Over the past decade, A24 has grown from a niche film distributor into an indie powerhouse, racking up award wins and an almost cult-like devotion from its fans and film critics. But in the past couple of years, the company has also had a handful of releases that flopped both critically and commercially. Some of these, like Kyle Mooney’s horror-comedy Y2K, were probably bound to become cult classics after their release.
But Death of a Unicorn, the debut feature from Alex Scharfman, had all the makings of an indie hit. It had a couple of up-and-coming stars in Jenna Ortega and Will Poulter, the multi-generationally adored Paul Rudd, and a can’t-miss premise about killer unicorns on the warpath. Despite this, the film was met with mixed reviews (its Tomatometer score is 53%), and grossed only $16.4 million against its $15 million budget. With the film topping the charts on its new streaming home, HBO Max, it seems like a good time to explore whether it deserved such an initially middling response.
‘Death of a Unicorn’s Scattershot Satire
A24
One of the chief complaints critics had about Death of a Unicorn was that its satiric targets were too broad, and it’s hard to argue with that assessment. The Leopold family, the mega-wealthy tycoons whose mountain getaway serves as the film’s primary setting, is a comically absurd bunch of narcissistic elites: ailing patriarch Odell (Richard E. Grant), his calculating wife Belinda (Téa Leoni), and their spoiled son Shepard (Poulter). From their very first scene, viewers could be forgiven for wanting to see them all gored by unicorns, though Grant, Leoni, and Poulter manage to make them entertainingly loathsome.
The emotional center of the film falls on Ridley (Ortega), dragged along to the Leopolds’ estate by her dad, Elliot (Rudd), who’s trying to prove his loyalty to the family to secure a big promotion. The film manages the seemingly impossible task of making Rudd unlikable for most of its runtime. However, his desire for advancement is understandable after the death of his wife and Ridley’s mother, and his need to provide for her as a now-single dad.
When the Leopolds discover that the horned, equine-like creature Elliot hit with his rental car has magical healing properties, they quickly figure out how to exploit it for their own benefit, using it to heal Odell’s cancer and selling the limited supply to their fellow ailing mega-rich, all while dressing their actions up with a veneer of altruism. Death of a Unicorn certainly isn’t subtle in its skewering of the wealthy’s profit-mongering at the expense of everyone else, but it’s not really meant to be. It’s essentially a gussied-up grindhouse movie, with a bit of a satirical sheen to give some substance to what most people want to see: namely, unicorns eviscerating people.
Why ‘Death of a Unicorn’ Deserved Better
It Deserved More Love at the Box Office
A24
To be clear, this is not meant as a criticism, and the movie is at its most undeniably entertaining when it provides the gory goods. Once the unicorns mount their attack on the Leopolds and their hapless security crew, the movie kicks into gear and starts delivering on the promise of its premise. There’s plenty of gruesome impalements and disembowelings to go around, though the film does occasionally have to pull its punches, mostly for obvious reasons. It’s hard to say if the movie’s sole purpose is to watch unicorns enact bloody revenge, but for a certain type of movie fan, the answer is likely “yes.”
In the popular imagination, unicorns are most often thought of as noble, ethereal beings, but Death of a Unicorn offers a very different version of the legendary creatures. These unicorns may have magical powers, but they’re anything but gentle. The creature designs, which look like something plausibly found in the pages of a medieval bestiary, help reinforce the sense that they’re not to be messed with.
Death of a Unicorn certainly isn’t without its flaws. It’s a bit of a tonal mishmash, bouncing from the earnest sincerity of Ridley and Elliot to the buffoonery of the Leopolds to the gore-streaked action of the latter half. It makes a point about humanity’s hubris in attempting to control and profit from nature, but it’s a little too scattered for the satire to have much sting. Still, it’s better than its middling reviews and tepid box office would suggest.
Grant, Leoni, and Poulter are the type of actors who are pretty much always fun to watch, and Ortega makes for an appealingly grounded counterpoint to all the insanity. The visceral thrills, when they come, are very satisfying. The film likely won’t be up for any Oscars this year, but it’s the kind of movie that A24 doesn’t make very often: one that’s mostly just dumb fun, aimed more at the cheap seats than the art house. In other words, it’s the kind of movie that seems designed for streaming, so it’s no surprise it’s finding an audience there. Death of a Unicorn is streaming now on HBO Max.
3
/5
Release Date
March 27, 2025
Runtime
107 minutes
Director
Alex Scharfman
Writers
Alex Scharfman
Producers
Jacob Epstein, Michael Williams, Paul Rudd, Drew P. Houpt, Lars Knudsen, Lucas Joaquin, Tim Headington, Ari Aster, Jenna Ortega, Tyler Campellone
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