Presented as a blend of horror and comedy, “Death of a Unicorn” toes the line between genres without leaning too far into either one.
Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd take the lead in a star-studded cast that features the talents of Richard Grant, Will Poulter and Téa Leoni. With an idyllic setting deep within an environmental preserve, “Death of a Unicorn” is a barebones commentary on classism, nature and capitalism.
On a weekend getaway, Elliott Kintner (Rudd) is gunning for a partnership to set him and his daughter, Ridley (Ortega) for life. After they’ve endured the loss of Elliott’s wife, the two became estranged and agree to put up a front for the sake of their shared benefit. This is around the moment Elliott manages to plow into a unicorn. When Ridley comforts the dying animal and touches its horn, initiating a soul bond, Elliott steps in and beats the unicorn to death with a tire iron.
The movie doesn’t take long to pick up on some of the classist themes of the film after being introduced to the Leopold family. Odell Leopold (Grant), the patriarch, is coming close to death and decides to get to know Elliott better by having him around his wife and son, Belinda (Leoni) and Shepard (Poulter).
Before handshakes and signatures happen, the unicorn returns to brief life and is promptly shot in the head, ending its life right there and then. When they all discover the healing properties of the unicorn, there’s a rapid shift toward harvesting the creature for cures without regard or respect.
For better or worse, “Death of a Unicorn” does have its humorous moments, sometimes undercutting scenes that started to lead heavily into horror. Seeing two massive unicorns recreating the famous kitchen scene from “Jurassic Park” was a delight, but at times, it treats this level of macabre as a punchline to something else.
Again, like the Spielberg classic, there’s a precedent to uncover and exploit science rather than leaving things alone. Predictably, this comes back to bite them, many times and many places over. The parents of the unicorn are sensibly furious and decide to violently avenge their loss until they can retrieve the body.
Visually, the film is a spectacle, with the incredible setting in a remote Canadian estate enveloped by beautiful trees and a sparkling lake within view. The contrast between the beauty of the scenery to the repulsive actions and mentality of the humans is wonderfully paralleled. The CGI is quite impressive for a $15 million budget, as the film’s second half begins to feature the unicorns more. With the range of star power in “Death of a Unicorn,” the budget becomes even more impressive for what it accomplishes in a 107-minute runtime.
Ortega is clearly the film’s focus and she continues to impress, adding to her already established stardom as a “Scream Queen.” Outshining her contemporaries, such as Rudd and Grant, is no easy feat, but Ortega definitely makes it feel that way. Her character, Ridley, is rigid yet thoughtful and is the film’s guiding moral compass.
Watching the relationship, or really the lack of one between Ridley and Elliott, is perhaps the best progression of the film. Poulter as Shepard is the forerunner for “most punchable” out of the entitled and wealthy Leopolds. As frustrating as his character can be, he’s the most fleshed out of the three.
“Death of a Unicorn” may barely get its message across, but remnants of what could have been a terrific script remain embedded in the final cut. The topics it tries to tackle are surface-level at best, and the comedy in its stead cheapens the end product. Slightly disappointing in the intended warning, other pieces such as the gore and horror help make up for weaker sections of the film to deliver a solid and enjoyable movie.
Although other films did it better, “Death of a Unicorn” is an otherworldly reflection about the dangers of taking things too far.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Marvin Goines is a film/TV critic who has been writing reviews on various types of multimedia since 2021. His work can be found on websites such as ‘The Cosmic Circus’ and ‘Movies We Texted About.’
