Format: Streaming video from HBO Max on Fire!
It's a fun idea, and clearly one that is going to divert into comedy for at least some of what we’re going to see. A horror movie with unicorns as the creature is, at least on the surface, going to be as scary as the rabbits in Night of the Lepus. What this means is that the film is going to depend on the comedy to work. And, for the most part, it kind of doesn’t. A24 tends to have a better reputation than this, but they can’t all be winners, can they?
I want to like the movies that I watch, and when one doesn’t measure up, I’m disappointed in it. I don’t celebrate bad movies and I don’t have a “so bad it’s good” category. Bad films are just bad films and disappointing films are disappointing. Death of a Unicorn isn’t a terrible film, but it’s not what it could have been. There are some decent horror moments (although the CGI looks rudimentary in places), but the comedy falls flat, except for what comes through Anthony Carrigan.
Attorney Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) head to the Canadian Rockies to spend the weekend with Elliot’s boss Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant), his wife Belinda (Téa Leoni), and their son Sheppard (Will Poulter). As they near the massive estate, Elliot, while distracted, hits an animal with his car. Upon investigation, he and Ridley discover that what they have hit appears to be a unicorn, and it is not dead. Wanting to put it out of its misery, Elliot takes a tire iron to it, splashing blood on himself and his daughter.
Once we get to the estate, we learn a few important things. The Leopolds are 1% of the 1% wealthy, people at the top of the richest people on the planet wealthy. Odell is very sick and close to dying, and this is why Elliot has come—he is going to be instrumental in taking care of the vast family fortune once Odell dies. But, perhaps he won’t die—the unicorn’s blood seems to have some substantial powers. Being splashed with it clears up Ridley’s acne, causes Elliot to no longer need glasses and also cures his allergies. And so soon enough Odell is cured and scientists are coming in to figure out how to monetize the dead unicorn.
It's Ridley who will be the voice of reason throughout the film—a little research shows her what no one else wants to understand—that the unicorns heal themselves just as their blood and horns heal others. The ancient stories and myths are true regarding everything else about the unicorns as well, including that they can be placated by a pure-hearted maiden (and you can see where this is going).
Why is it going there? Because the unicorn may not actually be dead for one thing, and because it's a small unicorn—a baby—and its parents are out in the woods and not happy about what has happened to their child.
Death of a Unicorn is a fun idea for a film, but it’s not executed that well. We’ll get a little gore, but without a lot of cause for it. There’s a scare or two, but nothing that surprising. The plot really goes in the only direction in can, and the fun of the film is really only in watching some of these horrible people die. Well, that and the work of Anthony Carrigan, who has the best lines, the best expressions, and appears to be having the best time.
I wanted to like this film a lot. The cast is a good one top to bottom, and the idea is just weird enough that it could be a lot of fun if it was done well. Honestly, what it really needed was a plot that didn’t feel like it came on train tracks and digital effects that didn’t look like they came from 2002.
Why to watch Death of a Unicorn: Anthony Carrigan has some fantastic deadpan lines.
Why not to watch: It doesn’t live up to its potential and the effects are awful.
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