Movie Review: Death of a Unicorn

 

Michael's Movie Grade: C+

A dumb but enjoyable horror-comedy. 

For all the gore coming from people being brutally killed by unicorns, this movie has an oddly sweet heart at its center. The father daughter relationship starts out as very cold but actually morphs into something touching by the end. For a movie about unicorns killing people, this relationship actually develops in a believable way. This is of course helped by having these two characters played by Jenna Ortega and Paul Rudd. The likableness of this relationship helps us actually care about what happens in a film where every other character is quite unlikable. 

The storyline is very familiar here, but it unfolds at a fast pace and is never boring. The humor is pretty hit and miss. Quite a bit of the comedy can fall flat but when the movie is funny it is laugh out loud hilarious. However, as a horror-comedy, this movie is never even once remotely scary. Even the usually reliable jump scares don't illicit any actual fear. The social commentary often falls flat because it is extremely on the nose with no subtlety whatsoever, as well as not saying anything that many more movies haven't already said better. 

While, this movie has its flaws, it never takes itself too seriously and the main characters are likable. This gives it a certain feeling of dumb fun that I enjoyed, even if the movie itself is far from a great one.