By Keith Walther | Rose Law Group Reporter
If you’re expecting a cute story about an elegant, mythical creature, then you’re in for a big surprise. “Death of a Unicorn” is part fantasy and part horror with traces of dark comedy throughout, making for a creatively fun time. The storyline may not be great, but these unicorns have bite and won’t hesitate to get their horns a little dirty.
Consumed with advancing his career, widowed father Elliot (Paul Rudd) takes a road trip with his daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) to a remote wilderness retreat of Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant), a dying pharmaceutical CEO. Eager to impress the multi-millionaire and his wife Belinda (Téa Leoni) and his son Shepard (Will Poulter), Elliot is willing to do just about anything to secure a coveted job. While on the way, Elliot hits and seemingly kills an odd creature.
As it turns out, this horse-like beast is a unicorn, and its parents are none too happy. Making startling discoveries about the unicorn’s blood and horn, the families are unaware of the monsters’ vengeful approach to their compound. With greed threatening their chances for survival, the unicorns unleash gruesome terror on the group.
This is the directorial debut of Alex Scharfman, who also wrote the screenplay. He does a good job of dressing up a common foundation with a unique premise. Having these magical unicorns transformed into hideous monsters hellbent on revenge is a creative twist to their usual depiction of beauty and grace. But behind all the horror and carnage lies the foundation of the story, which is about a father/daughter relationship. It’s there that Scharfman finds the movie’s soul, providing meaning to an otherwise frivolous script. In this way, it draws similarities to A24’s Best Picture winner from a couple years ago, “Everything Everywhere All at Once,” which was another fantasy film with familial relationships at its heart. However, that’s where the similarities end with the rookie director making missteps that leave behind plot holes and dramatic predictability.
Scharfman smartly incorporates satire to provide a little humorous entertainment that lands well early in the film but slowly gets abandoned in favor of more frightening elements. As a result, these conflicting concepts lead to a filmgoing experience that is not as funny or as scary as the audience may be hoping for or expecting. The CGI used for the unicorns is not bad, and the surprising amount of gore is not too overwhelming. The director even gives a little nod to the “Alien” franchise by including that same type of radar instrument with identical sounds and tones as the unicorns get closer, familiarly raising those hairs on the back of the neck. Not to mention, there’s that scene showing the unicorn growling in the main character’s face, which is identical to that iconic moment in “Alien³.”
While the characters themselves are nothing special or developed very well, the cast makes up for that with solid performances that bring a little bit of special to the screen. It starts with Jenna Ortega (“Wednesday”), whose youthful ambivalence and contrarian attitude makes her typical monotone line delivery that much more perfect. Then throw in Paul Rudd (“Ant-Man”) as her father, and he provides his usual comedy of awkward indecisiveness that plays well with Ortega’s style. These two won’t win any awards for their performances, but they mesh believably well on the screen.
The supporting cast is solid as well with surprising scene stealing moments from Will Poulter (“We’re the Millers”) and Anthony Carrigan (“Barry”). Both of these actors provide dynamically funny performances as the wealthy, ignorant brat and the resourceful, easily annoyed butler respectively. Also of note is Téa Leoni (“The Family Man”), who hasn’t appeared in a film in 14 years but shows no sign of rust, and Sunita Mani (“Glow”), a comedian/actress who amusingly plays a scientist in over her head.
This movie is a campy fun ride that has a bit of everything. “Death of a Unicorn” will give you some chuckles, some suspense, and even some drama, but for those of you who tend to dislike fantasy, then you will likely loathe this production. If you do enjoy this genre, then the acting performances alone will make this a worthwhile venture to the theater.
This movie earns:
