Although Jenna Ortega’s career has been dominated by her horror output, A24’s Death of a Unicorn brings this era to a close for the most part. A24’s Death of a Unicorn is an intriguing choice for star Jenna Ortega that both fits her emerging modus operandi and diverges from audience expectations. On the one hand, Death of a Unicorn is an indie horror-comedy about Elliott, a father, and his daughter Riley accidentally killing the тιтular mythical beast in a hit-and-run en route to Elliot’s boss’s house, only for vengeful unicorns to descend on the mansion.
It would be hard to call this premise conventional by any metric but, at the same time, viewers might not be overly shocked to see Ortega’s name on the cast list. While Death of a Unicorn’s bloody kills might be unpredictable, the A24 release shares the dark, morbid sense of humor found in Ortega’s 2024 hit Beetlejuice Beetlejuice. Similarly, the slasher movie structure of Death of a Unicorn is similar to Ortega’s hit sequels Scream 2022, Scream VI, and X, and its blend of broad satire and violent horror comedy calls to mind 2022’s overlooked Ortega vehicle, American Carnage.
Jenna Ortega Became A Major Scream Queen In The Years Since 2020
Ortega Made A Name For Herself With Hits Like X, Scream 2022, and The Babysitter: Killer Queen
While the A24 release is undoubtedly a strange movie and Death of a Unicorn’s cliffhanger ending makes it even weirder, Jenna Ortega’s love of the horror genre makes the movie a fitting release for her. Death of a Unicorn’s critical and commercial under-performance may also go some way to explaining why Ortega is seemingly taking a step back from horror movies despite her many successes in the genre. Ortega has starred in eight horror movies in the five years since 2020, with three of these becoming blockbuster hits.
Ortega swiftly followed The Babysitter: Killer Queen with a minor role in 2022’s horror comedy Studio 666 before the one-two punch of director Ti West’s throwback slasher X and Scream 2022.
Ortega’s earliest horror role came in 2013’s Insidious: Chapter 2 when she was still a child, but 2020’s The Babysitter sequel The Babysitter: Killer Queen was her first major role in the genre. As the protagonist’s new love interest, Phoebe, Ortega immediately made an impression and was one of the strongest elements of an otherwise stale sequel. Ortega swiftly followed The Babysitter: Killer Queen with a minor role in 2022’s horror comedy Studio 666 before the one-two punch of director Ti West’s throwback slasher X and Scream 2022, a star-making role for the young actor.
Later in 2022, Ortega played a major supporting role in the satirical horror comedy American Carnage, while 2023 saw her reprise her Scream 2022 role in Scream VI. Although Ortega understandably left Scream 7 after co-star Melissa Barrera’s firing, her dominance in the horror genre didn’t end there. 2024’s Beetlejuice Beetlejuice was a mᴀssive commercial success, earning over $400 million at the box office despite arriving decades after director Tim Burton’s 1988 original.
Death Of A Unicorn Is Jenna Ortega’s Last Horror Movie (For Now)
The Star Has Three More Movies On The Way
Given Ortega’s box-office success and critical clout, one could be forgiven for ᴀssuming that the actor has found her niche. However, none of Jenna Ortega’s upcoming projects are horror movies, despite her obvious fondness for the genre. Judging by the underwhelming response to Death Of A Unicorn, the star’s decision to change her focus couldn’t have come at a better time. Ortega’s next movie is Hurry Up Tomorrow, The Weeknd’s album tie-in/musical/dark comedy/thriller from director Trey Edward Shultz.
The Gallerist’s dark storyline involves death and deceit, but the psychological thriller doesn’t quite tip over into horror territory.
After that, she will star in director Taika Waiтιтi’s Kazuo Ishiguro adaptation Klara and the Sun, a dystopian sci-fi movie. After that, the star-studded thriller The Gallerist will see Ortega star alongside Natalie Portman, Da’Vine Joy Randolph, Sterling K. Brown, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Charli XCX. The Gallerist’s dark storyline involves death and deceit, but the psychological thriller doesn’t quite tip over into horror territory. Considering she has starred in a whopping eight horrors since 2020, Death of a Unicorn’s under-performance came just in time for Ortega, or so it would seem if it weren’t for one project.
Jenna Ortega Isn’t Completely Done With Horror Projects After Death Of A Unicorn
Wednesday Season 2 Brings Jenna Ortega Back To Horror
Wednesday season 2 will bring Ortega back to the horror genre on the small screen, as The Addams Family spinoff’s second outing will reportedly be darker. The biggest news that Ortega and fellow stars have shared about Wednesday season 2 is that this outing will be markedly more horror-centric. Hopefully, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s success proves Burton and Ortega are still a winning duo despite her most recent horror movie’s box office under-performance.
While Wednesday season 2 will be a return to horror for Ortega, the largely family-friendly show’s second outing is unlikely to be as brutally gory as her Scream sequels, X, or even Death of a Unicorn. As such, Jenna Ortega’s love of horror remains on pause for a while after Death of a Unicorn’s arrival, although the genre would be happy to see one of its biggest modern stars return anytime in the future.
