"Although it imbues a dreamlike aesthetic throughout, the central storyline throughout Dead Unicorns is a Hitchcockian like tale of murder, kidnapping and deceit"

Although it imbues a dreamlike aesthetic throughout, the central storyline throughout Dead Unicorns is a Hitchcockian like tale of murder, kidnapping and deceit.

Set in a world that involves pretentious art performances, balloon fetishes and thrash metal meditation, the central (and only really likeable) character is Amy (Michelle Crane), a young artist who is called upon to investigate the strange disappearance of her mentor Diana (Rosalind Stockwell). As she delves deeper into the mystery, the dangers become more and more apparent while the central revelation may have something to do with a key event in her own personal family history.

The story is smart enough, but it’s not helped by some heavy dialogue, extremely wooden dialogue delivery across the board, character actions that make little sense and more than of its fair share of truly unpleasant individuals (even if one minor character gets an amusing comeuppance).

It is well constructed on a technical level by writer/director Ian Fielding (who also edits and shoots) and the multiple dream sequences do make sense in their own way, but with such a range of characters being so infuriating, it remains a difficult film to truly engage with.