Death of a Unicorn

I watched an advanced screening of Death of a Unicorn (2025) this evening in theaters. The storyline follows a lawyer and his daughter on their way to his boss's mansion, where he hopes to secure a major promotion. However, when they accidentally hit and kill a unicorn on the drive there, what was supposed to be a routine business trip takes a bizarre and deadly turn.

Written and directed by Alex Scharfman in his feature debut, the film stars Jenna Ortega (Wednesday), Paul Rudd (Ant-Man), Anthony Carrigan (Gotham), Téa Leoni (Jurassic Park III), Will Poulter (The Maze Runner), and Richard E. Grant (Gosford Park).

This is the definition of Hollywood horror-slick, well-produced, and predictable. The writing has some unique elements but also reminded me of Resident Evil in terms of its sci-fi horror aspects. The CGI is top-notch, and the gore is well-executed, though at times it's a bit overdone. The horror elements are solid, with some entertaining kills and at least one effective jump scare. The cast is excellent across the board, but Anthony Carrigan, as Griff, steals the show. I wasn't a big fan of the ending, but it fits the Hollywood horror formula.

In conclusion, Death of a Unicorn is entertaining enough to keep your attention but won't make anyone's best horror list for 2025. I'd score it a 6/10 and recommend seeing it once.

This is movie that without any high expectations delivers. The actors are familiar, fun to watch, and each has their fun moments. Jenna Ortega does well carrying the center and works well with Rudd, who plays himself basically. Carrigan is totally underutilized, his facial expressions from his character are pretty much many of the best parts, Pouter does well also. That being said, there was only so much to do with the outline. It had to go harder in either direction honestly to level up. I would have liked it to up the crazy and absurdity all around, it's a movie about unicorns in modern life so why hold back, ratchet it up.

The film is full of whys. Why does comedy exist in an atmosphere that could have been both mysterious and scary, but has turned into a ridiculous satire? Why does the story focus more on the characters' stupidity than on the development of the story and the origin of the unicorn legend?

If a horror film that is rated R, which is not meant for children, tries to make comedy by showing the clumsiness of the characters, it is actually committing suicide, as far as I can tell.

And many other whys, the most important of which is the poor CGI and the unoriginal design of the unicorn itself. Why does the male unicorn look like a dragon from "Game of Thrones" in profile and a donkey from "Shrek" from the front?!

A good R-rated YA novel with laughs and themes of human weakness. Presentation of the Unicorns needed better animation or more practical substitutes and finesse. Less could've been more since many of the deaths ended up being boring and predictable.

However, I do recommend you see it on the big screen. Sound design, set design and some of these big performances still deserve it. The hot-tub nepo-baby was funny(Poulter) And a certain heroic butler roll was made larger by its actor (Carrigan).

This may not apply to you, but I also found the very end confusing. Seems like someone wrote a cover-up for the first ending they didn't like.

I came to this movie without having watched a trailer. The movie does take a bit of time to set the pieces up for the déroulement of the main story. The issue is that the movie has a few continuity problems, which is due to the fact that the movie has essentially three locations, not counting the airplane in the intro: the woods (and it's surrounding), outside the mansion, inside the mansion. This means that during the rampage, there are times where the unicorn must have taken a coffee break or something because its night time in one scene and the the very next one its midmorning.

I did enjoy Anthony Carrigan's performance as well as Jenna Ortega's.

I won't be too harsh on this movie since it doesn't take itself seriously and all the actors know that but they express their flaws quite brilliantly.