That Gruesome Cartoon Film Ending That Stays With Fans
Among every adult-oriented animated films I have ever viewed, nothing has stuck with me quite like the fear-filled finale of the viscerally violent and overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 Unicorn Wars.
In 2015’s, the Spanish filmmaker created a grim, bleak , frequently brutal world with several minor , forlorn glimmers of optimism.
While Unicorn Wars feels like it stemmed from a drive to expand animation further, the filmmaker clarified that it was rather a try to communicate a widespread, cross-cultural message about “the common origin of all wars.”
That message is conveyed by means of a squad of vividly colored bears , obviously based on a popular series of lovable figures.
Maturing in a community centered on militarism as well as the war machine, many of these creatures are obsessed with exterminating unicorns, because of a holy book which states them they previously were masters of the woodland, until the unicorns expelled them.
Some haven’t fully fallen for the propaganda, , choose to experiment with narcotics and engage sexually in the woods.
In contrast to their friendly counterparts, these vivid animals show sexual organs and definite urges.
For a particular especially vicious, pessimistic creature, the character Bluey, the war against the unicorns turns into a path to power — and especially to dominance above his more tender, nicer brother the bear Tubby.
Bluey is a bully , a seeming sociopath , and while fear overcomes his squad and claims his fellow soldiers individually, he takes increasingly power for himself, in increasingly bloody, destructive ways.
Meanwhile, the unicorns are suffering their own nightmare, through an expanding, deadly beast in their habitat.
“In the early stages, it appears as a lighthearted film,” the director stated. “However it evolves into a more serious and melancholic film. And in the finale, it becomes a horror film.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out resembling among the playful movies by an iconic filmmaker, that uncover a mischievous joy in permitting animated figures swear, shoot each other, or engage sexually.
Afterward it turns into something more like a more grim work by that same creator, featuring progressively explicit brutality and a tangible connection to the actual horror of conflict.
In the finale, it becomes an outright theatrical horror bloodbath.
The terror that turns this a perfect Halloween movie kicks in much sooner than indicated.
The Unicorn Wars is one for the devoted gorehounds, for lovers of intense movies who wish to see a movie they’ve never watched previously, and can endure a plot that pulls absolutely no punches.
See it in a dimly lit space free from interruptions, and the finale will dig under your skin and take up residence there.
How to view: Offered for rental or purchase on multiple online services.