By Beth Rayner, Third Year, English Literature
Death of a Unicorn (2025) is a valiant attempt by A24 to create a thriller and make a horse scary. Not that there’s no such thing as mythical scary horses; but it doesn’t help that unicorns often seen as gentle healing creatures. Safe to say, the unicorns in Death of a Unicorn prove themselves as capable of a bloodlust not typically associated with their legend.
The film follows teen girl Riley (Jenna Ortega), who has been dragged on a business trip by her father Elliot (Paul Rudd). Riley’s presence on the trip comes as an attempt to curry favour with Elliot’s boss, Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant), by proving his commitment to family values. But their journey takes a literal bump in the road when they crash into a unicorn foal. This prompts the beginning of a dilemma, as the foals' healing properties are quickly discovered, and exploited, by the Leopold family. But the characters aren’t the only ones interested in the unicorn. The unicorn parents are out there too, and they don’t take too kindly to their horse-napped child.
'From the first introduction the plot arch felt predictable, and by the end this was proved right'
Killer unicorns is the main attraction of the film, with its taglines of ‘They're going to make a killing’ and ‘Payback is a beast’. Thus the audience is given very specific expectations, ones which the film was only too happy to live up to. The most effective ‘horror’ in this horror-comedy came from the sheer level of rampaging unicorn-caused gore. ‘Payback’ came in the form of some pretty brutal impalements, as well as one disturbingly drawn out disembowelment.
Apart from the gore, the rest of the film didn’t quite have the same scare-factor - the CGI for the unicorns was offputtingly bad, whilst the attempted jump scares did not succeed. To return to the gore – the film took enjoyment from its shock factor. This was apparent from the start, where Riley, is interrupted from a unicorn granted vision by her father, in a seemingly inexplicable act of violence, bludgeoning the injured foal with an iron. The beauty of the cosmic vision versus the sudden return to reality in the form of a blood splattered Riley made for an effective juxtaposition. It encapsulated the premise of the film itself – the subversion of the audience’s expectations for what unicorns should be by giving them a dark and violent side.
The film played it safe with their antagonists – greedy capitalists hoarding resources for their own selfish gain. From their first introduction their plot arch felt predictable, and by the end this was proved right. Jenna Ortega’s role as the typical ‘rebel teen’ was also nothing new for the actress. The character of Elliot was a little more complicated. Over the course of the film he repeatedly failed at the mark, battling with his opposing desires to be a good father or to suck up to his employers.
Despite its slightly formulaic nature, the film still managed to make me laugh. Its comedy aspect was greatly helped by the character of Shepard Leopold (Will Poulter). His role as the spoilt billionaires’ son contained many great one-liners, such as, in regards to the revelation that the unicorn’s horn has the power to cure cancer, 'that’s the big one!'
From the start, the film lost its momentum, as without unicorn-gore, there wasn’t much else to sustain it. The action came and went in waves, leading the ending to feel almost a little odd, the consequences of Elliot’s death only momentary before his almost instantaneous revival. With such an abrupt end to the this film, one can't help to think it is the failed attempt of some sort of cliffhanger.
So, overall, would I recommend to others? This choice to centre a horror film around the subject of unicorns is certainly unique, adding to its originality. Yet despite this premise, the film was nothing we haven't seen in another form before, but maybe I should leave it up to you to decide!
Featured Image: IMDB /Death of a Unicorn
What sort of thrillers do you want to see A24 do next?
