Death of a Unicorn (dir. Alex Scharfman)

by Jack Martin | Apr 2, 2025

Certificate: 15

Running Time: 108 mins

UK Distributor: Entertainment Film Distributors

UK Release Date: 4 April 2025

WHO’S IN DEATH OF A UNICORN?

Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, Jessica Hynes, Steve Park

WHO’S BEHIND THE CAMERA?

Alex Scharfman (director, writer, producer), Tyler Campellone, Tim Headington, Drew Houpt, Lucas Joaquin, Lars Knudsen and Theresa Steele Page (producers), Giosuè Greco and Dan Romer (composers), Larry Fong (cinematographer), Ron Dulin (editor)

WHAT’S IT ABOUT?

A vengeful unicorn goes after the pharmaceutical tycoons that have acquired one of its own…

WHAT ARE MY THOUGHTS ON DEATH OF A UNICORN?

There may be a new Jurassic World movie out later this year, but unless it truly surprises (and with Gareth Edwards at the helm, not to mention no Colin Trevorrow or Chris Pratt in sight, it very well could) there’s little chance it can be as enjoyable as Death of a Unicorn, a movie that takes the basic core theme of the entire Jurassic Park franchise – that being man’s misguided attempt to mess with elements of nature that shouldn’t be messed with – and not only compacts it into a more palatable runtime but also does what all barring the original Spielberg classic couldn’t do and actually make it fun to watch.

That isn’t to say that writer-director Alex Scharfman’s film is an entirely fresh creation. It doesn’t really have much to say beyond what the Jurassic Park/World movies have been preaching for over thirty years, and its satirical commentary on the greed of corporate America is as blatant as they come. But what Death of a Unicorn lacks in originality is made up for with an entertainingly dark ride that contains plenty of funny moments, gruesome violence, and Will Poulter being a dick to people whilst wearing tight swim-shorts. There really is something for everyone here, even when it doesn’t entirely work.

The film begins with Elliot (Paul Rudd), a solicitor for the wealthy Leopold pharmaceutical dynasty, driving to his employers’ remote mansion with his teenage daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) reluctantly in tow, when all of a sudden, the two of them hit an animal that’s wandered onto the road. Except, it’s no mere animal: it’s only a bloomin’ unicorn, long pointy horn and everything. But before Ridley can understand its secrets, Elliot bludgeons the poor thing to death, stuffs it in the car, and continues on to the mansion. Once there, the Leopolds – cancer-ridden tycoon Odell (Richard E. Grant), his vapid wife Belinda (Téa Leoni) and their entitled son Shepard (Poulter) – discover the unicorn and learn that it carries miraculous healing tendencies in its horn and purple blood, so of course they seize the opportunity to capitalise on the mythical creature as quickly as possible. As even Elliot is swept up in the lucrative promise of making money off this dead unicorn, Ridley’s growing concerns fall on deaf ears – until a much larger and more vicious unicorn, seeking its baby, arrives on the scene.

Given the absurd premise, not to mention the fact that it’s called Death of a Unicorn, Scharfman’s angle toward a horror-comedy route is an appropriate one, for something of this nature can’t really be taken too seriously, even with a distributor like A24 involved. The director packs a lot of humour into how egregiously self-serving and opportunistic this wealthy family is, and the lengths they’re willing to go in order to remain at the very front of their penny-pinching industry (there’s a faint irony that the film takes place in the mountains of Canada, a country known for its universal healthcare, something that the very American Leopolds would probably have a brain aneurism trying to comprehend). Much of it is very amusing, if never laugh-out-loud funny, as Scharfman paints them as such caricatures that you almost enjoy what horrible things they’ll say or do next to convince themselves they’re in the right, and the actors – especially Poulter, who steals every scene he’s in with impeccable comedic timing – elevate the material that brings out their inhumanity even further.

However, those hoping that Death of a Unicorn offers something beyond the obvious messages and creature-feature carnage may leave underwhelmed. The comparisons to Jurassic Park are apt, for aside from the similar themes and even a few identical character archetypes, the film boils down to the same simple B-movie premise, albeit one that happens to have a unicorn substitute for the dinosaurs, making it feel overly familiar. You’ll have the standard sequences where the deadly creature stalks its human targets through dark corridors and woodland areas, as well as the obligatory moment when the sole voice of reason (in this case, it’s Jenna Ortega, who’s also very good here) tries and fails to make her case for why her elders shouldn’t be doing the thing they very obviously shouldn’t be doing. It’s a script that tends to rely solely on its central idea of murderous unicorns rather than expand on the narrative possibilities that come from it, which is hard to feel too mad about because it’s still better than anything in the last two Jurassic World movies, but it’s no less disappointing that more risks weren’t taken on this project.

While it doesn’t quite come together as much as it could have done, Death of a Unicorn has enough fun moments to act as a serviceable viewing experience. You can get some decent chuckles out of the horridness of these rich ghouls, particularly as Poulter becomes ever more crazed after snorting the shavings of a unicorn’s horn, and the violence gets quite gruesome in places, though sometimes they are undermined by some questionable CGI. It may have an eat-the-rich satire goes no deeper than a single hundred-dollar bill, nor does it entirely shake off the feeling that it’s Jurassic Park-lite, but credit to the filmmakers for trying to make the film as entertaining as they possibly could, and in that respect, they did their job admirably, even if it never becomes truly great.

But again, it’s still better than Fallen Kingdom and Dominion combined. It’s a low bar, but even still.

SO, TO SUM UP…

Death of a Unicorn is an amusing horror-comedy that offers enough entertainment and chuckle-worthy if not especially fresh satire to make up for its overly familiar Jurassic Park-style template.