‘Death of a Unicorn’ Review: Mythically Soulless

It seems the eat-the-rich subgenre of comedic thrillers is here to stay, as A24’s Death of a Unicorn sets its sights on the 1% and big pharma in this unfunny but original satire with forced sentimentality.

This review contains spoilers for Death of a Unicorn

Death of a Unicorn follows estranged father and daughter, Elliot (Paul Rudd) & Ridley (Jenna Ortega), as they visit wealthy big pharma client Odell’s (Richard E. Grant) nature preserve for the weekend. On their way up to the compound, Elliot hits a unicorn with their rental car, and after it shows his daughter the secrets of their species, bashes its head in with a tire iron. They somehow manage to load the creature’s carcass into the vehicle and proceed to head to the retreat. Upon arriving, Elliot asks Ridley for one favor this weekend: act normal. What does she do? The exact opposite. At the same time, I can’t blame her, as the people she’s surrounded by are insufferable. Odell’s wife, Belinda (Téa Leoni), and son, Shepard (Will Poulter), spout mostly unfunny nonsense that tries to be jabs at how stupid the upper class is. Unfortunately, none of the comedy worked for me in this film, as all of it feels so familiar. Beyond the original concept of the setup, there isn’t anything we haven’t seen done better in other films, especially recently. 

For the past couple of years, it seems we get a new comedic film that takes shots at how cruel the upper class is every couple of months. While these themes are timeless, it has reached a point of oversaturation in film as of late, making it harder for these works to stand out from one another. Triangle of Sadness, Glass Onion, and The Menu, for example, all have similar humor to this film, except it is executed so much better in those films compared to this. However, while the humor didn’t work for me, my sold-out advanced screening audience was howling at almost every joke. 

Amongst being a dark comedy about the despicable nature of big pharma, the film is also a creature feature, a poorly executed one at that. After Odell’s family finds out from Elliot & Ridley that the unicorn’s blood has healing properties, he uses it to cure his terminal cancer and decides to sell parts of the unicorn to the wealthiest buyers looking to exploit its healing benefits. The mother and father unicorn discover their child has been murdered and exact their revenge on the compound. It’s a shame because on paper, the concept sounds like a really fun time, however, this film relies on really bad-looking CGI to portray the mythical killers. It’s an even bigger disappointment considering the film uses puppetry when Elliot strikes it with the tire iron. Not only are these bad visual effects present on the unicorns, but they’re used for every kill as well, making what could have been visceral-looking and fun kills ultimately weightless and boring to watch.

As these characters are being ripped apart one by one, you don’t care for a single one of them. The film builds its emotional core around the relationships between Elliot & Ridley, and Ridley & the unicorns. Sadly, Rudd and Ortega give uninteresting performances and have zero chemistry together. Ridley discovers old tapestries of unicorn folklore and realizes that they are real stories. She tries to explain this to her father, but at every chance she gets to speak to him, he shuts her down. The prophecy is that “a maiden pure of heart” can communicate with the unicorns, and of course, the purehearted maiden is Ridley. Yet, this comes across as completely nonsensical as she has been an asshole to her father the entire runtime after he has constantly told her he is trying to secure a deal with Odell so they can be better set off with money, trying to make up to her after her mother died years prior. Even then, Rudd and Ortega’s performances give nothing. Rudd feels stilted as a spineless lawyer, and Ortega does what she does in every project. 

Unfortunately, while having a good concept on paper, Death of a Unicorn is an unfunny and boring retread of themes that have become all too familiar as of recently. I understand that the film’s lower budget caused the visual effects to be unappealing, but maybe A24 could’ve saved that money on unrecognized talent to give interesting performances and then splurge on the kills and unicorn shenanigans.

Death of a Unicorn was written and directed by Alex Scharfman. The film stars Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Richard E. Grant, Téa Leoni, Anthony Carrigan, Steve Park, and Sunita Mani. 

A24 released the film in theaters nationwide on March 28, 2025.

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