Death of a Unicorn (2025) Review

Compliance lawyer Elliot (Paul Rudd) is driving out into the mountains to meet with the hyper rich Leopold clan, headed by the dying Odell (Richard E. Grant) who has designs on Elliot joining the board of the Leopolds’ pharma corporation. However, before Elliot can make that seat his, the Leopolds would like to get to know him over the course of a weekend at their remote, swanky estate. His potential employers are big on strong familial bonds, which could be an issue as, although he has daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) in tow, she doesn’t really want all that much to do with her pop.

The strained atmosphere of the trip from the airport is tested further when Elliot manages to reduce the local wildlife by one as a result of hitting the creature with his rental car. If you’ve been paying attention to what this is called, you won’t need three guesses as to what that creature is. Not wanting to ruin the weekend or his chance of landing a job which will set him up for life, Elliot puts the creature in the back of the vehicle and completes his journey.

As Elliot attempts to make a good impression on Odell, Odell’s wife Belinda (Téa Leoni) and son Shepard (Will Poulter), the unicorn is discovered and, rather than give the poor thing a decent burial, talk soon turns to the potential health benefits of such a find, as Ridley’s acne has cleared up after accidentally being splashed in the face with unicorn blood. As the onsite medical scientists get to work, Odell sees one last chance to reverse his terminal illness but doesn’t stop to think that the unicorn also has those strong familial bonds and something out in the wilderness is pissed off and coming to pay them all a visit…

Presenting the A24 logo ahead of this movie will, for better or worse, set the expectations of a number of viewers in terms of an experience out of the norm. The big surprise here is that Death Of A Unicorn has very few surprises and delivers a horror comedy that’s disappointingly light on both scares and snickers, playing it safe almost every time it threatens to go big and making CGI choices which makes its titular beasts look unrealistic rather than otherworldly.

What just about keeps the whole thing on the rails is the cast, all of whom sustain interest even when the plot is flagging or you’re being battered by the metaphorical mallet marked “SATIRE.” Rudd, initially at least, isn’t quite as loveable as usual, lured by the prospect of life-changing amounts of cast and unwilling to support the principled stand taken by his daughter. Ortega gets a slightly raw deal in playing the steadfastly virtuous one of the bunch but she’s as engaging as ever and provides the contrast to the hideous, wealthy archetypes on display.

Writer/director Alex Scharfman’s screenplay makes it clear that rich folks are, more often than not, dreadful people but they’re also by far the most entertaining characters here. Grant is, as expected, a horrible hoot, his surface level of caring quickly going out of the window when he has the opportunity to make a killing, either in the corporate or corporeal sense. Leoni, as a philanthropist who never quite manages to conceal a streak of ruthlessness a mile wide and would rather do anything than interact with the poor, is particularly good value and proves, once again, that she should be in far more movies.

However, stealing the show is Will Poulter as the unrelentingly useless Shepard, leaping from project to project without any distinction and appearing to be focusing his dubious skill set on the art of mixology. Every line of his dialogue is utterly ridiculous and Poulter sells it to max, making an obnoxious, trust fund twit someone to be genuinely missed whenever he isn’t around. Elsewhere, a slightly tricky to recognise Jessica Hynes as a shotgun-toting Head Of House and Anthony Carrigan as the Leopolds’ unfailingly efficient and long-suffering butler Griff round out a talented roster of performers. It’s just a shame the material doesn’t match their talent.

Death Of A Unicorn isn’t awful but it’s a long way from great and so much of it feels like it will just do. The attack set pieces are sporadically gory but there’s not much in the way of excitement about them and the callbacks to other monster/adventure flicks risk reminding the audience of better, more thrilling movies. If you’re going to throw in an Aliens-style motion tracker, the resulting action beats had better be up to scratch. The brief shots of disposable supporting players being swiped off screen will not be giving James Cameron any sleepless nights, that’s for sure.

So, what does this movie want to be? Fun, splattery creature feature? Satire about the unethical practices of big businesses and the billionaires in charge of them? A tale about a father and daughter giving it one last go to repair their relationship? Death Of A Unicorn sets out to be all of these and yet ends up being none of them, flitting between each element of the plot but never hanging around long enough to land on anything truly satisfying.

The fact that the film never swings for the fences is baffling, given the outrageous plot and OTT characterisation. The gruesome moments are too few and far between and the human/unicorn battles are too clunky to satisfy the horror crowd. The satirical content is hammered home so bluntly and so often that it rapidly ceases to have any lasting effect. Worst of all, the Elliot-Ridley subplot is so lacking in interest that whenever the story veered off into them having another parent-child chat my thought was “Oh, not these two again” and that’s a problem when you’re supposed to be rooting for them to patch things up and get out of the mess they’re in.

There are worthwhile moments scattered throughout Death Of A Unicorn and the cast is superb but the sometimes lethargic pace (especially in the first half) and a general reticence to go full-on bonkers ultimately makes it watchable but nothing more. Despite my overall level of frustration, there’s promise on display here and sharper focus from Scharfman in future projects may give us the unfiltered lunacy I hoped for.

Movie Rating:

Death of a Unicorn trailer