The Grisly Cartoon Film Ending That Haunts Fans
Among all the adult-oriented animated films I have personally watched, nothing has remained with me as much as the fear-filled conclusion of the explicitly bloody as well as deeply subversive 2022 movie The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, the Spain-based writer-director created a grim, melancholy and often savage universe with some tiny , forlorn glimmers of hope.
Although The Unicorn Wars appears as it stemmed from an impulse to push animation further, the filmmaker clarified that it was rather a try to communicate a universal, cross-cultural theme about “the common origin of every conflict.”
That message is expressed via a group of brightly hued teddy bears , obviously based on a famous line of lovable figures.
Maturing in a society centered on aggression as well as the war machine, numerous these creatures are consumed by slaughtering the mythical beasts, due to a religious scripture that tells the bears they previously were kings of the woodland, until the unicorns forced them out.
Others have not completely accepted the indoctrination, and prefer to sample substances and mate in the woods.
Unlike their friendly counterparts, these colorful critters have visible genitals and obvious urges.
For a particular especially vicious, pessimistic creature, the bear named Bluey, the conflict with the unicorns turns into a path to control — and especially to authority over his more tender, nicer brother the character Tubby.
The character acts as a tormentor and an apparent psychopath , and when horror overcomes his group and claims his fellow soldiers individually, he grabs more and more power for himself, via progressively bloody, damaging approaches.
At the same time, the horned creatures are enduring their own nightmare, as a growing, destructive monster in their forest.
“In the early stages, it appears as a humorous movie,” the director commented. “But then it turns into a more dramatic and sorrowful film. And ultimately, it becomes a terrifying movie.”
The Unicorn Wars commences feeling a bit like one of the most whimsical movies by a legendary animator, that discover a mischievous joy in letting drawn beings curse, fire weapons, or sex each other up.
Afterward it turns into more akin to a more grim film by that same director, featuring progressively graphic violence and a tangible link to genuine suffering of battle.
In the finale, it’s a full-on Grand Guignol massacre.
The terror that turns the film a perfect Halloween movie begins a lot earlier than indicated.
Unicorn Wars is suited for the devoted lovers of violence, for fans of extreme cinema who desire to view something they haven’t ever seen on-screen before, and are able to withstand a story that offers no restraint.
View it in a dark room with no disturbances, and that ending will dig into your mind and take up residence there.
How to view: Accessible via rental or purchase on various digital platforms.
