As a society, we always strive for the next technological advancement in anything. However, it is frowned upon to experiment on humans to achieve these advancements, specifically in skincare and whatnot. That said, as we tend to see animals as lesser species, they get used to said experiments. This is the basis for the Horror Comedy Death of a Unicorn.
Released March 28, 2025, through A24, Death of a Unicorn was written and directed by Alex Scharfman in his feature directorial debut. The movie stars Paul Rudd (I Love You, Man 2009, Ant-Man 2015), as Elliot Kintner, Ridley’s widowed father, Jenna Ortega (Scream 2022, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice 2024), as Ridley Kintner, Will Poulter (We’re the Millers 2013, The Bear series), as Shepard Leopold, Odell’s son, Téa Leoni (Deep Impact 1998, Madam Secretary series) as Belinda Leopold, Odell’s wife, Richard E. Grant (Withnail and I 1987, Gosford Park 2001), and Kathryn Erbe (Stir of Echoes 1999, Oz series) as the voice of The Unicorn Tapestries’s narrator.
A father (Rudd) and daughter (Ortaga) accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties.
Jenna Ortega has made a career of playing angsty, with a dark bent, but with a sense of integrity, late teen characters since coming on the movie scene in 2013’s Iron Man 3, with last year’s turn as Lydia’s jaded daughter, Astrid, in Beetlejuice. In Death of a Unicorn, Ortega’s Ridley is withdrawn from an unrecognizable Paul Rudd, who, as of late, has played healthier-looking characters, as her widowed father. They are bickering, not paying attention to the road, and hit what they find out is a unicorn, but it is just mortally wounded.
Of course, they investigate, and Ridley has an epiphany while touching the dying animal before getting yanked out of her trance when her dad puts it out of its misery. Not knowing what to do, they load the unicorn into their ride and bring it with them. On the way, while they are now arguing about hitting the unicorn, Ridley’s acne miraculously disappears.
With the one sequence, themes of greed and exploitation by the wealthy where the ultra-rich Leopold family and their immediate desire to exploit the magical healing properties of the unicorn satirizing the greed and entitlement of the one percent and pharmaceutical industries showcasing their detachment from morality with how easily they turn the unicorn, a mythical creature often associated with purity and healing into a commodity to be harvested and sold for profit, highlighting humanity’s tendency to exploit even the most wondrous aspects of nature, or thinking it is lesser. Ridley’s the moral compass here, even in, and maybe because of, her grieving the loss of her mother.
However, nature is not just passive. There will be revenge and consequences. You will have to see how that plays out. Given that, Death of a Unicorn subverts the myth and expectations of what we think of “docile” unicorns (and any other creature other than us) we have been fed, presenting them as primal, dangerous creatures when done wrong.
Death of a Unicorn is a Dark Comedy that is all in with Richard E. Grant, who, like Jack Nicholson, even in his relaxed face, looks off, does social commentary in the way the wealthy elite try to capitalize on the newest magic (literally) cure, leading to often gory and over-the-top situations. What grounds the movie, like the recently released Heart Eyes, is its heart. With Ridley’s and her dad’s combined loss and trying to connect or reconnect with family, and with Ridley’s innate sense of morality, Death of a Unicorn could even be considered cute.
Horror is looked down on as the red-headed stepchild of genres in film, especially now with the focus on gore. Although looking deeper, it is turning the microscope on ourselves, which, when faced with our reflections, is like getting told by the mirror in Snow White… and is scary. That is why Cryptic Rock gives Death of a Unicorn 4.5 out of 5 stars.
){kind=link}
No comment