Death Of A Unicorn (15)
Cast: Tea Leoni, Richard E Grant, Will Poulter, Paul Rudd, Jenna OrtegaGenre: Comedy
Author(s): Alex Scharfman
Director: Alex Scharfman
Release Date: 04/04/2025
Running Time: 107mins
Country: US
Year: 2025
Widowed corporate lawyer Elliot Kintner drives into the countryside with his college student daughter, Ridley, to attend an urgent summit called by his terminally ill boss, Odell Leopold. En route to the Leopold mansion in the middle of a nature reserve, Elliot fails to pay attention to the road and hits a white-furred "horse-like mammalia". Father and daughter arrive traumatised at the Leopold complex, with a dead unicorn in the boot of their car.
LondonNet Film Review
Death Of A Unicorn (15) Film Review from LondonNet
Popular culture has appropriated the unicorn as a rainbow-coloured metaphor for a highly desirable individual, who dares to stand out from the herd. Writer-director Alex Scharfman’s comedy horror rifles through literature and art dating back hundreds of years to reaffirm the unicorn as a ferocious beast steeped in myth, which is capable of wondrous healing and can only be tamed by a virtuous and pure-hearted maiden. Young women of such noble heritage are even rarer than horned beasts in Scharfman’s gory picture, which unleashes a family of unicorns to enthusiastically impale human victims on their spiralling protrusions…
Characters marked for death are glaringly obvious: they either attempt to kill the magical creatures for personal gain, and consequently ‘deserve’ a grim fate, or foolishly place press their heads against a door or wooden panelling to listen for the sound of approaching hooves and are rewarded with tapered bone in their brain matter. The quality of the digital trickery, which melds the creatures with live-action elements and human actors, varies wildly. Any scenes where unicorns are at full gallop or stalking prey in domestic settings, like the velociprators in Jurassic Park, are especially jarring.
Widowed corporate lawyer Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) drives into the countryside with his college student daughter, Ridley (Jenna Ortega), to attend an urgent summit called by his terminally ill boss, Odell Leopold (Richard E Grant). The billionaire philanthropist has exhausted vast resources to find a medical cure for cancer and is looking to put pen to paperwork to officially confirm Elliot’s role in continuing his legacy when he is gone, under the aegis of Odell’s wife Belinda (Tea Leoni) and spoilt son Shepard (Will Poulter).
En route to the Leopold mansion in the middle of a nature reserve, Elliot fails to pay attention to the road and hits a white-furred “horse-like mammalia”. Father and daughter arrive traumatised at the Leopold complex, with a dead unicorn in the boot of their car. They are greeted by Odell’s personal assistant Shaw (Jessica Hynes) and long-suffering butler Griff (Anthony Carrigan). Soon after, cries fill the night-time air and the Kintners and Leopolds deduce the deceased was part of a herd.
Death Of A Unicorn is an entertaining but tonally uneven romp through superstition, which sacrifices the privilege and pompous to ancient beasts that deserve to be protected not exploited. Ortega’s outcast is the only wholly likeable character, forging an unspoken bond to the magical creatures by touching a glowing horn shortly before her father wields a tyre iron to put one injured animal out of its misery. Intentionally overblown death sequences and jump scares are slathered in viscera to elicit gasps of shock and disgust. Scharfman’s film may not be a unicorn in common parlance but it’s not destined for the knacker’s yard either.
– Jo Planter
Popular on LondonNet
London Cinemas Showing Death Of A Unicorn
From: Friday 18th April
To: Thursday 1st May
Sun 21:10; Mon-Wed 18:40 21:20 (Wed)
Sat-Mon 21:00
Fri/Tue 21:35; Sat 10:15; Mon 21:05; Wed 21:15
From: Friday 2nd May
To: Thursday 8th May
No cinema infomation at the moment
UK and Irish Cinemas Showing Death Of A Unicorn
From: Friday 18th April
To: Thursday 1st May
Fri 22:10
Fri/Mon-Wed 12:30 17:00 (Fri/Tue); Sun 17:00; Thu 11:00
Fri/Sun-Wed 13:20 (Fri/Mon-Wed) 20:50; Sat 21:10
Fri/Sun-Tue 17:00
Fri/Tue 15:50 22:10 (Fri); Sat/Mon/Wed 15:50 (Mon) 20:50
Cineworld Glasgow – Renfrew Street
Fri 14:00 22:10; Sat/Tue 14:30; Mon/Wed 14:20 20:50; Thu 13:50
Fri/Sun-Wed 13:00 (Mon-Wed) 17:20 21:10; Sat 21:10
Fri/Sun 17:00 22:00 (Fri); Sat 19:30; Mon-Wed 13:50 19:30 (Mon); Thu 13:20
Fri/Mon/Wed 13:50 21:00 (Fri); Sat 21:00
Fri/Mon-Wed 10:30 17:00 (Fri/Tue); Sun 17:00
Fri/Sat/Mon/Wed 14:10 (Fri) 14:20 (Mon/Wed) 16:50 20:50; Sun 18:00 20:50; Tue 14:20 20:50
Fri 14:00 16:40 22:10; Sat 15:30 22:15; Sun/Mon/Wed 13:15 (Mon/Wed) 15:45 20:50; Tue 17:00; Thu 13:30
Sat 12:30 15:00
Mon/Wed 21:00
Mon/Wed 13:10
Mon/Wed 13:15; Tue 12:20
Fri-Mon/Wed/Thu 14:40 (Mon/Wed) 20:40; Tue 14:30 20:40
Fri 12:20
Fri 16:00; Mon 20:40
Fri/Sun 12:20
Tue 17:10; Wed 20:00
Sun 11:40; Tue 17:30
Sun 20:10
Wed 16:00
Sun 20:10
Fri/Sat 21:30; Sun 21:10; Mon-Wed 21:20
Odeon Luxe Birmingham Broadway Plaza
Fri 13:30; Sat 16:20; Sun 21:30; Mon/Wed 17:50; Tue 14:40 17:10
Odeon Luxe Edinburgh Wester Hailes
Fri 15:50
Odeon Luxe Glasgow Springfield Quay
Tue 20:50; Wed 16:50; Thu 13:30
Sun/Wed 21:10
Odeon Luxe Liverpool Switch Island
Mon-Wed 21:00
Thu 12:10
Fri 12:30; Mon/Wed 14:10; Tue 13:50
Odeon Manchester Great Northern
Mon 20:40
Sun 20:40
Sun/Mon 21:10
Sat 11:40
Sun 11:40; Tue 17:30
Mon/Wed 13:10
Sat 20:40
Tue 17:30
Sat-Thu 21:00
Mon 12:10; Wed 14:50
Showcase Cinema De Lux Bluewater
Fri-Wed 10:45 (Fri/Mon-Wed) 16:25 19:15 (Sat-Wed) 22:10; Thu 10:40
Showcase Cinema De Lux Glasgow
Fri 15:45; Sat 15:30; Sun/Mon 15:35; Tue/Wed 15:50; Thu 16:50
Fri/Mon/Wed 13:40; Sat/Sun 11:40; Tue/Thu 13:40 18:10 21:00 (Tue) 22:00 (Thu)
Showcase Cinema De Lux Reading
10:40 22:15 (Fri-Wed)
Fri/Sat/Mon-Thu 11:30 13:15 (Fri/Mon/Tue); Sun 11:50
Sun 20:30
Sat 23:25
Fri 22:55; Sat 23:30; Sun 22:15
Fri 23:10
Fri 22:35; Sat 21:45; Sun 11:35; Tue 21:40; Thu 10:15
Fri 21:25; Sat 11:50 23:20; Sun 22:20; Mon 22:35; Thu 10:45
Sun 23:10
Fri 11:45; Sat 10:00; Mon 16:35; Thu 10:40
Fri 17:20; Sat 09:20 17:10; Sun 10:45 18:50; Mon 12:30 17:15; Tue 17:50; Wed 12:50
Fri 22:25 23:55; Sat 21:40 00:10; Sun 10:20 22:00; Mon 22:35; Tue 22:40; Wed 13:10; Thu 09:45
Fri 23:00; Sun 21:00
Fri 10:25; Sat 12:35; Sun 21:15; Mon 21:45; Tue/Wed 21:35; Thu 10:00
Fri 22:25; Sat 16:05; Sun 20:50; Thu 10:00
Sat 22:30; Sun 19:00; Mon 12:55; Tue/Thu 13:05
From: Friday 2nd May
To: Thursday 8th May
No cinema infomation at the moment
