Nas Steps Into Horror With Eli Roth’s New Slasher Film Ice Cream Man

For decades, fans have known Nas as one of hip hop’s greatest storytellers. This summer, he is bringing that storytelling instinct into a different genre. The Queens legend serves as executive producer on Ice Cream Man, the upcoming horror film directed by Eli Roth. The movie arrives in theaters on August 7 and marks one of the first major projects from Roth’s production company, The Horror Section, alongside Mass Appeal. According to Roth, the concept has been sitting in his notebook for more than twenty years. After watching the newly released trailer, it is easy to see why the project has generated so much attention.

If the trailer is any indication, audiences should not expect a playful summer thriller. This thing looks brutal. The violence is graphic, the imagery is disturbing, and Roth appears to be leaning fully into the kind of excess that made films like Hostel and Thanksgiving so divisive among horror fans. In other words, horror fans will probably love it. The idea of children becoming the source of the terror is unsettling enough on its own, but the trailer pushes the concept into uncomfortable territory fast. If you’re thinking about taking the family because of the title, think again. This ice cream man is not serving smiles and sprinkles. He is serving nightmares.

The premise sounds simple at first. A mysterious ice cream man rolls into a quiet summer town and starts handing out frozen treats to local children. Then everything falls apart. The children begin turning on the adults around them, sending the community into chaos. The trailer leans heavily into shock, showing kids carrying out gruesome acts of violence while the smiling ice cream vendor watches from a distance. Roth has described the film as one of the wildest projects of his career and even compared the concept to The Birds, except the threat comes from children instead of animals.

For Nas, the project represents another step in the growth of Mass Appeal beyond music. Back in March, he announced a partnership with Roth and The Horror Section aimed at developing horror projects together. Nas explained that both men shared a vision for pushing the genre in new directions. He stated, “Ice Cream Man is just the beginning.” While hip hop artists have appeared in horror films for years, from Ice Cube to Busta Rhymes and Snoop Dogg, Nas is taking a different route by helping shape projects behind the scenes. That move fits the path he has followed throughout the last decade as an entrepreneur, investor, and media executive.

The cast includes Ari Millen as the mysterious ice cream man, alongside Benjamin Byron Davis, Karen Cliche, Dylan Hawco, Sarah Abbott, Shiloh O’Reilly, Kiori Mirza Waldman, Charlie Zeltzer, Charlie Storey, and Roth himself. Original music for the film includes contributions from Snoop Dogg and composer Brandon Roberts. Early footage suggests Ice Cream Man is aiming squarely at horror fans who enjoy over-the-top gore and dark humor. Whether audiences embrace the film or not, one thing is clear. Nas is entering a new creative lane, and this partnership with Eli Roth has already become one of the more unexpected collaborations of 2026.

Watch the 2 minute red band trailer for Ice Cream Man.