Directed by Alex Scharfman, Death of a Unicorn follows Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his teenage daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) who accidentally hit a unicorn while en route to a crisis management summit with Elliot’s boss, Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant), and his family. The Leopolds seize the unicorn, and their scientists discover that the creature is endowed with supernaturally curative properties, which the Leopolds seek to exploit. However, as they delve deeper into their research, the unicorn’s parents arrive and begin to slaughter one by one those involved in the exploitation of their dead foal.
Most people who have followed me long enough know that I have a huge soft spot for fun creature features but these days there’s hardly been any unique ones coming out. We have had hundreds of horror films about vampires and werewolves but you don’t see many films focused on other supernatural creatures from various mythologies being made for the big screen. And there has certainly never been a horror film based on one of the most iconic mythical creatures in media, the Unicorn, until now.
The talented cast combined with the bonkers premise and A24’s involvement made this one of my most anticipated original films of year and I was fortunate enough to attend an early screening for it several days before its full release this week. I’m pleased to report that I ended up being satisfied with this film as it mostly lived up to the expectations I had for it and it also managed to surprise me in unexpected ways.
Death of a Unicorn is a wildly fun and creative creature horror that delivers plenty of exciting thrills, fantastic performances, humorous satire, gory deaths, doses of Lovecraftian horror, and surprisingly touching moments making this one hell of an A24 acid trip that I believe a lot of people will enjoy. While it certainly draws some slight inspiration from Jurassic Park in terms of a few story elements and themes, it is a mostly original and well-executed creature feature that aims mostly to entertain with its balanced horror-comedy blend and give people a good time, while also not being afraid to embrace the weirdness of its premise in typical A24 fashion at the same time.
For a film like this you need a truly dedicated cast willing to be a part of this film’s insanity and director Alex Scharfman chose the best ensemble for this film who deliver extremely committed and fun performances individually and together. Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as Elliot and Ridley respectively are a strong father-daughter duo who keep the film grounded and provide its surprising emotional backbone. While they do play a familiar father-daughter relationship trope we have seen done many times in other films I do like the way it is portrayed a bit differently here, with these two uniquely cast members using their individual talents to make you care about the characters and their rocky relationship. Their relationship also serves as a clever commentary on greed and grief with their effective dynamic being the center of it.
Paul Rudd breaks away from his usual good guy routine from recent films to play a character that initially has noble intentions for his daughter. He gets pulled into a spiral of greed that he continues to get deeper in as the film progresses, which therefore pushes his daughter further away despite his previous intentions to get closer to her. Rudd does manage to inject some of his signature humor at the right time throughout the film but it was nice to see him try something different compared to most of his previous roles.
Jenna Ortega excellently plays one of the few pure-hearted thinking and feeling characters of this film that you root for from start to end as she continues to embrace the final girl horror status she’s become known for in the past few years. Fans of Ortega are guaranteed to love her here not only for her fierce and humorous moments of the performance she delivers but also the emotional moments that she instantly sold me on.
The Leopolds are a full-on satirical yet also scarily accurate take on upper-class corporate vultures and the cast members play them to hilarious perfection. These people are such hateful characters throughout the film but they are also so damn funny at the same time, mostly due to the performances.
Richard E. Grant and Téa Leoni give their all as the sleazy and greedy heads of the Leopold family but it was Will Poulter as Shepard Leopold who stole the show with an unhinged and outrageous performance that resulted in the biggest laughs. Will Poulter has been known to deliver great comedic performances in the past but this was by far his best one yet, with the impeccable comedic timing and hilarious line deliveries he gets to have in this film, along with some truly batshit crazy things his character does that made me and my audience bust a gut. He has been proving himself lately to be an absolute gem of an actor to have on board any project and this role continues to prove that.
The small supporting cast was also solid, though the only true standout among them for me was Anthony Carrigan as Griff, who may not have as much dialogue but had his own spotlight-stealing scenes with some truly hilarious moments as probably one of the smartest side characters I’ve seen in a horror film in years.
As for the unicorns that this film is centered around they were absolutely awesome. The idea of unicorns being scary monsters may sound extremely absurd and stupid on paper but Alex Scharfman and his crew actually managed to pull it off, making them legitimately terrifying while also giving them visually stunning appearances, through both extremely well-crafted practical effects and surprisingly great CGI, even on a low budget that is getting stretched to its limits. While there are some scenes with them near the end of the film that look rough CGI-wise, I thought they looked fantastic throughout the rest of the film, especially since there was a high usage of practical effects and even to some extent real horses used to bring them to life, making them effective beasts of horror that deliver violent kills and fun thrills. I feel by the end of this film no one is going to look at unicorns the same way again.
This film takes some time to get going with the first act as it mostly focuses on setting up and exploring the characters, the plot, and themes of this film, but once the first gory kill occurs and the insanity ensues everything kicks into high gear as we get some creative creature feature fun that makes full use of its bonkers premise and delivers a lot of satisfying payoffs.
The film has notable similarities to Jurassic Park with some themes and story elements but it never felt like it was copying off of it as it remains mostly an original film that has its own unique twists and elements. While it is packed with mean-spirited yet hilarious satire of greed-driven exploitation of miracles and nature it also has fun and interesting elements of Lovecraftian horror woven in that make the film stand out from other creature features, as well as fit perfectly with the mythology of unicorns. The mythological and acid-trip-like feeling of this film made it feel almost like an Ari Aster A24 film at times, and funnily enough it turned out that Ari Aster was an executive producer of this film, hence why some of his influences can be felt in it this despite not having directed it.
It also manages to deliver moments of genuine heart and emotion, especially in its ending, which brings this acid trip of a film to an unexpectedly sentimental close that some people may find cheesy but I personally loved it, especially since it brings some things full circle.
A lot of creature features these days usually never take the time to make their films look good or even decent on a technical level but this film is by far the most visually appealing and technically well-made creature feature I’ve seen in a long time, even with its lower budget. The horror action and kills this film has are highly entertaining and most of them are executed creatively with some gory practical effects. There are a few CGI kills here and there, but I thought most of them looked good as well as hilariously creative. I’ve seen a lot of low-budget horrors with the most hideous digital effects for kills and creatures but I can tell you for sure that the effects of this film are nowhere near the level of those, especially when it’s clear the crew of this film took time on the effects of the unicorns for this film, both in practical form and CGI form despite the restrictions of the budget.
The film’s isolated wilderness setting looks beautiful but also feels extremely eerie thanks to stellar cinematography combined with practical sets and locations, especially during the night scenes where you feel like anything could come out of the pitch-black darkness to kill you.
Adding on to the thrills and chills of this film is a solidly creepy score by composers Dan Romer and Giosuè Greco, who increase the Lovecraftian horror feeling of this film by delivering Lovecraftian horror-themed music that enhances the various tones of this film.
Death of a Unicorn is honestly one of the most original and competently made creature features I’ve seen in a long time and was very much worth the wait. I think it is guaranteed to satisfy horror-comedy fans, creature feature fans, Lovecraftian horror fans, and even please casual audiences looking for a good time. It’s destined to be a cult classic and I highly recommend watching it when it releases this week. I’m going to give Death of a Unicorn an A = 96.
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