Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Death of a Unicorn.Death of a Unicorn lives up to its name, as a unicorn’s death leads almost all the major characters to be killed in brutal and over-the-top fashion. The A24 horror comedy movie begins with Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) traveling to see the wealthy Leopold family, only to hit a unicorn on their way there. Soon after the wealthy Leopold family discovers the unicorn in Elliot’s car, they become intent on using the creature’s magical properties for their own greedy and exploitative purposes.

What the Leopolds do not expect is for more unicorns to arrive and go on a murderous rampage against them. Death of a Unicorn reviews have been mixed, but one area the movie has received praise for is the entertaining and gory nature of its kills. The Leopold family makes the mistake of ignoring the unicorn tapestries Ridley shows them, along with ignoring her other warnings of why they should not be exploiting the unicorns. The most brutal kills are the ones that feel the most visceral and excessive.

7

Elliot Kintner

Played by Paul Rudd

Elliot’s death is unique and the least brutal in the movie. Instead of being killed by the unicorns, Elliot dies from Shepard Leopold (Will Poulter) stabbing him with a crossbow arrow. This occurs after Elliot stabs Shepard with a unicorn horn. Elliot’s stab wound proves to be fatal, as he bleeds out and dies from his injuries. However, the unicorns use their magic to resurrect Elliot during Death of a Unicorn‘s ending, ensuring that his death is not permanent, and he is able to reunite with Ridley.

Being stabbed by an arrow and quickly bleeding out almost feels like a mundane death compared to the others that transpire in the story. Elliot does not have to suffer for long, nor does he have to endure the agony of being physically torn apart by one of the unicorns’ horns. Perhaps most importantly, his demise is only temporary thanks to the unicorns, who recognize that he is a pure-hearted person, thereby restoring his life and making his death easily the least brutal.

6

Shepard Leopold

Played by Will Poulter

Shepard is the last surviving member of the Leopold family. Elliot stabs Shepard with the unicorn horn and Shepard stabs him with an arrow. With the unicorns recognizing that Elliot is pure of heart and Shepard is not, they kick Shepard, who goes flying through the air, and dies immediately by the time his body collides with the ground.

Compared to the more drawn-out deaths of his father, Odell (Richard E. Grant), and his mother, Belinda (Téa Leoni), Shepard’s death almost feels merciful. There is a moment of horrifying clarity, with Shepard realizing what the unicorns are about to do before they do it. His death is quicker because, at this point, the unicorns care more about helping Elliot and Ridley than they do about torturing Shepard, and they simply need to quickly dispose of him before he can cause any more harm.

5

Shaw

Played by Jessica Hynes

Shaw (Jessica Hynes) is the personal ᴀssistant to the Leopold family. When the unicorn in Elliot’s car reveals that it is still alive, Shaw shoots the poor creature in the head. She later faces consequences for her actions when she goes hunting for the unicorns in the forest with Odell and Elliot. One of the unicorns snatches Shaw and carries her away, and she is heard screaming as she dies offscreen.

Without her death being shown, the exact details of this killing are unknown, and the full extent of the brutality remains somewhat ambiguous. However, being carried away before she dies does confirm that her death is more prolonged, and likely more painful than the quick deaths that Elliot and Shephard have. Shooting the unicorn foal in the head makes her a prime target of the creatures’ vengeful rampage.

4

Dr. Song

Played by Stephen Park

Dr. Song (Stephen Park) is one of the scientists working for the Leopolds. He recognizes the extraordinary properties that come from unicorn blood and from the horn and uses these elements to cure Odell of his cancer. As the Leopolds push him to use these elements to create a cure that they can sell to the highest bidder, Dr. Park is stabbed and killed by a unicorn horn, which leaves a gaping, see-through hole in his body as he crumples to the ground.

The grotesque nature of Dr. Park’s death is more brutal than how Elliot, Shepard, or Shaw are killed. Dr. Park also has the distinction of being the movie’s first character to be killed by a unicorn. That being said, there is no shock value to his death, as it was already shown in Death of a Unicorn‘s first trailer. His killing does set the foundation for the rest of the movie, though.

3

Odell Leopold

Played by Richard E. Grant

After hearing Ridley talk about what she experienced when she touched the unicorn’s glowing horn, Odell becomes fixated on replicating the experience. He wants to acquire the power of the horn for himself and exploit it. When Odell attempts to touch one of the unicorns’ horns, the creature stabs him through the bottom of the mouth, and pushes the blood-spattered horn through the top of his head.

Director Alex Scharfman wondered if Odell’s death would be “doable” based on how it was written in the script, with the scene requiring a combination of practical and digital effects to make the gory kill work. The patriarch of the Leopold family is not the first character to be killed by a unicorn horn, but the way he dies is among the most painful. It is fitting considering how Leopold was the driving force behind exploiting the unicorns, although two characters arguably have even more brutal deaths.

2

Belinda Leopold

Played by Téa Leoni

Belinda’s death is among the most savage since the horn is not the worst part of it. While inside the Leopold mansion, she is impaled through the shoulder by a unicorn horn and then pinned to a pool table. As she writhes in agony, Shepard nearly shoots a flaming arrow into a gas tank, which would put his mother out of her misery. He does not do this, and she instead ends up being disemboweled by the unicorn, which gives her one of the movie’s more prolonged deaths.

At this point in the movie, the unicorns have killed many characters with their horns, and this manner of death becomes the expectation. Belinda’s death stands out in its brutality because being impaled by the horn is only the beginning, and seeing her guts pulled out of her body by a unicorn adds a new level of horror. As visceral as this death is, there is one that is even worse to watch.

1

Dr. Bhatia

Played by Sunita Mani

Dr. Bhatia (Sunita Mani) is one of the other scientists working for the Leopolds. She is visibly shaken after the death of Dr. Park, but is pressured into continuing the research and salvaging whatever she can to benefit her employers. This includes Shepard ordering her to cut off the unicorn foal’s entire horn. Before the attempted escape from the Leopold estate, Dr. Bhatia pockets a vial of the grated unicorn horn, as she tells Elliot that they have to look for themselves, since the Leopolds will never look out for them.

While she is nowhere as bad as the Leopolds, taking the grated horn and experimenting on the unicorn foal leads to the movie’s most brutal death. Her body is pinned to one of the unicorn horns while two of the creatures tear her apart. What happens to her is brutal and is even more shocking to watch because she was not as nefarious as the Leopold family. Nevertheless, she was still complicit in experimenting on the unicorns and trying to profit from them, which culminates in her singularly savage demise in Death of a Unicorn.