Can horror stay handcrafted if AI keeps creeping into filmmaking?
For more than two decades, Roth has been one of horror’s loudest champions.
The director behind Cabin Fever and Hostel has built a career on grotesque practical effects, handmade gore and celebrating the craft behind horror filmmaking.
So as he reveals that The Ice Cream Man used generative AI, many felt blindsided.
Roth told Polygon he had personally drawn the film’s animated sequences, explaining he wanted to recreate the eerie, rubber-hose style of haunted 1920s Mickey Mouse cartoons.
“I have an animation background and I drew it,” Roth said, describing how he sketched the loops before working with animators to refine the movement.
But shortly afterwards, Roth walked those comments back.
He admitted he had “misspoke”, confirming that “a very small portion of a few scenes” did in fact use generative AI.
So, maybe more of a lie.
“It was an opportunity where technology and creativity came together to help bring my vision for the film to life,” he said.
For many, the issue isn’t how much AI was used, it’s that it was used at all.
Horror has long been one of the last bastions of practical filmmaking. Rubber monsters, prosthetics, miniatures and buckets of fake blood remain part of the genre’s identity.
The backlash also lands as Hollywood faces growing scrutiny over AI’s impact on the industry.
Generative AI is fuelling environmental concerns while replacing artists, animators and visual effects workers, according to many industry creatives.
For a genre built on celebrating artists who painstakingly craft monsters by hand, even a “very small portion” of AI may be enough to leave a bad taste.
After all, if horror can’t stay human, can any genre?
