Death of a Unicorn (2025)

Death of a Unicorn is a big swing for its director's feature film debut. It leans into dark comedy and gruesome effects while telling a rather on the nose story about class and capitalism with a somewhat rote father/daughter arc at its centre. It smooths over a lot of its weaknesses by being a lot of fun and keeping its story going at a breakneck pace so it ends up being very watchable. 

I never bought the family dynamics at the heart of Death of a Unicorn which I think is the biggest part of why this film didn't knock it out of the park. The social satire is rather thinly drawn too with the rich pharmaceutical company owning family being very stereotypical and without any depth at all. The script doesn't seem to understand complications or nuances and instead just relies on our preconceived notions of who people are, good and bad. I was okay with the film throwing away any realistic depiction of the unicorn's healing ability (cause the unicorn is all symbolism anyway) so the fact that all this scientific breakthroughs could happen it the matter of hours was reasonable suspension of disbelief. However the film's inability to create realistic human relationships was the main sticking point for me. 

However I forgave most of that because of how much fun it was. Scharfman sets up his story quickly, puts the pedal to the metal, and doesn't let up. We never get a chance to get bored. Schartman's main talent on display here is his crafting of horror comedy, which is less about being "scary" (the closest that comes to is some jump scares), and more about being gory. This is one of those horror stories where people get punished for their sins and people who act out of goodness get rewarded. The unicorns represent this and pick and choose who is brutally ripped apart and who get to be spared, or maybe even resurrected. 

And perhaps that's another issue I had with the film. Yes it's fantasy so perhaps in fantasy people shouldn't get away with their crimes against humanity. But it doesn't feel very honest. In the real world the rich do get richer off the backs of those they exploit. There aren't any unicorns running around to put things right. Maybe this film is more aspirational than honest. But as the film neatly wrapped up its little morality play I felt a little let down. Only the very last scene gave me some hope the film wasn't going to completely simplify things. 

Still, I can't say I didn't enjoy myself. The film follows such a satisfying and basic horror film structure that pays off on a visceral level. The gore is handled well too, while being graphic it remains a bit cartoony so it isn't so disturbing and is instead, symbolic; it is about making a point rather than luxuriating in violence. All in all Death of a Unicorn has classic horror movie morality vibes and succeeds at that even if it cuts corners on character and story. 

Death of a Unicorn

Starring: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, Anthony Carrigan

Writer/Director: Alex Scharfman