgy decision making and the kills are ridicoulusly set-up rather than feeling natural but it's forgiveable based on the fact that this is a decent movie for what it is. A lot of the violence is kept off screen and the effects work isn't great but the effort is there, one death by ice cream scoop scene could have been so much more effective but it's mainly left to the imagination, which was a shame.
My biggest gripe with the movie is the way they try and throw a curve ball at the very end and it made no sense to me what so ever, i'm hoping when this movie goes on general release someone can clear it up for me because I was honestly flummoxed - even thinking about it 24 hours later i'm none the wiser!
I'm not very familiar with any of the cast or the director but i'm definitely keen to see what some of them do in the future, mainly Deanna (lead) and Megan (director), who is obviously a fan of the genre but I feel had so many ideas in her head, picked up from recent horror movies that she struggled to translate them onto the screen, making it a slight hodge podge of modern horror tropes. Go in with the expectations of seeing a good made for TV movie and you should enjoy it, it has been billed as a comedy on some websites but not for me, I would class it as a slasher all day.
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