By George & Josh Bate
A24 has crafted a reputation for offbeat, unusual, and well-made movies. The independent film production and distribution company regularly oversees films that break from convention of what mainstream Hollywood movies entail, featuring strange premises, controversial topics and themes, and singular filmmaking. This approach has taken the industry by storm in the 12 years since the company was founded, with films like Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Witch, Hereditary, and Uncut Gems earning universal acclaim, box office success while adding much needed novelty to the landscape of cinema. On the surface, the latest A24 film Death of a Unicorn promises to possess the same kind of uncanny singularity that makes the company’s productions standout so greatly, but, surprisingly, the film ultimately plays out more like a generic mainstream movie, one that entertains yet never amazes.
Marking the feature directorial debut of Alex Scharfman, Death of a Unicorn stars Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as father-daughter duo Elliot and Ridley. The two are making their way to the remote mansion of Elliot’s boss Odell Leopold (played by Richard E. Grant) when they accidentally hit a unicorn with their car. After bringing the dead unicorn to Odell and his family, the group soon discover that the unicorn has healing properties and subsequently hope to exploit the unicorn for personal gain. What they don’t realize is that the unicorn is not actually dead and that its unicorn parents are coming to slaughter the humans that hurt their child.
Death of a Unicorn is a sociopolitical horror comedy that is overly broad and surface-level with its social commentary, ineffective and lacking in scares as a horror film, and flat with its humor. Once the creative premise sets in, the film unfolds like a generic monster movie, except the monster of choice here is a unicorn. As a contained survival thriller, Scharfman’s picture works in fostering tension and moderate investment in the characters, although one can’t help but notice the startling lack of novelty on display. At every corner, Death of a Unicorn plays it safe, seemingly aiming to be a mainstream crowd-pleaser while disappointingly missing the mark of what makes a film a true crowd-pleaser.
Death of a Unicorn’s attempts at satire and social commentary prove to be far too broad and on the nose. After recognizing that the ‘dead’ unicorn can be used to heal people and even cure cancer, the Leopold family (played by Richard E. Grant, Will Poulter, and Téa Leoni) take full advantage of the situation, quickly trying to sell the unicorn’s blood to the highest bidder. There is certainly a desire to critique and poke fun at the ultra-wealthy, their unrelenting pursuit of profit, and exploitation of nature, but, without much nuance or wit, this one-note commentary leaves little impact. That being said, a message encouraging veganism and condemning animal cruelty and exploitation, while simplistic, makes more of an impression.
The humor in the film, which largely surrounds the satire and social commentary of the wealthy, similarly falls flat. Startlingly flew jokes land in a film filled to the brim with seemingly endless attempts to elicit laughs. A script lacking in sharpness fails to take advantage of the comedic talents of the impressive ensemble, in particular Paul Rudd and Will Poulter, who are a far cry from their comedic bests due to the subpar writing (although Richard E. Grant proves to be a standout in the cast). Beyond dull one-liners and gags, the film’s core joke – unicorns killing rich people – also disappoints and fails to sustain itself for the runtime. Vicious unicorns slaughtering callous wealthy people sounds like an effective quip on paper, but it runs out of steam quickly and is never as funny as the filmmakers intend.
On a more positive note, Death of a Unicorn plays with unicorn lore in an interesting way. Scharman’s film leans into the more destructive nature of unicorn mythology, while still retaining what makes these fictional creatures so magical and alluring. Although more could have been done to deepen this lore and explain the unicorns’ presence in the film, there is a sense of intrigue that comes from learning more about these creatures, their healing properties, and motivations.
The unicorns themselves, meanwhile, are excellently designed, striking a balance between beautiful and terrifying. While close-ups of the creatures are particularly effective, unfortunately, a number of CGI wide shots of the unicorns are unpolished and take one out of the movie at times. This is likely attributed to budget limitations given that A24 movies are not known for their sizable production budgets, so giving some slack to the visual effects feels warranted.
At the heart of the story is the father-daughter relationship between Paul Rudd’s Elliot and Jenna Ortega’s Ridley. What initially plays as a mundane exchange between a moody teenager and an awkward father is eventually afforded more emotional depth as the film progresses. Elliot and Ridley are both grieving the loss of Elliot’s wife / Ridley’s mom and struggle to come to terms with one another in its aftermath. Over the course of the film though, Elliot and Ridley’s relationship endearingly evolves and converges on an unexpectedly touching conclusion.
VERDICT: 6.5/10
Despite its creative premise and A24’s reputation for convention-breaking productions, Death of a Unicorn plays out in disappointingly mundane fashion as arguably more of a mainstream outing than anything the independent film company has released to date. Broad and on-the-nose satire and social commentary about the wealthy and their unrelenting pursuit of wealth lacks wit and nuance to leave a lasting impression, while almost the entirety of the accompanying humor, including the core joke of unicorns killing rich people, similarly falls flat. As a survival thriller / monster movie, the film packs decent, albeit uninspiring, tension and suspense. Excellently designed unicorns, at times brought down by poor CGI, are coupled with some intriguing unicorn lore. Most successful, however, is the film’s father-daughter relationship between Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega’s characters, which overcomes a generic setup to become surprisingly heartfelt by its conclusion. Over the 12 years since its inception, A24 has earned praise for its desire to push the boundaries of filmmaking by crafting uncomfortable, unusual, and, at times, controversial films. With Death of a Unicorn, A24 loses touch with what makes it such a singularly captivating film production and distribution company by delivering a disappointingly mainstream movie that fails to take advantage of an innovative, uncanny premise. Despite failing to amaze and break convention, Alex Scharfman’s feature directorial debut is light entertainment capped off by a nice emotional touch.