Death of a Unicorn

As the studio continues to build its resumé with broader audiences, A24’s latest cheeky genre flick aims to add a twist to the creature feature formula. Satirically tackling the pharmaceutical industry, this “killer unicorn” horror comedy has a silly, ingenious premise that mines a decent amount of fun out of material.

Courtesy A24

Elliot (Paul Rudd) is a widowed father headed to Canada with his daughter, Ridley (Jenna Ortega), for a meeting with his dying billionaire client, Odell (Richard E. Grant), the patriarch of the Leopold family. On their way to the countryside mansion of the pharmaceutical giants, Elliot and Ridley hit something on the road that turns out to be a unicorn. Desperate to make it to their appointment, the father/daughter duo stuff the body in the body of their rental car and head to the mansion where they meet the rest of Odell’s family including his wife, Belinda (Tea Leoni, in her first film role in over a decade), and dimwitted son, Shepard (a particularly funny Will Poulter). After uncovering the seemingly dead unicorn, the Leopold family seeks to exploit the unicorn’s natural resources after discovering the unicorn is capable of curing cancer and any other possible diseases. However, despite appearing dead, suddenly, the unicorn springs to life and enacts a killing spree on the billionaire’s property.

Writer/director Alex Scharfman’s gory satire tackles the perils of man vs nature, the corrupt pharmaceutical world and the exploitative nature of capitalism, but the film ultimately runs too bloated and scattered to fully deliver. Death of a Unicorn has its share of funny, outrageous moments courtesy of a killer unicorn massacre, but the extended runtime drains much of the fun early on. Nearly all creature features, even cheeky ones such as this, wear out their welcome past the 90 minute mark and this one is no exception. Running over 104 minutes, much of the film’s biggest moments of mayhem don’t come until the final act, leaving an opening hour full of dead air and flabby editing.

Thankfully, once the action ramps up, so does the film, despite some satire that is either too broad or too scattered. Scharfman crafts a good number of gnarly, inventive kills. Riffing on some of the most infamous deaths in Jurassic Park and Alien, the body count is quite satisfying when the carnage finally kicks in. I have good news for fans of seeing unicorns commit skull crushing, face stabbings, body rippings and intestine pulling. Although there is a discourage use of visual effects over practical work, the deaths are well executed for the most part. One of the best compliments I can give this film is that seeing a unicorn tearing people apart doesn’t lose its novelty.

Courtesy A24

The satire, however, and overall “eat the rich” attitude only has so much variation before it runs thin. The Leopold family are your typical elitist snobs and are played for laughs, much to the skill of its impressive cast. Odell is an ego-maniac who, until the arrival of his dinner guests, was dying of cancer and wheelchair-ridden. His wife, Belinda cares for little outside of material wealth and their son, Shepard seemingly has a new hobby or interest every week.

As welcoming as satire on capitalism and the pharmaceutical industry is, Death of a Unicorn lacks an overall sharpness to the material. The eclectic cast keeps the film watchable during its most sluggish moment, but none of these characters are particularly revelations. Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega are performing their typical archetypes, even if their father/daughter dynamic does give the film its only real sense of heart.

Courtesy A24

Death of a Unicorn has its healthy dosage of laughs and bloody charm, but the overall film is too scattered and shaggy to fully live up to its potential. Debut writer/director Alex Scharfman blends timely satire and gory unicorn carnage into a cheeky and occasional funny film, but there’s a much better, tighter edit of this film somewhere.

Death of a Unicorn is now playing in theaters.