Despite the title DEATH OF A UNICORN, it isn’t too long into the new, darkly comic horror film that one realizes that its title is a misnomer. Reports of the title character’s death turn out to be greatly exaggerated in the latest from writer/director Alex Scharfman, even though corporate lawyer Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) swears the creature was deceased after he accidentally mowed it down with his car. Of course, where would the fun be in such a film if a mythical beast couldn’t act mythical and say, come back from the dead? The hijinks that ensue after it’s resurrected are quite a hoot, even if the movie goes on too long and has tonal issues in its third act. Still, there’s a lot to enjoy until those missteps.
The story starts with Elliot and his grumpy daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) driving up a mountainous path to join his rich boss and family for a weekend sojourn. Elliot is anxious to sign a contract bringing him into his boss’s inner circle so he and his daughter can be financially set for life. That’s especially important to him as he nearly went bankrupt having to pay for all of his wife’s medical treatments in her valiant but futile battle with death. His greed doesn’t sit well with the combative Ridley whose face acne symbolizes her angst. When they get to the elaborate estate in the woods, the girl discovers that the unicorn blood that splattered on her face has cleared up her complexion. She and her dad also realize that the carcass they’ve hidden in their rental car is still alive and literally kicking.
It’s not surprising that a living, breathing unicorn would impress anyone let alone Elliott’s boss Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant). He’s a smug one-percenter, tossing about power and putdowns with equal aplomb even though he’s dying and confined to a wheelchair. Realizing that the beast has healing powers, Odell uses such properties for his own restoration and soon he’s up and about acting like his old self again. But before long, Odell is crafting ways to exploit the beast’s curative properties, and he’s joined in such plotting by his spoiled wife Belinda (Tea Leoni), and callous son Shepard (Will Poulter).
Such greed sits badly with Ridley, but her cowardly pop sides with his employer. Soon enough, he’s helping Odell’s staff subdue the creature further so that they may saw off its horns for restorative purposes. But then questions of propriety are trumped by the need to survive as the baby unicorn’s angry parents come a-callin’ ready for revenge. The film starts to veer from stinging satire to more of the tropes you’d find in a typical horror film where victims start getting picked off by a stalking maniac. The thrills and chills are effective, but they cool down the comedy considerably.
There still are plenty of laughs to be had, but the vicious bloodletting starts to overwhelm all the film’s other attributes. Then, by the third act, the film turns towards treacly redemption and the pathos between dad and daughter further damper the matters at hand. Ortega is funny when she’s snarky, less interesting when she’s blubbering and teary-eyed. Rudd does what he can with a thankless part, but he brings his sense of physical comedy to much of the shenanigans. Leoni and Poulter are a stitch throughout, playing effectively off of Grant’s masterful comic skills. Less effective are Anthony Carrigan and Sunita Mani, two excellent comedic talents, who aren’t given nearly enough opportunity here to strut their stuff. The visual effects are a bit spotty at times too with the character design of the heaving beasts feeling far too reminiscent of the overly buff reindeer on display in both 2015’s KRAMPUS and last year’s RED ONE. (Shouldn’t unicorns be more beautiful, even when acting like marauding murderers?)
I liked DEATH OF A UNICORN and laughed plenty throughout, but a mushy redemption story feels at odds with all the overt blood and guts spilling out everywhere. It’s a question of tone. And it almost kill the nasty fun.
