New horror-comedy with Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega is a monster movies comfort food.
There is a joy to the good monster story. You get the find the shape and style of your monster. You determine where the monster will be rampaging, and the scale of their destruction. And of course you get to use them as a parallel, a mirror to examine the most monstrous aspects of human behavior. For all these reasons, Death of a Unicorn stands as frothy, enjoyable slice of monster cinema.
Apparently the kernel of the idea for the film , which premiered at SXSW, came to first time writer-director Alex Scharfman when he considered the visual of a family trip being disrupted if they got into a car wreck with a mythical animal. In researching unicorns, he discovered the medieval history of the horned creatures carrying a very different significance to the modern, softer interpretation. Namely, unicorns once stood for a form of untamed wildness that would destroy who tried to break it down. And thus he found his monster.
The family in this particular case is the dad-daughter duo of Eliot and Ridley, played by Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega respectively. When on their trip to the forested countryside for a business retreat with Eliot’s ill billionaire boss O’Dell Leopold (played to sneering perfection by Richard Grant), Eliot wrecks their rental car by hitting a unicorn. After putting it out of its misery, the duo attempt to keep the unicorn under wraps while they go through their business trip. But unbeknownst to them, unicorns have a nasty habit of not staying dead.
Soon it is discovered that the unicorn has healing abilities, as it clears O’Dell’s terminal cancer. This sets into motion the Leopolds attempts to harness the healing ability of the unicorn and use it to make a prophet. But soon they discover the unicorn they have isn’t the only one; in fact, it is just a baby. And Mom and Dad have just arrived
Much of the joy of Death of a Unicorn comes from its exuberant cast. In addition to those already mentioned, there is Will Poulter as Shepard, heir apparent to the Leopold fortune and useless fail-son, Téa Leoni as airy matriarch Belinda, and Anthony Carrigan as Griff, hapless family assistant to name a few. Carrigan especially is a scene stealer whenever he appears, able to get the biggest laugh from mere glances. It is a distinct performance from Carrigan from his turn as NoHo Hank on Barry. But also…it’s not not NoHo Hank? In fact all actors are more or less playing precisely to type, immediately knowable when they appear.
But the payoff comes from waiting for the unicorns to find just about every conceivable way to skewer and rip at victims with a combination of up to three horns. But those kills are elevated by just how deliciously awful most of the Leopold core cast behave. It is a miracle in a modern political landscape to find a subject for a pointed social satire. But Death of a Unicorn finds a perfect foil and target in those who would reap and exploit benefits from lifesaving medical discoveries.
As the body count rises, the action does settle into a fairly repetitive pace. Don’t expect any big surprises from Death of a Unicorn; it puts its pieces into place and dispatches of them in proper order and time just like it promises. Scharfman is clearly inspired by past monster movies, most directly Jurassic Park, but sometimes that comfort food executed well can be precisely what you need. Based on the crowd reaction at the Paramount Theater premiere, crowds will be acting it up. While it never breaks the mold, it delivers its aims with deadly precision.
