Death of a Unicorn is a wickedly inventive blend of horror, dark comedy, and modern fairy tale, featuring Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega as a father-daughter duo whose accidental encounter with a mythical creature spirals into a nightmarish, satirical bloodbath.
Plot Overview
The film follows Elliot Kintner and his teenage daughter Ridley, whose road to a weekend at Elliot’s boss’s luxurious estate takes a surreal turn when they accidentally strike and kill a baby unicorn with their car. Touching the unicorn’s horn gives Ridley strange visionary experiences, and the unicorn’s blood nearly miraculously cures Elliot’s ailments and Ridley’s acne. When their secret gets out, the estate’s owner, Odell Leopold, and his greedy inner circle discover the unicorn’s incredible healing powers and set out to exploit its remains for fortune and medical breakthroughs.
However, corporate ambition quickly meets nature’s wrath. The unicorn’s parents—a pair of terrifying, full-grown magical creatures—arrive to avenge their young, unleashing mayhem, violence, and carnage on the would-be profiteers. As the body count spikes, Elliot and Ridley struggle to survive, navigate betrayals, and confront the consequences of their fateful accident.
Performances & Direction
Paul Rudd anchors the chaos with a perfectly calibrated performance, balancing panic, remorse, and deadpan wit. Jenna Ortega’s Ridley is deeply relatable, veering between terror and wonder as she struggles with both adolescent issues and supernatural trauma. The supporting cast, including Richard E. Grant as the ruthless Odell, deliver their roles with gusto, making even the most outlandish plot twists feel plausible in this absurdist world.
Directors skillfully blend gruesome horror with sly humor and a splash of cosmic weirdness. The attack set pieces are shocking yet inventive, and the magical realism is used to advance themes of greed and innocence lost.
What Sets it Apart
Death of a Unicorn smartly flips the script on the “monster in the woods” trope by forcing the humans into the role of monsters—exposing not just the comic excesses of the rich, but the real-world consequences of exploiting nature for profit. Underneath the unicorn gore and corporate satire, the film explores grief, familial bonds, and what happens when the pursuit of miracles turns monstrous.youtube
Final Verdict
Bold, bizarre, and unafraid to mess with audience expectations, Death of a Unicorn is a bloody good time for viewers looking for something defiantly different in the horror-comedy landscape. It blends social commentary with fairy-tale horror, landing with a wild and poignant finish that doesn’t let its characters—or viewers—off easily.
⭐ Rating: 4/5 — Morbidly magical, unexpectedly moving, and completely unforgettable.