The very concept of a rampaging, murderous unicorn sounds like a magical recipe for a delightful, gory horror comedy. Just look to the scene-stealing beast that appeared in the climax of Cabin in the Woods, using its sharp, spiraling horn to gouge through crowds in quick order. Death of a Unicorn, the feature debut by writer-director Alex Scharfman, does bring the carnage and a more monstrous vision of the legendary creature, but the road getting to the gory action is a bumpy one.
That rocky road begins with the introduction of father-daughter duo Elliot and Ridley Kinter, played by Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, respectively. The out-of-touch Elliot is dragging Ridley along on a weekend trip to the Leopold Nature Preserve in a bid to sign a major contract with his big pharma boss. When Elliot accidentally crashes into a baby unicorn on the way, all but Ridley sees dollar signs when the unicorn’s blood reveals itself to have magical healing properties. The unicorn’s parents, however, don’t take kindly to the cruelty and unleash savage vengeance. Though it does take a while to get there.
Death of a Unicorn wants to be an eat-the-rich oddball comedy, stacking its ensemble cast with fan-favorite comedic talent like Rudd as the overly career-focused dad to the detriment of his relationship with Ridley. Richard E. Grant and Téa Leoni serve as the affluent and woefully selfish elite driving the greed forward, further evoking the ire of the baby beast’s pissed off parents, with Will Poulter as their only son, a spoiled man child that manages to elicit some of the film’s few actual laughs. The other scene stealer is Anthony Carrigan as the family’s put-upon servant Griff. That leaves Ortega as the voice of reason in a world where money overrides logic.
If it’s not clear, Death of a Unicorn cast well. The problem is that very few of them are likable in any way. Even Rudd struggles here; Elliot spends most of the movie disregarding Ridley at every turn. Scharfman attempts to infuse this friction-fueled relationship as the emotional backbone of the story, but Dad is such a jerk that the inevitable reconciliation feels unearned. To be fair, the Leopold family is intentionally rendered unlikable; we’re meant to root for the unicorns to dole out brutal punishment. We’re just trapped with flat caricatures while we wait for sweet, sweet comeuppance.
And boy, do we. Scharfman spends quite a bit of time with animal cruelty to further mark characters for death. Even in a film that opts for noticeable CGI over practical effects, the constant mistreatment of the baby drags on far too long to the point where, when mom and dad begin their carnage in earnest, it feels far too late and too little. The filmmaker cribs liberally from the Jurassic Park franchise, from unicorn anatomy details to The Lost World’s baby t-rex plot, further robbing the concept of originality.
The idea behind Death of a Unicorn is a novel one, and Scharfman’s commitment to over-the-top spectacle is commendable. But seeing the greedy elite get taken down in brutal, gory fashion should be far more satisfying than this is.
Death of a Unicorn made its premiere at SXSW and releases in theaters on March 28, 2025.