Death of a Unicorn itself doesn’t believe in unicorns, but that’s okay. That skepticism lends itself to a frivolous comedy that is mostly entertaining. How often does something with this budget and these production values, and with this kind of cast, go to theaters, anyway? Director and writer Alex Scharfman delivers fine, if not flawed, “B” movie-level material that shows promise in A24’s aim for more commercial filmmaking. This gem could’ve benefitted from more polishing, but even in its rough cut, there are facets to enjoy.
With a plot that essentially feels lifted straight out of a Syfy movie, or some cheap schlock on Tubi, Death of a Unicorn doesn’t bother to be precious about itself. Yeah, there is that now-standard parent-child drama at the center of the story, however, that hoary element isn’t so overbearing that everything else here can’t be appreciated. For starters, the quickness to achieve the titular event is refreshing; Paul Rudd’s workaholic character, a single dad and widower, plows over the legendary namesake with his moody but smart daughter, played by the increasingly typecast Jenna Ortega, sitting in the passenger seat. Scharfman is anxious to get on with the rest of the film, and that’s fine by me. Everything else, more or less, gets filled in as this fragmented family brings the unicorn’s corpse with them to the father’s boss’ mansion in the woods.
It’s there in this tucked-away abode, one befitting of this dark fairy tale, that we meet the more colorful parts of the ensemble cast. Richard E. Grant plays a rich, sick and enterprising man whose family, a snooty philanthropist for a wife (Téa Leoni) and a short shorts-addicted screwup for a son (Will Poulter), is just as opportunistic once they realize the business potential for the dead unicorn. It’s a standard “science meets myth and everything goes wrong” story, sure enough, but the core characters, plus a couple of amusing ancillary ones, make it more watchable.
As with the nominal inciting incident, we don’t have to wait long before this film introduces the non-manmade threat. As you would gather, based on the entire history of genre, the unicorn ain’t dead, and its captivity is grounds for carnage. And that Scharfman does quite well — the mayhem that follows is horrific, yet because this is a comedy, the visceral comeuppance for the avaricious victims is laughable. There’s no variety to these deaths, but lest we forget, we’re dealing with pissed-off horses with what are essentially swords strapped to their heads.
All in all, Death of a Unicorn is straightforward with very little to say about anything. It’s not a message movie, by no means, and anyone expecting it to be one should probably adjust their expectations. What we have here is a silly, genre-coded comedy that is rough in places, and it never approaches the charm and audacity you crave from a fuller spectacle, however, for something about killer unicorns impaling the greedy rich, it works in a pinch. Sometimes, fine is fine.
Death of a Unicorn premiered at SXSW 2025, and will be in theaters nationwide, starting on March 25.
Tales from the Paulside 
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