Mini-review: Ice Cream Man (1995)

Ice Cream Man
Directed by Paul Norman

Featuring a rare leading role for Clint Howard (AKA Ron Howard's weird brother), this cornball horror movie is just bad enough to be relatively funny, but good enough in ways to make it somewhat interesting. Clint Howard is creepy; but not in the way he's supposed to be. He kind of does a Batman voice throughout the movie, and is obviously only the kind of performance that's intended to scare little kids -- but the movie is rated R, so little kids shouldn't be watching it anyway. Entertaining enough, but definitely not worth spending anything more than a little of your time on.

Mini-review: It (1990)

It
Directed by Tommy Lee Wallace

Released as a two-part miniseries, this Stephen King adaptation has all the common traits found in his work. Though obviously not intended for adults, this movie has moments of creepiness, but much of that is diffused by how childish and bloated the story is. Pennywise the clown is one of the most iconic horror villains of the past 25 years, and a large reason for that is due to the actor playing him. Tim Curry gives it his all (as usual) in a performance that ranges from genuinely creepy to over-the-top silly and ridiculous, and the result is entirely entertaining. Not a bad movie, but still far too long for its own good and not very scary.