One look at the poster art on the Blu-ray cover to the left might lead viewers to believe 2025’s Death of a Unicorn will offer a 1980s-style family fantasy-adventure. It doesn't.

Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his teenage daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) drive to a weekend retreat hosted by his terminally ill billionaire boss Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant). Along the way, their car strikes a unicorn and it dies.

The Kintners discover that even while dead, the beast possesses magical powers. When they reach Leopold's estate, a battle ensues over what to do with the carcass, and this leads to unusual problems.

Given the involvement of a unicorn, obviously Death involves some of the fantasy I mentioned in my opening sentence. It simply becomes much more of a satirical black comedy than those whimsical 1980s films to which I alluded.

And that apparently made Death a tough film for A24 to market. Do a search on advertisements and in addition to the Drew Struzan style poster used for this Blu-ray's art, you'll find images that lead one to think the film will use the unicorn like it's a dinosaur and another that implies it'll deliver a supernatural horror film.

I can't really blame the promo folks, as the tone of Death makes it tough to sell. A poster that depicts a crying toy unicorn head with the tagline "They're Going to Make a Killing" does the best job since it imparts the dark cynicism the movie highlights.

Not that Death ignores the genres implied by the other posters. We definitely get hints of fantasy – especially via Ridley’s connection to the beast – as well as some violent horror and Jurassic Park-ish creature menace.

To say that writer/director Alex Scharfman wears his influences on his sleeve would stand as a radical understatement. Is it a coincidence that Rudd’s character melds names from both 1982’s ET the Extra-Terrestrial and 1975’s Jaws or that his daughter shares the same name as the director of 1979’s Alien?

Nope, and plenty of other allusions to those films and more abound. At times, Death feels more like a melange of influences than a coherent movie.

To be fair, Scharfman never attempts to hide these cinematic references. Indeed, during his audio commentary, he touches on many of these and eagerly acknowledges what elements he took from other places.

While I appreciate Scharfman’s honesty, that doesn’t make Death any more original. Too much of the flick just comes across as a film nerd’s wet dream.

Death can feel like a package of Easter eggs in search of a coherent story. Yeah, the movie attempts social commentary via its depiction of the ultra-wealthy, but this remains skin deep at best.

The members of the Leopold clan – wife Belinda (Téa Leoni) and son Shepard (Will Poulter) as well as Odell – never evolve into anything more than stock stereotypes. Neither Elliot nor Ridley ever seem all that interesting either, so we wind up with characters who fail to really develop.

Though at least we find a nice cast. All try to elevate their roles, and all succeed, especially Leoni, as she delivers a delicious take on the spoiled rich woman who pretends to care about the less fortunate.

However, Scharfman just can’t take the mix of horror and black comedy and supernatural and fantasy and turn it into a coherent film. Death flits about like mad.

And again, Death so obviously echoes classic movies that it too often feels like little more than a bunch of cheap salutes to the cinematic greats. Thanks to a terrific cast, Death keeps us with it, but the movie sputters and wanders too much to really hit the mark.

Death of a Unicorn appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. We got a solid presentation from this disc.

Sharpness appeared positive. Some interiors looked a little soft, but the majority of the movie boasted appealing delineation.

I noticed no issues with jagged edges or shimmering, and I witnessed no edge haloes. As expected, no source flaws popped up during the clean image.

Death opted for a palette in which amber/teal became the dominant tones. Given those choices, the colors seemed appropriate.

Blacks were deep, and shadows satisfied. All of this added up to a solid “B+” image.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, I also felt pleased with the Dolby Atmos audio of Death. Despite the movie’s fantasy focus, the soundscape didn’t come across as consistently dazzling.

However, sporadic sequences popped to life well. This became true especially when some action elements emerged.

In addition, general atmosphere felt appropriate and engaging. Within its choices, the soundscape impressed.

Audio quality was positive. Speech seemed natural and concise, without edginess or other issues.

Effects appeared accurate and dynamic, while music was rich and clear. Nothing here created a killer soundtrack, but the audio made sense for the story and worked fine for a comedy-fantasy tale.

As we head to extras, we open with an audio commentary from writer/director Alex Scharfman. He offers a running, screen-specific look at sets and locations, Easter eggs and references, story/characters, cast and performances, stunts, cinematography and editing, music, effects and related topics.

Scharfman gives us a brisk and chatty track. He gleefully acknowledges all his cinematic influences and offers a solid look at his movie.

How to Kill a Unicorn spans 15 minutes, 17 seconds. It brings notes from Scharfman, producers Drew Houpt and Lucas Joaquin, production designer Amy Williams, and actors Paul Rudd, Jenna Ortega, Will Poulter, Téa Leoni, Richard E. Grant, and Anthony Carrigan.

The show looks at story and characters, cast and performances, creature design and bringing unicorns to life, sets and locations, and influences. A lot of happy talk materializes but we still get some decent notes.

Eight Deleted Scenes span a total of 13 minutes, four seconds. These tend to embellish existing scenes.

That means a little more exposition as well as additional character moments. Nothing crucial arrives but some of the material seems enjoyable.

Finally, the package includes six Collectible Postcards that feature behind the scenes photos. These seem decent enough.

Filmmaker Alex Scharfman attempts to juggle a lot of balls with Death of a Unicorn but he can’t consistently keep all in the air. Too often a collection of cinematic influences, the movie brings some entertainment value and boasts a great cast but it feels too derivative to really click. The Blu-ray comes with very good picture and audio as well as a positive array of bonus materials. While parts of the movie work, the end result underwhelms.