An immense mythical creature with a pristine image, buckets of gore, a star-studded cast, and dark humour. Seems like a winning combination, right? These are the ingredients that went into A24's latest genre offering, Death Of A Unicorn, where the beloved fairytale horse with a horn turns deadly. Directed by Alex Scharfman, the film gives the beast a makeover in more than one way, with snake-like eyes and snarling teeth, though the Resurrection creator still stays true to much of the unicorn's mythology.

The bizarre creature feature begins with father-daughter duo Elliott (Paul Rudd) and Ridley Kintner (Jenna Ortega) driving to a remote estate in the Rockies so Elliott can become a legal liaison for pharmaceutical company owner Odell Leopold (Richard E Grant). Odell, who is suffering from cancer, is the patriarch of the billionaire Leopold family, including wife Belinda (Téa Leoni) and son Shep (Will Poulter). During their journey, while Elliott and Ridley talk about the death of Ridley's mother and their myriad of problems, they collide with a creature crossing the road that they soon discover to be a unicorn. They take the injured beast to the mansion, where the group finds the unicorn's blood has healing properties. While Elliott, Ridley, and the Leopold's battle with the moral and monetary arguments behind using the mythical animal for profit, a vengeful group of unicorns descend on the property and a cat-and-mouse game between man and monster begins.

Death Of A Unicorn harkens back to the warped horror comedies of the 1970s and 80s, pitting a group of eccentric characters against wild, ferocious creatures in a spectacle that's hard to take your eyes off. Indeed, the performances at the centre of Scharfman's feature debut are stellar, with Richard E Grant, Téa Leoni, and Will Poulter providing some of the biggest laughs as the stereotypical outrageously rich family the audience can't wait to see the downfall of. But Death Of A Unicorn's mish-mash of ideas fails to connect, both with the audience and as a wider narrative.

While a bold and unique idea, the film often feels somewhat predictable in its ‘eat the rich' messaging and fails to add anything insightful or fresh to the genre – despite being one of the very, very few unicorn horror movies. Its comedy is fun and peculiar, but the inclusion of sentimental notes and the shallow exploration of Elliott and Ridley's grief is jarring rather than aiding to deliver a varied, multi-faceted narrative. There's plenty of gore for the horror fans and satisfying kills, but the CGI unicorns often feel far too animated to be real, fearsome creatures and so it becomes hard to be invested in the peril they're meant to impart.

Despite its distinctive Jurassic Park meets Ready or Not premise, Death Of A Unicorn fails to stand out from the respective genres it attempts to blend. It delivers plenty of laughs on the comedy front, but its social commentary and scares don't possess the same magic as the film's titular monster. Still, when the herd of unicorns do arrive and all hell breaks loose in the mansion, it's hard not to smile at the sheer silliness of the film at a time when we probably need to laugh most.

Death Of A Unicorn is released in UK cinemas on 4 April

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