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There are three standard opinions when determining a movie's success: good, bad, or just okay. Nothing can make someone float out of a theater like a good movie, and even a bad movie can evoke some interesting post-viewing discussions. But hovering outside those three standard opinions is the most frustrating type of movie: one that feels like a waste of time. That's Eli Roth's "Ice Cream Man."

As a filmmaker, Roth has tried his hand at a few genres, but horror filmmaking is what his heart seems to always go back to. His feature debut, 2003's "Cabin Fever," showed a director who was gleeful in letting blood splatter all over the screen. His last horror movie, 2023's "Thanksgiving," has become a deranged tradition to revisit every Thanksgiving night. What pairs better with a full stomach than teenagers being torn apart by a determined killer?

"Ice Cream Man," in a lot of ways, shows Roth's touch in every frame. The movie is goofy and playful in tone, unapologetic in its violence and gore, but it's a repetitive bore - at a mere 86 minutes - with hardly a redeeming value to lift it up from just being another Roth outing.

The movie opens on a bright and sunny day at a softball game. For some kids, the post-game popsicle or ice cream is worth being a part of a league. Luckily - so they think - a truck pulls up and both teams flock to The Ice Cream Man for their after-game treat. The Ice Cream Man is played by Ari Millen, in a silent and gimmicky performance that is clearly trying to replicate Art the Clown from the "Terrifier" movies.

When the children eat their frozen treat from the truck, something comes over them that turns them into murderous zombies. Jared (Charlie Zeltzer) is one of the few kids who doesn't eat any ice cream because he's lactose intolerant, as his older sister Lizzie (Sarah Abbott) likes to remind him (mostly to tease him about being left out at ice cream time).

There are other characters throughout the movie (like Roth, who plays Jared and Lizzie's father) but honestly, who cares? If anyone buys a ticket for "Ice Cream Man" it will be to see what creative ways Roth came up with to spill buckets of blood. Some of the methods the kids use to kill are creative, but "Ice Cream Man" has nothing more to offer, and even the most diehard horror fan will find this movie numbing and circuitous.

Roth's new movie juxtaposes its colorful storybook aesthetic against limbs and guts being ripped from people's bodies. There's fun to be had with that initially, but Roth's only concern is moving on to the next kill and the one after that. There's no real contextualization to this story; it's just an empty exercise in gore. When he tries to shoehorn in some backstory, it's far too late to regain anyone's drifting attention span.

"Ice Cream Man" operates in a post-"Weapons" world, where a sinister entity takes complete control over children in a town. "Ice Cream Man" doesn't have the higher ambitions of "Weapons," nor does it have its wit, suspense, or Amy Madigan's spectacular Oscar-winning performance. It could have used all those things.