Death of A Unicorn: A Horror/Comedy (Comedy/Horror?) For The Ages

Death of a Unicorn sets out to answer a question no one’s really thought to ask: What would happen if unicorns existed—and were also kinda evil?

The answer: Chaos.

Before I go any further...Spoiler warning: This written review contains spoilers. If you're spoiler-averse, check out the two-minute spoiler-free version on my TikTok (@uninvited.reviewe) and Instagram (@uninvited_reviewer).

My unsolicited opinion: Screen it (if you can handle a lot of gore)

Let’s run through the good, the bad, and the horrifying.

We start on a plane with Elliot (Paul Rudd), a recently widowed father, and his college-aged daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega), heading off on a vague work trip. We don’t get much backstory other than the fact that the mother/wife recently died, and the father-daughter relationship is... strained.

It’s the classic “dad tries too hard to win his daughter’s love when all she wants is to be heard” trope we’ve seen a million times. Honestly, it’s kind of wild that this cliché plays in the background of this movie. Personally, I think keeping the mom alive might have created a more compelling contrast between functional and dysfunctional family dynamics.

On the way to a work meeting, Elliot hits a unicorn with his car. You did read that right, and if it surprised you, might I point you back in the direction of the title of the movie? 

Don't worry though, just when you think things are about to get too predictable, Paul Rudd comes out of nowhere and goes at the not-quite-dead-yet unicorn with a tire iron until, well, you learn that unicorn blood is purple. Fun! 

They toss the body into the trunk of their rental car and head off to their destination, planning to bury it later. Leaving me to wonder if purple blood would be harder to get out of upholstery than red blood. And if they thought to get rental insurance.....

Anyway.

Their destination: a mega-mansion owned by the ultra-rich Leopold family, who made their fortune in pharmaceuticals (shocking, I know). We meet Melinda (Téa Leoni), her husband Odell (Richard E. Grant), and their son Shepard (Will Poulter), who greets the guests with the line:"Come here for a cut of the good stuff." (Delivered in such a sincerely deadpan way that I laughed out loud.) The Leopold family is perfectly cast—especially Leoni and Poulter. I want a whole prequel just about them; there are so many hints at an unsettling past that’s just as disturbing as the present events.

Odell is dying of cancer, and Elliot is there in hopes of becoming the family’s estate lawyer—a very lucrative gig. But once everyone’s at the mansion, the real chaos kicks in.

Unicorn blood, it turns out, has healing properties. And once the Leopolds discover this, their home turns into a mad-scientist lab overnight. The catch? The unicorn isn’t actually dead. It keeps coming back.

One standout scene has the entire cast circling the newly re-dead unicorn, refusing to acknowledge what they’re seeing. Téa Leoni delivers a killer line:"It's definitely some kind of horse-like mammalia." Another laugh-out-loud moment. The baffled reactions across the board make this scene one of the movie’s best.

But this is a horror-comedy, so things must get serious eventually—and boy, do they. In under two hours (108 minutes), the movie wrings out every bit of its premise.

When crushed unicorn horn cures Odell’s cancer—and can’t be reproduced in a lab—Odell gleefully announces:"Supply is scarce, so demand will be high." Thus begins a bidding war among the 1%. Leading Melinda to declare, "I haven’t had this much fun since we launched FenFen in ’94!"—a line so darkly hilarious I laughed and immediately felt guilty. That scene is a perfect storm of horror, satire, and discomfort.

The film swings big, but its sharpest moments lie in the smaller details— the reactions, and the dead panned one liners that land like punches. In one such moment, the core theme becomes clear: Who are the real monsters here?

Unfortunately, from this point on, Paul Rudd's Elliot seems to drift aimlessly, and cluelessly, through the story. Once Ridley is positioned as the voice of reason, the film doesn’t quite know what to do with him.

Ridley, meanwhile, forges a mysterious bond with the not-quite-dead unicorn. She slips away to investigate—and uncovers a larger threat. But in true horror fashion, no one listens.

Enter: two very angry adult unicorns out for blood.The gore is immediate and intense. A wave of gruesome attacks wipes out half the supporting cast in some—memorable ways.

The Leopold family responds by... sitting down to dinner.The kicker? Their loyal-ish servant Griff (played to perfection by Anthony Carrigan) brings Odell a unicorn steak. Odell digs in while delivering a monologue that is so full of rich white male privilege Richard E. Grant deserves some kind award for being so self-aware. Because there is no chance he could have delivered such a cutting, unknowingly vitriolic, and morally wrong monologue without having the knowledge of exactly what he was saying as an actor.

After a botched hunting party, Odell gets gored in the neck. Chaos erupts. The lights go out. The unicorns invade. Griff flees.

In perhaps the most absurd twist, we learn Shepard has been snorting crushed unicorn horn, which supposedly makes him smarter...? The movie doesn’t linger long enough to clarify.

More death follows, including the gruesome disemboweling of Melinda—right in front of Shepard. Elliot locks Ridley in a room for “her safety,” underestimating the power of a woman who’s been ignored and proven right. Rookie mistake.

The finale wraps up in a somewhat predictable way, but not before we get one great monologue from Jenna Ortega. The police arrive and arrest both Elliot and Ridley. (That’s not quite the end, but I won’t spoil everything—this review is long enough.)

Final Verdict

Death of a Unicorn isn’t perfect. Its big premise occasionally trips over itself.

But it’s a horrifyingly funny takedown of Big Pharma, the ultra-wealthy, and the nature of villainy.

The writing is mostly whip-smart and sharp.

Its best moments are subtle—so don't scroll while you stream.

The acting is solid throughout, especially from the Leopolds and supporting cast.

Paul Rudd feels underused while Jenna Ortega deserved more room to lead.

If you're a fan of Ready or Not, The Hunt, or Happy Death Day, this one’s for you.