Death of a Unicorn (2025)

The first ten minutes of Death of a Unicorn (2025) are among the most fabulous intros I’ve ever seen.

I’ll never look at unicorns the same way again. I’ll think of this film every time I see or hear about a unicorn.

I watched this film partly because of the cast. Paul Rudd , Jenna Ortega and Téa Leoni were already very appealing, but seeing that Will Poulter was also in it… it was a real treat!

I like this line from the film: ‘To really know someone, you have to know their family!’

I know Paul Rudd mainly from Ant-Man (2015). He managed to make this superhero interesting and endearing in the same way that Robert Downey Jr. did for Iron Man (2008). Before that, I wasn’t particularly interested in this actor, especially not in films like Clueless (1995). I’m very happy that he’s one of the new ghost hunters in the latest Ghostbusters film.

Jenna Ortega is always excellent. But this is probably her worst film. Yes, because unlike some people, I loved Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (2024). But I’m not objective: I’ll love the third one too if it comes out! ;-P

Best known for her role as Wednesday in the series of the same name, she hasn’t only been in extraordinary films, if I go by Miller’s Girl (2024) or X (2022). On the other hand, she is one of the highlights of Scream 5 (2022) and Scream 6 (2023). I also really liked American Carnage (2022).

Jenna has never disappointed me with her acting… and I often wonder if she isn’t Johnny Depp ‘s real daughter! I can’t wait for them to make a film together.

Paul Rudd and Jenna Ortega are also executive producers here.

I missed Téa Leoni! She’s excellent here in the role of the resident snob. Of course, not many people liked Jurassic Park 3 (2001), but I’m one of them. I don’t know if it’s my contrarian streak, but it doesn’t really matter.

My favourite film with her is Family Man (2000), which also stars an excellent Nicolas Cage. There are some actors we love to watch, even if they’re mostly in bad films.

I don’t remember Deep Impact (1998) at all, which was released at the same time as Armageddon (1998) in the cinema. I’d have to watch them both again to write reviews.

As for Will Poulter, the chap with the bushy eyebrows, he particularly impressed me in two of the episodes of The Maze Runner trilogy (2014 to 2018). I haven’t seen Guardians of the Galaxy 3 (2023) yet. Midsommar (2019) is disturbing, but worth watching depending on your sensitivity or insensitivity! And I know that this actor is also in the fourth episode of the seventh season of the British television series Black Mirror.

Here, he is completely crazy in his role as a hypocritical, smarmy, athletic drug addict. He’s quite a character all on his own!

Otherwise, there are some excellent supporting actors and actresses, such as Anthony Carrigan as the butler and Sunita Mani as Dr. Bhatia, a scientist.

I would have loved to say that I loved this magnificent film that the whole of humanity was missing… but that’s going to be difficult, if not impossible!

Classified as a crazy mix of fantasy, horror, comedy and thriller, it’s not necessarily easy to pin down. Fantasy, yes, that’s pretty clear. Horror, it’s always the same: too gory for those who don’t want to see guts and not horror at all for those who only watch ultra-violent films. Comedy? Definitely… but I had trouble figuring out if it was all funny or if it got lost in being too serious at times. As for thriller… No, not for me! It’s rather slow, boring and goes round in circles.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the kind of film that loses a star every twenty minutes. Sure, there are some good scenes, but they’re scattered throughout. At times, there’s some good humour, good directing, good staging… but it’s not consistent. What a shame!

You can see this feature film as totally ridiculous or as beautiful and poetic. I think I’ve chosen my side. This film will just join all the other rubbish from 2025.

‘The scarcer the supply, the greater the demand!’ I am convinced that this sentence (also in the film) is wrong, and this American film, shot in Hungary, proves it!

If I had to buy or receive something related to this film, it would be the soundtrack, because it features the Cocteau Twins, the Beach Boys and St. Vincent, and that’s no small thing! But good music is like good casting, good scenes and beautiful women: unfortunately, it doesn’t save a film!