Death of a Unicorn review by Bobby Blakey
Both Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega have impressive filmographies with big budget films and some unique strange ones. Now they have teamed up with an impressive bast for their latest film Death of a Unicorn co-starring Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, and Richard E. Grant from writer/director Alex Scharfman. Could this film have something as unique as it sounds to offer or will it fail to do the magical beast justice?
Death of a Unicorn follows Elliot and Ridley Kintner, a father-daughter duo, who accidentally strike a wayward animal with their car while traveling to a weekend vacation. What begins as a bizarre and unfortunate accident descends into pandemonium involving a billionaire boss, supernatural healing, and some very angry parents.
I didn’t know much about the tone of this film heading in. It seemed lighthearted and kind of artsy with the kind of story that has no business working but somehow manages to deliver something that works perfectly. The story is strange, quirky, bloody and on the surface just seems ridiculous and it is, but in a fun well done way.
The film is mixed bag of comedy, horror and supernatural magic wrapped up in a dysfunctional family of characters. Its complex characters are average at best but thrown into this strange situation all starting with a simple car accident. It never fully bothers to try and go deeper into the lore than necessary, and I think it helped the film to work. The initial tone is funny and chaotic as it all starts to come to a head, but when the Unicorn gets involved, it unleashes the fury and blood.
It's not a full-on horror film by any means, but they let the blood and gore flow when necessary to lean into the legend of unicorns not being the nice magical creatures you might think. At the same time, they balance these ideals to make you both love the fury of these magical beasts but also see the caring and love they have to present when someone is worthy.
The film is a great strange time overall with the only thing that is really a misstep is some of the CGI itself. Most of the time unicorns are great fun to watch, but there are some moments that are a little cheesy looking. I think it added character to the film and gave it its own visual style keeping things light even in the darker moments. I feel this is one of those films that will either work for people or will be just too out there or silly for them to connect with. I had a great time with is and think it is one worth checking out if even just for something different away from the remakes, sequels and big tent pole films.
Decide for yourself and check out Death of a Unicorn available now on Blu-ray from A24.