| Death of a Unicorn | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | Alex Scharfman |
| Written by | Alex Scharfman |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Larry Fong |
| Edited by | Ron Dulin |
| Music by |
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Production companies |
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| Distributed by | A24 |
Release dates |
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Running time | 107 minutes[1] |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $15 million[2] |
| Box office | $700,000[3] |
Death of a Unicorn is a 2025 Americancomedy horror film written and directed by Alex Scharfman. It starsPaul Rudd andJenna Ortega as a father and daughter who accidentally hit and kill aunicorn, causing them to be hunted down by its parents;Will Poulter,Téa Leoni, andRichard E. Grant also star.
Death of a Unicorn had its world premiere at theSouth by Southwest Festival on March 8, 2025, and was theatrically released in the United States byA24 on March 28, 2025. It received mixed reviews from critics, who praised the performances (specifically those of Rudd and Ortega), but criticized the satire as being heavy-handed.
Elliot Kintner and his teenage daughter Ridley are spending a weekend at the estate of Elliot's boss, the ailing Odell Leopold, and his family, consisting of his wife Belinda and their son Shepard. While driving to their destination, Elliot accidentally strikes a baby unicorn with his car, injuring it. When Ridley touches the horn, she experiences strange visions, which Elliot abruptly stops after he bludgeons the creature to death with a tire iron.
The Kintners arrive to the Leopold estate with the unicorn hidden in their car. Shortly after their arrival, Ridley discovers that the blood of the unicorn has cleaned away the acne on her face, and Elliot realizes his vision has improved and his allergies are gone. Eventually, the Leopolds discover the unicorn in their car, still alive, which is promptly shot dead by the Leopold's assistant, Shaw. Odell realizes that, with the unicorn's magical properties, it could help cure his ailments.
Later, a group of scientists working for the Leopolds successfully create a concoction by grating off some of the unicorn's horn, which successfully cures Odell. As a result, Odell orders the unicorn to be taken to their labs for further testing, wanting to capitalize off its benefits. Ridley, having read the story behindThe Unicorn Tapestries, tries to argue that they shouldn't be messing with the unicorn, but her pleas fall on deaf ears. While wheeling the unicorn away, the group is ambushed by a larger unicorn, killing a scientist and a guard. After it escapes into the woods, Odell organizes a search party to hunt it down, to which Elliot joins.
At the estate, Shepard steals a vial of the unicorn's grated horn, and orders Dr. Bhatia, one of the scientists, to saw off the unicorn's entire horn. Ridley, realizing the unicorn is still alive, attempts to text Elliot to head back. At the same time, the search party finds the older unicorn, only to get ambushed by a second older unicorn, where they slaughter several people. They follow the group back to the estate, where Odell is killed by one of them. Coming to the conclusion that the two unicorns are the parents of the baby unicorn, the group decides to offer them their child in the hopes that they'll leave them alone. Unfortunately, the plan proves to be unsuccessful, as they discover the horn missing, and proceed to kill Dr. Bhatia. Following the remaining group into the estate, one of the unicorns kills Belinda, and Elliot, having stolen the horn, offers to keep them distracted so Ridley can escape, luring it outside.
The following morning, Ridley is held at arrowpoint by Shepard, having learned that, after experiencing visions from snorting the grated horn he stole, unicorns are docile towards pure-hearted people. The two unicorns arrive and immediately lay themselves to the ground to be comforted by Ridley, where Shepard ties their hooves together. Elliot proceeds to stab Shepard with the horn, only to get stabbed back by his arrow. While Shepard isbucked to death by a unicorn, Elliot dies from his injury, but the unicorns bring him and their baby back to life with their magic. However, he and Ridley are promptly arrested after the Leopold's butler, Griff, having escaped to get help, arrives with a policewoman who, upon seeing the many dead bodies around the estate and their bloody clothes, assumes they committed masshomicide.
As they are being driven to jail, the three unicorns arrive and, upon seeing their predicament, proceed to help them out by ramming themselves into the police car, causing it to crash and go off the road as Elliot and Ridley brace for impact.
Death of a Unicorn was announced in May 2023, withJenna Ortega andPaul Rudd set to star in the film for Alex Scharfman.[4] In November 2023, it was announced thatRichard E. Grant,Téa Leoni,Will Poulter,Anthony Carrigan,Sunita Mani,Jessica Hynes andSteve Park had joined the cast of the film.[5]
Filming began inHungary in July 2023.[6] The production was granted a waiver to continue with its production during the2023 SAG-AFTRA strike, asA24 is not part of theAlliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers.[7]
In November 2023, it was announced that the score would be composed byJohn Carpenter,Cody Carpenter, andDaniel Davies.[8] However, in February 2025,Dan Romer and Giosuè Greco were revealed to have taken over composing duties.[9]
The official trailer, released on December 18, 2024, contained a rendition of "Good Vibrations" by American rock bandthe Beach Boys.[10]
On March 20, 2025, it was announced that musicianSt. Vincent would release a song titled "DOA" for the soundtrack, which dropped on March 28, 2025.[11]
Death of a Unicorn premiered at the2025 South by Southwest on March 8, 2025, and was theatrically released in the United States byA24 on March 28, 2025.[12][13][14]
In the United States and Canada,Death of a Unicorn was released alongsideA Working Man,The Penguin Lessons, andThe Woman in the Yard, and is projected to gross $7–8 million from 2,800 theaters in its opening weekend.[15] The film made $700,000 from Thursday night previews.[2]
On thereview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, 55% of 126 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.9/10. The website's consensus reads: "Receiving some sparkle from Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega's father-daughter rapport,Death of a Unicorn's broad satire is a bit too on the horn but makes for an entertainingly splattery creature feature."[16]Metacritic, which uses aweighted average, assigned the film a score of 53 out of 100, based on 32 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.[17]
In a mixed review forThe New York Times,Manohla Dargis found the satirical elements of the film unconvincing, writing that the jokes about class-conscious "don't land hard or at all".[18] Dargis singled out Jenna Ortega's acting as among the best parts of the film and as providing "the story just enough heart".Ty Burr ofThe Washington Post awarded the film 2 out of 4 stars, with praise for the comedic performances but criticism for the direction. Bur wrote: "The result is a tonally confused, gracelessly shot and edited misfire that squanders its premise on escalating suspense and ugly, unconvincing digital effects".[19]
