That Grisly Cartoon Film Ending That Haunts Viewers
Out of all the mature animated films I have personally watched, no other has stuck with me as much as the fear-filled finale of the viscerally violent and deeply subversive 2022 movie The Unicorn Wars.
In 2015’s, the Spain-based filmmaker developed a dark, melancholy and often savage world with several minor , forlorn glimmers of hope.
While The Unicorn Wars feels like it stemmed from an impulse to push animation further, the director explained that it was rather an effort to convey a widespread, multicultural theme concerning “the common origin of all wars.”
That idea is conveyed through a group of colorful pastel bears , clearly modeled after a well-known line of lovable characters.
Being raised in a society focused on aggression and the war machine, numerous the bears are obsessed with slaughtering unicorns, due to a religious scripture which states them they used to be kings of the forest, before the horned beings expelled them.
A few have not completely accepted the propaganda, , prefer to experiment with drugs and engage sexually in the woods.
In contrast to their friendly counterparts, these vivid animals display sexual organs , definite urges.
For a certain especially vicious, cynical bear, Bluey, the battle with unicorns becomes a route to control — and particularly to authority above his more tender, more compassionate sibling the character Tubby.
The character behaves aggressively and an apparent sociopath , and as fear dominates his unit and kills his teammates one by one, he seizes more and more power personally, through ever more violent, destructive ways.
Meanwhile, the horned creatures are experiencing their own nightmare, in the form of a growing, destructive monster in their habitat.
“Initially, it feels like a humorous movie,” the filmmaker said. “However it evolves into a more intense and sorrowful film. And ultimately, it becomes a horror film.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out resembling one of the most whimsical movies by an iconic animator, that discover a naughty glee in permitting drawn beings curse, fire weapons, or sex each other up.
Afterward it turns into something more like a more grim film by that same artist, with increasingly visual gore and a tangible link to genuine suffering of war.
By the end, it’s an outright extreme drama bloodbath.
The horror that makes this an ideal spooky-season viewing starts much sooner than indicated.
The Unicorn Wars is one for the most dedicated fans of gore, for lovers of intense movies who wish to view a film they’ve never seen on-screen before, and are able to withstand a story that pulls absolutely no punches.
Watch it in a dark room free from interruptions, and the conclusion will dig under your skin and stay with you.
How to view: Accessible via digital rental or sale on several digital platforms.
