Death of a Unicorn is undoubtedly one of the more imaginative and gory films you’ll see in 2025, silly and savage in equal measure – even if it can’t quite live up to the promise of its juicy premise.
The A24 comedy–horror, written and directed by Alex Scharfman in his feature-length debut, has attracted a star-studded cast led by Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega thanks to its wacky tale of corporate greed and magical unicorns.
When Elliot (Rudd) and his teenage daughter Ridley (Ortega) accidentally injure a unicorn foal on the way to the estate of Elliot’s sickly but pharmaceutically wealthy boss Odell Leopold (Richard E Grant), they discover the healing properties of its blood spatter, which fixes her acne and his allergies and long-sightedness.
Ridley is also left with a mental link to the unicorns after she touches the foal’s horn and experiences visions on a cosmic level, causing her to worry over its treatment.
However, the cancer-stricken Odell and his grotesque family – luxury wife Belinda (Téa Leoni) and their vacuous son Shepard (Will Poulter, having the best time of anyone) – very quickly see how they can benefit thanks to the medicinal power of these mythical beasts.
Or as Shepard crows: ‘They’re going to hate us on the non-profit circuit – nice knowing you, cancer charities, am I right?’
Death of a Unicorn is reminiscent of both Jurassic Park and E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in its approach to its unbelievable central creatures and the intoxicating level of their extreme desirability to humans, despite imminent threat.
It has lashings of Spielberg in its nostalgic monster approach – we know the greedy baddies will have their comeuppance and that tension will be built by sound, shadow and our hero being charged in a car at some point – but there’s a frivolous edge to it all.
After all, Leoni’s Belinda utters the immortal line, ‘Not to be a size queen, as they say, but that horn was rather girthsome’, with undisguised lust, while one of Shepard’s most resolute lines in the whole film is that ‘gloss is gauche’ when it comes to printing photographs.
The movie’s carnage is unexpectedly graphic and disgusting, even with Ridley’s warning ringing in our ears that unicorns are a ‘bloodthirsty and vengeful beast’ after she digs up historical research.
We are then shown that this is very much the case, as these massive creatures snarl and growl, bare their fangs and curl their ominous grey tongues while disembowelling and destroying the humans who have done them wrong.
Although there is humour in the deaths, I would have welcomed a little more variety away from people being impaled on unicorn horns – although there a head is cracked under a hoof like a coconut, while someone else is literally torn in two.
There’s also plenty of literal guts, with one hole left by a horn in a body so big Elliot can peer right through it before the victim’s intestines start falling out.
It is satisfying to see the morally bankrupt answer for their crimes in a world right now where this seems more like a fantasy, even if the payoff isn’t quite the slam-dunk expected.
Death of a Unicorn is unsubtle if entertaining in its social commentary, but ultimately none of the characters have the depth required – even Ortega’s Ridley spends most of her time wavering between pouting and panicking.
Although it’s somewhat refreshing to demonstrate such a clearly broken family dynamic, Elliot is so spineless that it’s hard to root for him in the relationship he’s supposed to be rebuilding with his daughter.
Grant regurgitates the eccentric flavour he provided in Saltburn although with more of a vicious, unicorn steak-eating edge, thanks to his instincts for comedy – although there’s less of a reward, character-wise, to work with here.
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Meanwhile Poulter is weirdly lovable as Shepard, who’s always ready to provide buzzword salad (his ‘diversified portfolio of entrepreneurial activities’, for instance) as he struts around in his chino shorts offering nothing else of value.
Death of a Unicorn is also particularly evocative of its clear inspirations when one irritated unicorn is prowling around outside, its fearsome jaws shown in silhouette against the tent Odell’s employees set up on site (The Lost World: Jurassic Park), while a hunting party later traipses through the misty woods in search of their creatures (E.T.).
Although it’s unlikely to enter the cinematic canon next to such greats, Death of a Unicorn is still an entertainingly silly romp if not as sharp as you’d hope to truly stick the satirical landing.
Death of a Unicorn is in UK cinemas on Friday April 4. It’s in US cinemas now.
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