Film Review: DEATH OF A UNICORN (2025): A24’s Latest Film Stumbles Out of the Gate Though it Could Please Offbeat Horror Movie Fans
Death of a Unicorn Review
Death of a Unicorn (2025) Film Review, a movie written and directed by Alex Scharfman and starring Jenna Ortega, Paul Rudd, David Pasquesi, Anthony Carrigan, Richard E. Grant, Téa Leoni, Will Poulter, Jessica Hynes, Kathryn Erbe, Sunita Mani, Steve Park, Nick Wittman, Christine Grace Szarko and Tasha Lawrence.
Death of a Unicorn is the latest A24 offbeat horror movie and one of its executive producers is none other than Ari Aster of Midsommar fame. I didn’t know Aster was involved in this film until I saw his name at the end credits and that made me dislike Death of a Unicorn even more than I already did. Aster is such a talented filmmaker that the fact that he oversaw the production of this new mediocre film is a shocker. Let’s give the writer and director, Alex Scharfman, a mention, too, because he pretty much dropped the ball by making Death of a Unicorn feel more like Jurassic Park than a true horror movie.
Unicorns are fascinating creatures and seeing them maul and kill people could have been interesting, but in Scharfman’s overly gory film, everything is pretty much orchestrated like an R-rated Jurassic Park, including the inclusion of supplementary characters who the audience will care nothing about and who serve as little more than simply killer unicorn bait.
This film opens by introducing its solidly constructed lead characters. Jenna Ortega plays Ridley and her dad, Elliot, is played by Paul Rudd. These characters are most likely named after science fiction film director, Ridley Scott and Henry Thomas’s character from E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. That’s a really cute touch. Ridley is the typical rebellious teenage girl right down to her Converse sneakers. She doesn’t particularly get along well with Elliot who accidentally lets her hit her head on a seat while they’re on an airplane together. Ridley and Elliot will bond over the course of the picture, but the movie exists for its creatures rather than for its humans and viewers will soon figure that out.
Elliot hits a mystical-looking unicorn with his car. Unicorns are magical creatures but, here, they’re exploited, one of their horns are cut off and they’re treated horribly. No wonder they turn against humans with a vengeance. This film has a jam-packed list of supporting players who will pay the price for the mistreatment of unicorns throughout the picture. Richard E. Grant is the most memorable co-star in the picture because he has, perhaps, the best death sequence in the picture. It’s hard to judge a movie by its death scenes because the plot should be compelling enough to make those unicorn “kill” parts of the story line complementary, but this picture is clearly on a mission to kill off some key characters and that’s how the plot is developed through the whole entire film. It takes us from the death of character A to the death of character B and so on and so forth.
Téa Leoni portrays Belinda here and she seems to be making her lines up as she goes along. Though Scharfman is credited as the writer of Death of a Unicorn, I wouldn’t be surprised if many of the actors made their lines up. I could be wrong, but the flow of the dialogue doesn’t seem like it has any rhyme or reason and the performers seem to be going along with the story and trying to make it more interesting. They don’t. Will Poulter, Anthony Carrigan and David Pasquesi all are cast in this movie, but despite reveling in their attempts at humor, they come off as characters we want to see the unicorns kill. Perhaps, this is the intention of the filmmakers, but more likable supporting players could have improved this movie significantly.
Ortega is certainly likable to a point. She is easy to sympathize with given the wonder and excitement of her predicament, but we’re lost in the middle of the story between her and her dad, Elliot. We’re only given so much information to put together the nature of their bond and Rudd seems to be telephoning some of his lines in when interacting with Ortega in the movie. It’s almost like Rudd filmed his close-ups without Ortega even in the same vicinity.
That being said, this is a creature feature and the unicorns are properly created on-screen, almost enough to make them visually intriguing and vicious enough to provoke fear in the audience’s hearts. We don’t know if a specific unicorn is going to be friendly or monstrous. Scene after scene, tension is created which ups the suspense factor considerably. On the other hand, after Richard E. Grant’s character, Odell, dies in a creative way, it’s all downhill from there. This movie’s ending is a letdown and leaves the door wide open for a sequel. I wouldn’t mind one, but only if it was better than this movie by far.
Death of a Unicorn is a movie rarity: A film with teenage appeal that is not for teenagers. Ortega makes it stand out from the pack thanks to her very presence in the picture. However, her acting is usually only on-point when she interacts with the unicorns rather than with the people in the picture. Rudd’s casting would seem inspired, but he’s just going through the motions in a movie that feels rushed off the assembly line to cash in on the success of the more recent Jurassic World movies.
A24 hit it big for me recently with Opus which I really enjoyed. That movie was inspired by Ari Aster’s work or so it felt that way. Aster executive produced Death of a Unicorn and it seems the only reason he did that was to give an obscurity factor to a pretty run-of-the-mill horror film. It’s a close call, but I’m going to say pass on this one.
Rating: 5.5/10
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