As a little girl, I loved unicorns. Specifically, I loved the deeply sad and surprisingly disturbing animated children’s film The Last Unicorn. The tragedy of the unicorn appealed to my young, morbid mind, which is why now, decades later, I found myself excited for Alex Scharfman’s film Death of a Unicorn. I wanted a dark unicorn movie that wasn’t afraid to get weird. And while Death of a Unicorn is primarily a comedy about class and wealth, it’s also a nasty creature feature that definitely isn’t afraid to get weird. Scharfman creates a modern-day fairytale full of blood that I only wish went a little deeper into its central protagonists.
The film opens with Ridley (Jenna Ortega) and her dorky dad, Elliot (Paul Rudd), arriving in the Canadian Rockies for a very important business trip. Elliot works for the Leopold family, which owns one of the world’s biggest pharmaceutical companies, and Elliot is set to get a massive promotion. But only if he can prove that he’s a family man during a weekend retreat at their family estate on a private nature preserve. The only problem? Ridley and Elliot have barely spoken since the death of her mother. So he needs her to fake it ‘til they make it so he can get the promotion and make sure they’re set for life.
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But on their drive to the Leopold compound, they just so happen to hit a unicorn foal. Immediately, Elliot goes into panic mode, tries to bludgeon the unicorn to death to put it out of its misery, then hides the corpse in their rental car. They finally arrive and act like there isn’t a mythic beast in their trunk as Ridley meets the ailing patriarch Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant), the performatively philanthropic Belinda Leopold (Téa Leoni), and their spoiled son Shepard (Will Poulter). This trio of unimaginable privilege circles the father-daughter duo like hungry sharks, nipping at their ankles with digs about wealth and status.
As the unicorn foal reveals itself and the group discovers that unicorn blood can cure things like acne, allergies, and near-sightedness, things get even weirder as the parents of that little foal get ready to enact their horn-y revenge.
Is it ridiculous? Yes, absolutely. But Death of a Unicorn is also incredibly fun and funny, to boot. It feels like a fantasy Jurassic Park with a sprinkle of Orca skewering those who profit in the evilest of ways. It’s creature feature satire at its finest, elevated by an ensemble cast firing on all cylinders. Grant, Leoni, and Poulter are a perfect family of billionaire narcissists with zero self-awareness. Their combined comedic timing creates a fast-paced dialogue that ramps up the tension while making you laugh before any mythical creature violently busts onto the scene.
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Scharfman’s unicorn monster movie is a modern-day fairytale in both subject matter and how he chooses to craft his story. He adheres to archetypal characters seen in folklore and fairytales, most pointedly Little Red Riding Hood. Ridley is adorned in a red sweatshirt that resembles a red cape, she is the innocent young character walking into the belly of the beast, and—to mix my metaphors—she’s forced to confront wolves in sheep’s clothing. Scharfman is playing in the fantasy sandbox and having a damn good time doing it.
But while playing in that sandbox, Scharfman neglects one crucial thing in Death of a Unicorn: a deeper emotional connection with our central protagonists. While Rudd’s sincerity as a dorky dad does convey his love and care for his daughter, and Ortega’s art-trash aesthetic and bad attitude are in perfect contrast with the nasty rich, parts of the film feel shallow. The script tries to give some context to the relationship between Ridley and Elliot, especially around her mother’s death, but it just never goes deep enough. Scharfman leans pretty heavily on the evil rich people versus the working class, which does keep the film charming, funny, and committed to the schlocky creature feature bit. I just wanted more about this central relationship and why we should cheer for their reconciliation.
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And then there are, of course, the unicorns themselves, created on screen with a combination of puppets, CG, and real horses. In an upcoming interview with Dread Central, Scharfman explained just how much research he did to create his unicorns and the months-long process it took to finalize their design. These aren’t your Barbie unicorns; these are angry creatures with a thirst for blood, and I think we need a few more movies in this subgenre immediately.
Death of a Unicorn is creature feature madness perfect for those looking for a hilarious and entertaining film featuring unicorns unlike anything you’ve ever seen in cinema. Yes, it’s weird, and some may not buy into its chaos. But for those willing to saddle up and take this ride, it’s a gloriously bloody odyssey about love, family, and the powers that lurk inside unicorn blood.
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