"Death of a Unicorn" is the VHS film from A24

Death of a Unicorn is a film out of time. Not because it was produced – by the independent company A24 – late, but because of its style and, above all, the feeling it leaves after watching, which seems to belong to a very specific historical moment. The work of Alex Scharfman, making his feature film debut as director and screenwriter, seems to come straight out of one of those videotapes we used to watch and rewatch during afternoons in front of the TV, rewinding the tape again and again. It’s one of those creations for those who grew up on a diet of Goosebumps, where horror was often mixed with a touch of quirkiness and an undertone, albeit macabre, of magic. It was the kind of TV we watched as kids, full of titles shown on repeat on mainstream channels, broadcasting pop works that started to fill our personal movie libraries—films that stayed frozen in a time capsule, waiting to be brought back by nostalgia.

Scharfman achieves all this by blending the tones of a horror that contrasts with the mythical and supernatural figure of the unicorn, adding that touch of comedy that helps make Death of a Unicorn appropriately surreal as well as splatter and entertaining. It’s the story of a father (Paul Rudd) and daughter (Jenna Ortega) who come across—and run over—nothing less than a unicorn on the road to the home of a pharmaceutical industry magnate, discovering the creature's healing wonders, which they soon attempt to exploit. The film, however, lacks spark, a shortfall that contributes to leaving it confined to a more nostalgic than gripping dimension, and thus unlikely to make much impact in the present. It’s not an effort to transport us back in time, but rather a film that feels like it never quite made the leap to become more than it is: a classic story of blood and a few laughs that we’ll end up leaving in a drawer. Because, even with its aura of past cult classics, Death of a Unicorn doesn’t have the same iconic power and can only live off the reflection of that kind of slightly awkward, crumpled film that ultimately wins you over with its energy and spirit.

The result is therefore average for A24, which might start to feel the weight of its role in an industry that now expects it to always be innovative, quirky, and unique—finding compelling subjects and inspirations that, like in Scharfman’s work, don’t always fully land. There’s a good balance between Jenna Ortega’s moody and aloof daughter and Paul Rudd’s awkward father, though it’s Will Poulter who carries the film’s comedic and magnetic energy, and whose performance alone might be reason enough to give it a watch (and whose talent, both in comedies and beyond, we should probably start appreciating more). In Death of a Unicorn, there are a bunch of references that, however, don’t feel excessive in a film that still finds its own personality—even if it’s shaped by cult works like Alien and Jurassic Park. In his favorite film list for the IMDB portal, Scharfman listed titles like James Cameron’s The Abyss, John Carpenter’s The Thing, and Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II. Like all those classics, Death of a Unicorn is a film that feels like it was watched more on VHS than on the big screen.