Film Review: Death of a Unicorn

Unicorns in mainstream media are usually depicted as colourful, playful and innocent. From toys to television shows it is a mythical creature that gets stereotyped a lot into being only for audiences of young children and even then it is usually for a specific gender of child too. It is refreshing to see a new side to Unicorns, something that Hollywood and mainstream media have been reluctant to do in the past. That brings film studio A24 into the fold. A24 and its key principles are designed for filmmakers to bring out their inner creativity to tell more larger than life stories. Look at films such as Dream Scenario and Civil War to see just how diverse A24 are with this mantra. Filmmaker Alex Scharfman came to the studio about developing a horror comedy feature film about Unicorns and that brings us to the film in question, Death of a Unicorn.

The concept behind the film is an enticing one. What if a father and daughter accidentally run over and kill the mythical beast known as a Unicorn. What are the consequences? What are the rules of killing a Unicorn as they are after all mythical for a reason. The suspension of belief is needed a lot in a film such as this as we dive into a world of absurdity but also one of hilarity too as the characters are not written to be taken seriously. This works in a lot of ways, such as providing a lot of light hearted hijinks and deaths, and it also gives the film some unpredictability as well.

The heart of the story is the bond between a father and his daughter, who are played by Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega, two people who are currently hot right now in Hollywood. The supporting cast includes Richard E. Grant, Will Poulter, Jessica Hynes, Téa Leoni and others. These people live in massive estate in the middle of a forest and Richard E. Grant’s character is on his deathbed. The discovery of the Unicorn brings about questions relating to immortality and healing incurable diseases. This gets the attention of the owners of the Estate and the family’s greed soon takes over as they attempt to harness the power of the Unicorn.

The horror elements come into the fray when it is discovered that the parent Unicorns of the young, injured one are very much angry and out to exact revenge of the perpetrators of the death of the foal. The two killer Unicorns kill off each character with exaggerated violence and these scenes will please any horror fan with some pretty fun and creative deaths. The goal is to survive and learn the truth of the Unicorns. Elliot and Ridley, the father and daughter, are our eyes and ears into this world. Sometimes their characters are a little annoying but luckily those moments are fleeting. The film feels very uneven and doesn’t meet the expectations it promises but it still remains an entertaining watch.

★★★☆☆

3/5

Final Verdict:

Death of a Unicorn embodies the DNA of studio A24. It looks distinctive, feels unique and captures a charming and quirky tone that balances the horror and comedy genres. The characters, writing and look all give off a sense of silliness and absurdity and sometimes the film restrains itself instead of going full steam ahead into it. There is a lot of potential here to tell a very outlandish story, but the film swerves and dives around the plot too much that the narrative begins to fall apart a little. Overall, it is a decent attempt at telling a different perspective on the myth of the Unicorn.

Thanks for reading today’s blog!

Alex Murray, the Head of Eyesight Productions