The Grisly Cartoon Film Ending That Haunts Audiences
Among every adult-oriented animated films I’ve personally viewed, nothing has lingered in my mind as much as the terror-laced ending of the explicitly bloody as well as overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
In 2015’s, this Spain-based writer-director developed a grim, somber and frequently brutal world that included a few small , desolate hints of hope.
Although The Unicorn Wars seems like it came from a drive to advance the medium further, the filmmaker clarified that it was actually an attempt to convey a widespread, multicultural message regarding “the mutual source of all wars.”
This theme is conveyed through a band of brightly hued teddy bears , obviously modeled after a popular series of lovable figures.
Maturing in a society built around militarism and the defense industry, a lot of these animals are obsessed with slaughtering unicorns, due to a religious scripture which states them they were once masters of the woodland, before the unicorns expelled them.
A few have not completely bought into the indoctrination, and choose to try out substances or fornicate in the woods.
In contrast to their friendly counterparts, these colorful critters show genitals , clear sex drives.
For a particular particularly cruel, skeptical animal, the character Bluey, the conflict with unicorns transforms into a path toward dominance — and particularly to dominance over his gentler, more compassionate sibling the bear Tubby.
The character is a bully , an obvious sociopath , and while terror takes over his group and claims his fellow soldiers individually, he takes more and more influence for himself, through ever more gory, harmful methods.
At the same time, the horned creatures are enduring their own horror, as a growing, deadly beast in their habitat.
“Initially, it seems like a comedy,” the director said. “But then it turns into a more serious and melancholic movie. And ultimately, it becomes a scary feature.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out resembling one of the most quirky movies by a renowned animator, which find a mischievous joy in allowing cartoon characters swear, engage in violence, or sex each other up.
Afterward it evolves into something more like a bleaker movie from the same creator, featuring progressively graphic violence and a palpable connection to the actual horror of war.
By the end, it becomes an outright Grand Guignol massacre.
The fear that makes the film a Halloween-friendly viewing begins a lot earlier than indicated.
The Unicorn Wars is suited for the most dedicated fans of gore, for lovers of intense movies who wish to watch something they’ve never watched previously, and can endure a plot that offers no restraint.
View it with the lights off free from interruptions, and the conclusion will burrow deep within you and linger.
How to view: Available for streaming or buying on multiple digital platforms.
