Death Of A Unicorn Dir: Alex Scharfman (13th Floor Film Review)
Is it comedy, fantasy, horror, satire or drama? Death Of A Unicorn is a mysterious thing, much like an actual unicorn, but, unfortunately, not as interesting.
Starring: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Téa Leoni, Will Poulter, Richard E Grant, Anthony Carrigan, Sunita Mani, and Jessica Hynes
First time director/writer Alex Scharfman has an ace cast to work with but things get weird quickly, and not in a good way.
We begin with Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his teenage daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) driving through the Rockies where they accidentally hit and kill a young unicorn while on their way for a top level meeting with Elliot’s boss Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant), a big-Pharma billionaire…or do they?
The unicorn (no one seems remotely surprised to see one) is, at first just injured, that is until Elliot “puts it out of its misery” with a tire iron.
They stash the carcass in the boot of the car and proceed to their destination, noting along the way that Ridley’s acne has cleared up and Elliot’s allergies have subsided…maybe it was that purple unicorn blood that cured them?
When we meet Odell and his family, it looks like we are in for a good time…there’s his lovely wife Belinda (Tea Leone), his obnoxious son Shepard (Will Poulter) and his creepy manservant Griff (Anthony Kerrigan), plus a few more who show up later to be shot, speared or otherwise mutilated because, as it turns out, that unicorn had parents and now they are angry.
And so while Odell and his crew attempt to unlock the healing powers of the unicorn’s horn, the unicorns themselves take their revenge in a most gory manner.
Imagine Cocaine Bear meets Jurrasic Park, if you dare.
Only, despite the best-efforts of the cast, the direction and the script let everyone down.
Coming out of this film I’m sure folks were asking themselves, What did I just see?”
Unfortunately, I can’t really tell you. But it wasn’t good.
Marty Duda
Death Of A Unicorn opens in cinemas today. Click here for tickets and showtimes.
