The Gruesome Cartoon Movie Ending That Lingers Viewers
Out of all the mature animated films I’ve personally watched, no other has remained with me as much as the terror-laced ending of the viscerally violent and highly provocative film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, this Spain-based writer-director created a dark, bleak , frequently brutal world that included a few small , desolate twinges of optimism.
While The Unicorn Wars feels like it came from a desire to expand animation further, the director stated that it was rather a try to communicate a universal, cross-cultural theme about “the common origin of each battle.”
This theme is expressed by means of a group of vividly colored bears , clearly based on a well-known series of cuddly characters.
Growing up in a society built around warmongering as well as the military-industrial complex, numerous these animals are fixated on killing unicorns, because of a sacred text which states them they previously were kings of the forest, until the horned beings expelled them.
A few did not entirely fallen for the propaganda, , would rather experiment with substances or mate outdoors.
Unlike their gentle counterparts, these bright beings have visible sexual organs , obvious sex drives.
For a particular especially vicious, cynical bear, Bluey, the war with unicorns turns into a road toward dominance — and especially to supremacy above his more tender, more compassionate sibling the character Tubby.
Bluey behaves aggressively , a seeming antisocial figure , and as horror takes over his squad and claims his fellow soldiers sequentially, he takes progressively influence on his own behalf, in increasingly bloody, damaging approaches.
At the same time, the horned creatures are suffering their own terror, in the form of an expanding, deadly beast in their habitat.
“In the early stages, it seems like a humorous movie,” the director commented. “But then it becomes a more intense and sorrowful film. And by the end, it transforms into a horror film.”
The Unicorn Wars begins similar to one of the more quirky features from an iconic filmmaker, that uncover a mischievous joy in permitting animated figures curse, shoot each other, or have intimate relations.
Subsequently it evolves into more akin to a darker movie by that same creator, featuring progressively graphic violence and a palpable relation to the actual suffering of battle.
By the end, it becomes a complete extreme drama bloodbath.
The fear which makes the film a perfect Halloween watch starts a lot earlier than one might expect.
Unicorn Wars is suited for the devoted fans of gore, for enthusiasts of graphic films who want to view something they’ve never viewed until now, and who can handle a narrative which delivers no restraint.
Watch it in a dimly lit space free from interruptions, and the conclusion will dig deep within you and linger.
How to view: Offered for rental or purchase on various digital platforms.
