Death of a Unicorn (2025) A24/Comedy-Horror RT: 107 minutes Rated R (strong violent content, gore, language and some drug use) Director: Alex Scharfman Screenplay: Alex Scharfman Music: Dan Romer and Giosue Greco Cinematography: Larry Fong Release date: March 28, 2025 (US) Cast: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Richard E. Grant, Will Poulter, Tea Leoni, Anthony Carrigan, Jessica Hynes, Sunita Mani, Steve Park, Kathryn Erbe.
Rating: ***
The latest A24 feature Death of a Unicorn often feels like a variation of Jurassic Park with the notion of mythical (as opposed to extinct) creatures hunting humans looking to exploit them for financial gain. Unlike the Spielberg classic, it’s not storytelling on a grand scale. It doesn’t rely on massive (and costly) set pieces to get its point across, but it manages just fine nonetheless. It’s both a thrilling (and often bloody) creature feature and a pointed satire of how the other 1% lives.
What is it that constitutes great acting? I’d say it’s the ability to portray characters that elicit a strong response from audiences be it positive or negative. I felt nothing but contempt for the characters played by Richard E. Grant (Withnail & I), Tea Leoni (Deep Impact) and Will Poulter (Midsommar). They play this awful wealthy family who should star in their own reality show with all the bad behavior they display. They’re greedy, selfish, arrogant, phony, opportunistic, uncaring and only slightly less idiotic than the Kardashians. I was rooting for the killer unicorns to finish them all off. I wasn’t too crazy about Paul Rudd’s (Ant-Man) character, the ultimate yes-man, either. He’s pliable to the point of having no spine. At the very least, I wanted him to get a big jab in the ass from one of the one-horned creatures.
The only character I liked in Death of a Unicorn was Ridley (Ortega, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), the college-age daughter of Rudd’s character Elliot. He brings her along on a weekend trip to his boss’ family estate in the Rockies where he’s to be named legal liaison for their pharmaceutical company. She doesn’t want to be there. She and her dad haven’t been close since her mother’s death. Also, she doesn’t love the idea of spending time with rich people. She’s an idealist who resents their values of lack thereof. Dad makes her come for the sake of appearances. She is not a happy camper. She’s also the only decent person in the room.
En route to their destination, Elliot gets distracted and hits an animal in the road. The animal turns out to be a baby unicorn. In an attempt to cover up his misdeed, he bludgeons the severely injured creature to end its suffering. He then puts it in the back of his car until he can find a place to dispose of the body. They finally arrive at the mountain mansion where the meeting about Elliot’s new position at the company commences. It seems to be going okay until the not-dead unicorn starts thrashing around in Elliot’s smashed-up rental car. That’s when things really start going haywire.
Odell Leopold (Grant), a demanding sort, is gravely ill with cancer and on his last legs. He sees $$$ in the dead (?) unicorn. The magical properties in its purple blood give it medicinal value. It could be used to cure all diseases, especially the big C. Exposure to it cured Ridley’s acne and Elliot’s allergies. He has it tested on himself and it works. He puts it on his team of doctors to reproduce it for immediate mass production. That’s when the baby unicorn’s parents come looking for him. They’re pissed and out for human blood.
Here’s the deal about unicorns according to Death of a Unicorn. They’re not the beautiful, benevolent creatures depicted in so many fantasy stories. They’re vicious, dangerous beasts not to be f***ed with. Ridley learns all this by researching The Unicorn Tapestries on-line. She tries to warn everybody, but nobody listens to her. Odell’s rude wife Belinda (Leoni) dismisses her as a resentful child who should just let the adults speak. They’re going to be sorry they didn’t heed her warnings.
The worst one of the bunch has to be the son Shepard (Poulter), an obnoxious prick who treats the guests and servants like they’re beneath him. He’s the kind of guy who bellows orders at the family butler Griff (Carrigan, Barry) from across the house. A habitual drug user, he comes up with the idea of grinding the horn into powder and snorting (or smoking) it. Yeah, let me know how that works out for you, a**hole.
Death of a Unicorn marks the feature film debut of writer-director Alex Scharfman. It’s pretty solid as far as first efforts go. The CGI effects are wonky. The dinosaurs in the first Jurassic Park look far more convincing. Spielberg made audiences believe they were flesh-and-blood real. You can tell these unicorns were created on a computer. It takes something away from the overall experience. Also, Scharfman doesn’t explore Elliot and Ridley’s grief with any depth. It feels shallow and superficial. It’s like he injected it hoping audiences might make an emotional connection with the heroes of this tale. That’s fine, but give it the attention it deserves.
As I already said, the acting is one of the film’s strong suits. I wouldn’t go so far as to predict Oscar nominations all around, but the performances in Death of a Unicorn are unusually strong for the genre. Ortega, an It Girl who actually deserves the designation, is very good as the kind, damaged idealist who advocates for the supposedly mythical beings. Rudd is also good as the dad whose attempts to reconnect with his daughter are overshadowed by his attempts to please his boss. Grant, Leoni and Poulter are all sufficiently hateful as exploiters of a miraculous discovery.
Death of a Unicorn works on two levels. It’s a decent survival thriller about a group of people running from dangerous creatures. It has a few cool kill scenes. Scharfman gives it extra bite by savagely skewering the upper class. In addition, he manages to strike a nice balance between the two things. Tonally, it’s a bit of a rocky road, but he manages to keep it on course. In the end, Scharfman delivers a weird, bloody and funny hybrid of horror, comedy and dark fantasy. I doubt it will appeal to mainstream audiences though. It’s one of those films that belong on the late-night circuit. That’s where it will find its fans.
