Death of a Unicorn (2025)
Death of a Unicorn (2025)
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I would support an FYC campaign for Avy Kaufman, a legend in the industry who completely nails every role in the fun and gruesome "Death of a Unicorn," if they were to award an Oscar this year for casting directors—which they absolutely ought to do. The script by Alex Scharfman, who also works as a director, is clever, but this really feels like the kind of project that falls apart when the wrong people are involved. Every member of this film’s ensemble understood the assignment, elevating this unique creature feature from just another disposable “Jurassic Park” riff into something memorable through their comic timing and group chemistry.
Richard E.'s ability to deliver a punchline to Téa Leoni In "Death of a Unicorn," a film that recalls monster flicks from the 1970s and 1980s with brutal quality kills woven into a tapestry of social commentary and funny characters, there is great joy in just watching this group of performers do their thing. Grant's remarkable exuberance to what Anthony Carrigan can do with just a glance is what makes this movie so enjoyable. As the film opens, Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) is off to a massive estate in the Rockies to become a legal liaison for a pharmaceutical company head named Odell Leopold (Grant), whose cancer appears to be in its final stages. Kintner will help with the final days of a billionaire, someone whose name is on the massive wilderness retreat that he drives through with his daughter, Ridley (Jenna Ortega). As they discuss how their issues have been exacerbated by the recent loss of Ridley’s mother to disease, Elliot battles his seasonal allergies. A fiery argument and a vicious sneeze result in a collision with a unicorn-like creature crossing the street. Elliot initially believes that by first braining the animal with a tire iron to put it out of its misery and then transporting it in their vehicle, they can conceal the incident from the Leopolds. After their meeting with the Leopolds, he will bury it. But even he notices that the purple unicorn blood did something unusual, fixing Elliot’s sinus issues and clearing Ridley’s acne. When the Leopolds discover what’s going on, they move quickly to utilize the dead animal’s blood and horn for its curative properties, eliminating Odell’s cancer. Small problem? Not only is the creature not completely dead, but it also has family members who are extremely enraged and are looking for it. “Death of a Unicorn” was clearly inspired by “Jurassic Park”—I swear there’s even a music cue nod late in the film during a sequence that recalls the raptor attack—in both its structure and theme. It’s a story that Michael Crichton would have dug, one about the wealthy ignoring not only the signs in front of them but the history and the mythology of this world. Ridley is the one who looks into stories about unicorns when things go wrong and finds that they were often thought to be more T. compared to My Little Pony Scharfman’s script develops into a clever battle of incongruous goals, with Ridley trying to correct the error of that inciting incident while the Leopolds seek to profit off it at any cost.
The wealthy view everything, even what others consider impossible, as a means of profit, but if you dig deep enough, there is a slightly undercooked commentary here. To the casting again. Rudd is essentially the straight man for the larger personalities in his immediate environment; however, he is adept at conveying the instantaneity of the chaos from moment to moment. Will Poulter as the obnoxious heir to the Leopold throne is likely to be the standout for the majority of viewers. Grant is typically excellent, and it is truly entertaining to see Leoni given the opportunity to remind viewers of her timing. He is the kind of wealthy kid who jumps at the chance to get as high as possible on the unicorn supply and owns a compound bow, which you already know he has used to hunt illegally. He is a model of the self-centered elite, an opportunist with endless opportunities who sees something unimaginable and asks what it can do for them. Also deserves praise is "Barry" star Carrigan, who plays Griff, the servant, with such wonderful world-weariness that he always makes people laugh.
“Death of a Unicorn” doesn’t connect all its thematic dots. Most of all, some of the material involving Ridley and Elliot’s grief feels shallow, a way to inject emotion into a flick that could have been a pure survival tale between the haves and the have-nots. Even worse, the CGI is so janky in the first half that I wondered if the film was even complete at its SXSW premiere. It feels like they saved much of the VFX budget for the final act when the unicorns look more tactile and are less like animated visions. It’s kind of insane to consider how the industry move to CGI has resulted in a creature feature that doesn’t look as realistic as “Jurassic Park” did over three decades ago. I wished I felt the same way about the unicorns here because the love and care that went into the creation of that masterpiece contributes to its wonder.
Having said that, I didn't really care about "Death of a Unicorn's" visual flaws because it basically turns into a John Carpenter slasher movie with unicorns instead of Michael Myers. It’s silly fun at a time when it feels like we could all use an escape. And maybe a reminder to not mess with things we don’t completely understand.
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