Author Archives: Keith Garlington

REVIEW: “Death of a Unicorn” (2025)

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Alex Scharfman writes and directs “Death of a Unicorn”, a bonkers horror comedy that is another in a long line of ‘eat the rich’ satires. The movie’s title serves as a good nuts-and-bolts overview of the story. But the film’s ultimate interest is in skewering the uber-wealthy through an outlandish scenario that may be a bit uneven in spots, but that ultimately finds a good rhythm amid the slew of gags and gore.

The movie opens up with Elliot Kintner (Paul Rudd) and his daughter Ridley (Jenna Ortega) on their way to a weekend retreat hosted by his boss, Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant). As they drive through the forest-covered mountains (filmed in beautiful Hungary) we learn quite a bit about them. First, they seem to have very little in common – she is a committed young leftist; he’s a corporate stooge. Making matters worse, their relationship has been strained following the recent death of his wife and her mother.

Image Courtesy of A24

For Elliot, this weekend gives him a chance to reconnect with his daughter. But it’s mostly about impressing the sickly Odell who is dying of cancer and considering promoting Elliot to the top spot in his pharmaceutical firm. That becomes a running conflict for most of the movie – Elliot’s obsessive ambition for a new position versus his responsibilities to his hurting daughter.

But everything turns upside-down after their car collides with and appears to kill (of all things) a unicorn. As Elliot scrambles to compose himself, Ridley checks on the animal, having some out of body experience in the process. The two make the bizarre decision to load the unicorn carcass in the back of their SUV and drive on to the Leopold’s lavish enclave where they pretend like nothing happened.

But let’s be honest, how does one keep a dead unicorn in the trunk a secret? Through ways I won’t reveal, the Leopolds find out about the unicorn and are just as shocked as Elliot and Ridley. But when it’s discovered the unicorn possesses unexplainable curative attributes, a cured Odell immediately sees dollar signs. So he puts his on-site science team to work replicating the unicorn’s magical properties. Ridley is against what they’re doing but has no allies, not even her father who’s still looking out for his promotion.

But little do they know, the unicorn’s parents are looking for their foal. And when the one-horned creatures find their baby dead, “Death of a Unicorn” quickly evolves into a graphically violent revenge movie that manages to get funnier with every hyper-gory kill. Admittedly it gets incredibly silly. But Scharfman knows what he’s going for, and the movie’s obvious self-awareness is a key reason it works so well.

Image Courtesy of A24

Another reason it works is the fully committed cast. Rudd and Ortega have a natural father-daughter chemistry that their relationship needs. Meanwhile it’s the Leopolds who provide the laughs. Grant is so good in these roles and it’s no different here. But even funnier is Téa Leoni as Odell’s glaringly phony wife Belinda and Will Poulter as their spoiled and pampered nitwit son Shepard. The latter two delivery one funny line after another, exposing their characters’ insensitivity and entitlement in laugh-out-loud fashion.

Despite how “Death of a Unicorn” may sound, it’s effortlessly easy to get onboard with the wackiness. Scharfman knows how to lure us in. And his keen management of tone and steady flow of humor keeps our expectations in check. Admittedly it would have been nice to see a little more serious attention given to the daughter-daughter relationship at the story’s core. And the movie’s message is far from profound. But it’s hard to complain too much when you’re steadily laughing at the many gags and playfully gasping at the gory retribution.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

REVIEW: “The Woman in the Yard” (2025)

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The latest horror movie in the ever expanding Blumhouse catalog is “The Woman in the Yard”. While it’s straightforward title may not generate the most excitement, the film’s star certainly does. Danielle Deadwyler hasn’t given a bad performance and should have at least two Oscar nominations to her name. So having her attached adds a certain draw that makes this a must-watch for me.

“The Woman in the Yard” is directed by Jaume Collet-Serra who’s perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with Liam Neeson and Dwayne Johnson. But he also helmed one of 2024’s biggest movie surprises in “Carry-On”. Collet-Serra is no stranger to the horror genre, making his directorial debut with 2005’s “House of Wax” and directing the terrific psychological slasher “Orphan” in 2009.

Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

This story follows a mother, Ramona (Deadwyler), her teen son Taylor (Peyton Jackson), and her younger daughter Annie (Estella Kahiha). All three are trying to pick up the pieces after her husband and their father David (Russell Hornsby) was tragically killed in a car accident. It has been especially hard on Ramona whose broken leg pales in comparison to her severe bouts with depression.

The family dynamic is an interesting one, especially during the movie’s first half. We see Ramona struggling physically but more so mentally. She’s overly strict and emotionally detached which is slowly driving a wedge between her and Taylor. He’s doing his best to pick up the slack around the house, but he’s still a boy who deeply misses his dad. Meanwhile young Annie is just trying to process everything the best way she can.

One morning the family wakes up to find the electricity out at their rural farmhouse. Ramona attempts to call the power company but her cell phone is dead. As the three of them gather for breakfast, they’re alarmed at the sight of a strange woman completely shrouded in black, sitting in a chair in their yard. Ramona tries talking to the woman but to no avail. With her identity and motives unclear, the unsettling figure goes from being a creepy mystery to a sinister terror.

Image Courtesy of Universal Pictures

“The Woman in the Yard” is a tough movie to sort out. On the one hand it’s certainly helped by Deadwyler and two sterling performances from young Jackson and Kahiha. The one-location setting proves to be fertile ground for what the movie is going for. And the first half sets the table for a potentially powerful examination of grief. As for the woman, actress Okwui Okpokwasili makes her a terrifying presence.

But the film’s second half begins to unravel once Collet-Serra starts revealing his hand. Even a semi-seasoned horror fan can probably guess who the woman is and/or what she represents. But the bigger issue is in the execution. By the final act things are so muddled that I wasn’t sure what was going on even though I knew what the movie was trying to convey. Sadly the last third drags the film down which is a real shame considering how well it sets itself up early on.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

REVIEW: “A Working Man” (2025)

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Jason Statham is an actor who knows where he shines. He’s a deceptively good actor with a surprising knack for comedy. But his bread and butter is the action genre. Statham has made a name for himself playing tough and gritty characters with his patented intensity and bone-cracking physicality. He certainly brings all of those qualities to his latest feature, “A Working Man”.

This is the latest movie from director David Ayer who’s working from a script he co-wrote with Sylvester Stallone. Their story is based on a 2014 novel by Chuck Dixon entitled “Levon’s Trade. While I can’t speak for the book, there’s nothing especially original about the film’s script, And despite a few sparks, Ayer’s has a tough time maintaining a steady energy. That leaves us relying on Statham whose sturdy charisma holds everything together.

This time around Statham plays Levon Cade, an ex-Royal Marines commando who has put his old life behind him. He now works as a construction manager for a family-owned Chicago-based development business. His employers, Joe (Michael Peña) and Carla (Noemi Gonzalez) Garcia have taken Levon in like family and he has developed a tight relationship with them, especially their spunky 19-year-old daughter, Jenny (Arianna Rivas).

But as always happens in movies like this, Levon is forced back into his old life after Jenny is kidnapped while out on the town with some friends. He makes a pledge to Joe and Carla that he’ll bring their daughter back and then he ‘goes to work’. Human traffickers, drug dealers, corrupt cops, the Russian mafia – they all find their way into the story, clogging things up rather than adding narrative layers as intended.

In several ways “A Working Man” hearkens back to the old-school 1980’s action flicks so many of us grew up on. Statham has always fit into that mold while still possessing his own special brand of action. The 57-year-old gets to show it off throughout the film but not as much as you might expect. That’s because the script packs so much else and has a hard time servicing it all. The slew of villains crammed into it is one thing. But it’s also underdeveloped in other areas including the domestic drama with Levon’s young daughter and his untreated PTSD.

Still Statham ensures “A Working Man” remains watchable throughout. The action we get (though questionably edited at times) is satisfying and Statham gets several good non-action scenes, some of the best being with David Harbour playing Levon’s old military pal. But in the end, the filmmakers pour a lot into what is a pretty thin premise. And despite its bloated middle section which tries to add weight, the overall story is still predictable or formulaic to a fault. “A Working Man” is in theaters now.

VERDICT – 2.5 STARS

REVIEW: “Wake Up” (2025)

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The savvy directing duo of Anouk Whissell and Yoann-Karl Whissell take a fairly simple idea and turn it into something horror-thriller fans should relish. “Wake Up” pits a group of hapless young people against a sociopathic killer – nothing new there. But it’s the gnarly tone, the razor-sharp execution, and the gutsy all-out ending that makes the movie stand out.

Written for the screen by Alberto Marini, “Wake Up” follows six young activists turned vandals looking to support their cause in a most ill-advised way. The group’s leader, Ethan (Benny O. Arthur), his buddy Tyler (Kyle Scudder), the seasoned Yasmin (Jacqueline Moré), the playful Grace (Alessia-Yoko Fontana), the flirty Emily (Charlotte Stoiber), and the newbie, Karim (Thomas Gould) have set their sights on a home improvement superstore known for its animal-unfriendly history.

The crew enters the store and hide inside until closing time. Once the doors are locked and the lights go out, the invaders come out of hiding, put on what looks like papier-mâché masks, and begin ransacking the place while videoing it for their social media followers. They claim to have spent months putting together their plan. But it doesn’t take for the audience to see the gaping holes all in it.

As the vandals are busy on their crusade, two security guards sit in the back room paying no attention to what’s happening in the store. One is Kevin (Turlough Convery), a burly primal hunting enthusiast whose volatility got him moved to the night shift. The other is his brother Jack (Aidan O’Hare) who has done everything he can to help Kevin keep his job. The pair finally notice the intruders on their monitor. But with Jack half-drunk, they skip calling the home office and attempt to scare away the trespassers.

Unfortunately everything that could go wrong does go wrong. The guards and the activists collide, Jack is accidentally killed, and Kevin’s maniacal side takes over, turning him into a bloodthirsty hunter and making the ill-fated activists his prey. From there the filmmakers have a blast seasoning an old-school slasher with classic survival horror elements, building some solid suspense while throwing in some satisfying (and fittingly bloody) kills along the way.

And then there is the ending I alluded to. While it’s nothing especially groundbreaking, it does give the movie a nasty kick that somewhat goes against what we expect from the genre. That said, “Wake Up” does fall into a few of the usual traps that often accompany these movies. Character choices don’t always make sense, there are a few logic lapses, and there is an overall silliness that’s hard to get away from. But the entertainment value is there, in large part thanks to Whissell and Whissell knowing what kind of movie they’re making and nailing the execution.

VERDICT – 3.5 STARS

REVIEW: “The Luckiest Man in America” (2025)

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While it’s true that television game shows are still around, they’re nowhere near the craze they once were. As a kid growing up in the 1980s, game shows by the dozens could be found all across daytime TV. “Card Sharks”, “Scrabble”, “Tic-Tac-Dough”, and “Super Password” are just some of the game shows I would sit and watch most weekdays. But one of my personal favorites was “Press Your Luck” hosted by the late Peter Tomarken.

“Press Your Luck” featured three contestants who amassed spins by answering trivia questions. They then used those spins on a randomized gameboard made up of squares featuring cash, prizes, and extra spins. Their main goal was to win big without hitting a Whammy who would take away all their winnings. “Press Your Luck” grew in popularity, but it gained major media attention in 1984 when a former ice cream truck driver from Ohio named Michael Larson outsmarted the game to the tune of $110,237.

Image Courtesy of IFC Films

In “The Luckiest Man in America”, director Samir Oliveros introduces us to Michael Larson and what became known as the Press Your Luck scandal. Co-written by Oliveros and Maggie Briggs, the film spins the stranger-than-fiction true story into a black comedy of sorts – a move that both helps and hurts the movie. They openly take several wild liberties that manage to add some laughs. But it also takes the story down some roads that never make much sense.

Paul Walter Hauser is terrific as Michael Larson, portrayed as a sheepishly down-on-his-luck ice cream truck driver from Lebanon, Ohio. The film opens up with Michael in Hollywood to audition for his favorite television game show, “Press Your Luck”. He ends up blowing his audition but finds sympathy with the show’s creator and director, Bill Carruthers (David Strathairn). Bill thinks his viewers will love Michael’s story so he books him for the next day’s recording.

Michael spends the last of his money buying a sports jacket at an area thrift store before heading to the studio where the unexpected and improbable happens. After meeting the show’s host, Peter Tomarken (a really good Walton Goggins) and his two fellow contestants (Brian Geraghty and Patti Harrison), Michael settles in to play “Press Your Luck”. And as everyone there soon learns, he has the upper hand.

Basically, Michael had watched the show so much that he had memorized the board’s supposedly random patterns. Before long he’s racking up big winnings which makes Bill Carruthers and his team start to sweat. From there the drama splits time between Michael’s personal chaos, including his underdeveloped situation back home, and the showrunners in the control room who immediately seek to limit the damage.

Image Courtesy of IFC Films

An immensely overqualified supporting cast fill in the gaps starting with Goggins who slides right into his game show host role. Shamier Anderson plays Bill’s moody casting director who is tasked with learning the truth about Michael. Maisie Williams is a sweet addition playing production assistant Sylvia. Johnny Knoxville pops up briefly as a talk show host in the movie’s strangest scene. And a woefully underused Haley Bennett gets little to do as Michael’s wife, Patricia.

While “The Luckiest Man in America” has its version of Michael Larson, it barely cracks the shell of the real man who is well worth reading about. Not of all of the choices work as intended making this open dramatization far less compelling than the true story. But even if you don’t know the history, there’s still enough here to pique your interest. The cast is top-to-bottom strong, and it’s technically impressive from the slyly deceptive sound design by Andrés Velásquez to Lulú Salgado’s transporting production design. So sit back and soak in this crazy tale. But afterwards, slip over to Wikipedia and check out the even crazier true account.

VERDICT – 3 STARS

Movie Poster Spotlight: “I Know What You Did Last Summer” (2025)

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Slasher movies had a mainstream resurgence of sorts in the late 1990s starting with Wes Craven’s “Scream” in 1996 followed by Jim Gillespie’s “I know What You Did Last Summer” in 1997. The latter spawned two sequels – a decent one in 1998 and a direct-to-video disaster in 2006. Now the franchise is getting a new installment which is positioned as a direct sequel to the second film while weirdly sharing the same name as the first film. The movie is being released by Sony Pictures Releasing who just dropped the first simple yet effective poster.

DIRECTOR – Jennifer Kaytin Robinson

WRITERS – Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, Sam Lansky

STARRING – Jennifer Love Hewitt, Freddie Prinze Jr., Madelyn Cline, Sarah Pidgeon, Tyriq Withers, Jonah Hauer-King, Chase Sui Wonders, Billy Campbell, Lola Tung, Nicholas Alexander Chavez, Austin Nichols

RELEASE – July 18, 2025

Check out the killer new poster below and let me know what you think.