Death Of A Unicorn [Blu-Ray]

Director: Alex Scharfman

Cast: Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter

Release Date: July 1, 2025

A Review By: Kevin Lovell

Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

Synopsis:

A father (Paul Rudd) and daughter (Jenna Ortega) accidentally hit and kill a unicorn while en route to a weekend retreat, where his billionaire boss (Richard E. Grant) seeks to exploit the creature’s miraculous curative properties.

‘Death of a Unicorn’ joins a father and daughter headed to a weekend retreat among the father’s business associates where he hopes to ensure a plan to keep them financially set for years in the future. But when the pair hit a horse-like creature while travelling through the private nature reserve leading to the home, they soon realize that they’ve actually struck a unicorn of all things. Believing the unicorn to be suffering and therefore attempting to put it out of its misery, the creature comes to in their vehicle at the house which leads to the greedy family performing experiments on the creature for the sake of a possible scientific and medical advance. Yet when more of the creatures take offense and begin to attack things take a deadly and horrifying turn.

Written and directed by Alex Scharfman (marking his feature length directing and screenwriting debut), he does a solid job at the helm of ‘Death of a Unicorn’ guiding along the fantasy-like comedy and horror mashup with humor, heart and style throughout. The film’s cast includes Paul Rudd (Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire), Jenna Ortega (Beetlejuice Beetlejuice), Will Poulter (Warfare), Téa Leoni (TV’s Madam Secretary), Anthony Carrigan (TV’s Barry) and Richard E. Grant (Argylle) who each deliver capable and in a few cases quite memorable performances in their respective roles throughout.

‘Death of a Unicorn’ is a fascinating, darkly comedic and often notably gory look at a different side of the mythical creatures and the greedy humans who have no hesitation in exploiting anything and everything in order to further their wealth and status, even a creature of such purity. It’s a very different take on unicorns that delves into a far more vicious and violent aspect not often seen in lore, yet it never does so without rhyme or care. It weaves a surprisingly logical and well thought out reasoning for these generally kind and pure creatures to enact such violence and bloodshed that never disregards the legends behind them and instead offers an additional layer to it all in a remarkably clever and well-crafted tale that’s as disturbing and bloody as it is darkly hilarious at times and even incredibly heartfelt at others.

The film is populated with a collection of characters that are largely dislikeable and often even disgusting in their motives and reasoning which only tends to make it all the more rewarding when one might be violently impaled or ripped apart at some point later on. Filmmaker Alex Scharfman does a noteworthy job with ‘Death of a Unicorn’ which marks his feature length debut and a tremendous cast only helps to back up the tale and make it work so smoothly, while the great effects, as well as a hybrid of practical and CGI means used to bring the mythical creatures to life all only assist it in evolving into something quite unique.

Overall, ‘Death of a Unicorn’ serves up a darker, more gruesome side of the mythical beasts with a side of dark comedy along with it to help balance the tale of greed, purity and the cost of those without a real moral compass when causing unnecessary harm to an innocent being. Alex Scharfman delivers a rewarding feature film debut and his guidance from this own script and a solid cast that includes Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega and more helps to keep the tone somewhat comedic, even among the bloodshed and entrails repeatedly being thrown about. ‘Death of a Unicorn’ is definitely recommended for anyone that enjoys a smart dark comedy that bothers to contribute something different to the genre while still largely honoring the lore behind the creatures it sends rampaging about. If this one managed to already grab your attention whatsoever, then it’s definitely worth giving a shot.

VIDEO:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Death of a Unicorn’ features a full 1080p High Definition presentation with the film’s original 2.39:1 Aspect Ratio. The video presentation looks great as a whole and it provides a sharp, clean and nicely detailed presentation throughout that’s largely absent of any issues or troubles to be located along the way. Detail is solid on characters, creatures and the expansive nature surroundings, along with the interiors of the massive mansion in which much of the tale plays out, while colors are generally nice and sharp and black levels are competent throughout. Overall, this is a solid high definition presentation that holds up nicely and should satisfy both fans and first time viewers.

AUDIO:

The Blu-ray release features a Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 channel compatible) soundtrack. Please note that this review pertains solely to the Dolby TrueHD 7.1 audio presentation. This multichannel soundtrack offers a clean, crisp and at times notably immersive audio presentation throughout. It takes advantage of all seven available channels on numerous occasions in order to send everything from action and nature effects to music and more moving throughout the various speakers and a few select moments really overtake the sound system such as the almost psychedelic trips induced by some after touching the unicorn’s horn. The various audio elements are always balanced well and no dialogue or other audio content are ever negatively impacted by other effects or elements. Overall, this is a pretty great Dolby Atmos (Dolby TrueHD 7.1 compatible) soundtrack that does its job nicely along its course and shouldn’t disappoint.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

The Blu-ray release of ‘Death of a Unicorn’ includes a few notable extras that fans of the film should enjoy. Included on the release is an ‘Audio Commentary with Writer/Director Alex Scharfman’, along with a collection of ‘Deleted Scenes’ from the movie (running approximately 13 minutes in length altogether) and the Behind the Scenes Featurette ‘How to Kill a Unicorn’ (running approximately 15 minutes) which includes interviews/comments with the cast and crew, plus behind the scenes footage and more. 6 Physical Collectible Postcards are also included inside the packaging.

*Please note that the above images are taken from the Blu-Ray and resized. They will additionally suffer quality loss as a result of .jpg compression. Larger versions of each image can be viewed by clicking on the image. All images and content included on this Blu-Ray release are the property of their respective owners.

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Film Rating: 8/10
Disc Rating: 7.5/10

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‘Death Of A Unicorn’ is Now Available to Own on Blu-ray & Digital from A24

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You can purchase ‘Death Of A Unicorn’ on Blu-ray at Amazon HERE!

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