You mess with the unicorn, you get the horn.

This is me talking to the parents who see the word “Unicorn” on the “Death of a Unicorn” poster. This is not for kids. This movie is Rated R for strong violent content, gore, language, and some drug use. I think we can agree that “My Little Pony” has never gone on a bloody rampage before, and they’re going to be frightened of this movie. Little girls thought that “Ted” was for them because the teddy bear was on the poster; a grandma thought “Dirty Grandpa” was for kids because the word “Grandpa” was in the title; and I once got a complaint from an adult that kids were in the audience for “Strays,” because they thought that all dog movies are made for them. And now, I’m telling you parents to check the rating for this movie.

And now, this is me talking to everyone else. A few weeks ago, Netflix streamers had to make “The Electric State” a hit, despite the fact that the robots looked and felt cheap, the story was lame, and the performances were bad. And the whole thing cost $320 million to make, which makes me mad, considering all the better things that could be done with that amount of money.

A few weeks later, I got a look at the new A24 horror-fantasy-comedy “Death of a Unicorn,” which was obviously made on a low budget, but is a lot more entertaining. It’s one that reminds me of “Deep Blue Sea,” which was about how scientists were using sharks to help them find a cure for Alzheimer’s, but became part of their All You Can Eat buffet. This one uses a dead unicorn for the cure for cancer, and we can assume that its parents aren’t going to be farting rainbows at these scientists.

As the film begins, a father and daughter named Elliot (Paul Rudd) and Ridley Kintner (Jenna Ortega) both travel for a crisis management meeting at an estate, in which its background looks like a “Lord of the Rings” setting. En route, they hit a unicorn, and bring its corpse in their rental car.

The owners of the estate consist of the terminally ill Odell Leopold (Richard E. Grant), who is Elliot’s boss, his wife Belinda (Tea Leoni in her first movie role since “Tower Heist”), who looks and feels the part of a social climbing wife, and their son Shepard (Will Poulter), whose tacky shorts and quirkiness seem to make him worthy of joining the Bushwood Country Club from “Caddyshack.” And to keep things nostalgic, one of their servants is Griff (Anthony Carrigan), who looks like a descendant of Erich von Stroheim’s Max character in “Sunset Boulevard” with his bald head.

They’re all shocked at the presence of a unicorn, although they act like they’ve never seen or heard of that name before. Only Ridley knows what it is, as far as I’m concerned. But either way, they discover that it can cure any illness or injury, including cancer, and so, bring on the scientists and review boards. But of course, they have to ignore Ridley’s warnings about the dangers that could unfold. And look what happens now.

Now the CGI effects for these unicorns can be corny (which is why you barely see them in the trailers), but they are still menacing enough for this movie to reflect on their potential. And as an A24 movie (written and directed by Alex Scharfman in his feature directorial debut and produced by Ari Aster, Rudd, and Ortega), “Death of a Unicorn” blends all four genres quite well. It knows how to be scary, funny, thrilling, and visually impressive, especially when there are scenes that look like the perfect drug trip. And even though we’ve seen this kind of story before, we’re still entertained by its choices.

I admire Ortega trying to be the sensible one (and she continues to shine as a young actress in her 20s), Rudd, Leoni, Poulter, and Carrigan all adding some sly wit in the mix, and Grant delivering on his character’s greed. These actors are all able to have fun with this particular blend of genres with such a mythical creature.

Even though I gave the “Snow White” remake a negative review, I still think little girls are better off wearing their cute dresses and seeing that. And as for the rest of us, “Death of a Unicorn” is wickedly funny and bloody entertaining.