What do you get when you mix together Medieval legend, the most grim of fairy tales, a little Jurassic Park, and some Alien — you know, for the dramatic effect — with a healthy dose of snarky sarcasm? You get Death of a Unicorn, now playing at Robinson Film Center.
It’s a creative dark comedy/monster film that features Paul Rudd as Elliot and Jenna Ortega as his daughter, Ridley. The film opens with them on a trip to meet Elliot’s eccentric boss, pharmaceutical CEO Odell. Elliot and Ridley are struggling to get along since the death of Ridley’s mother. Elliot believes this opportunity with his boss could be just the turning point they need.
He really needed to swerve to miss the unicorn standing in the road. But he plowed right into it, and that’s when the whole adventure takes a twisted turn.
When it’s discovered that the unicorn has healing power, it becomes Odell’s obsession. But there is a dark side to the legendary creature. When it manifests, the hunter becomes the hunted, and the game is on.
It’s Ridley, the troubled yet virtuous young maiden, who resolves the legend of the unicorn and saves the day, and the relationship, with her father.
Death of a Unicorn is a clever film that is a send up of many of the classic monster films that seem to inspire it. It’ll have you catching your breath, only to release it with a hearty guffaw a moment later.
- Scott “Scooter” Anderson, Scooter Anderson Communications