The Gory Cartoon Film Ending That Stays With Fans
Out of every mature animated films I have ever viewed, nothing has stuck with me quite like the terror-laced ending of a graphically gory and highly provocative 2022 movie Unicorn Wars.
In 2015’s, the Spain-based writer-director created a dark, somber , often savage world with several minor , desolate hints of hope.
Although Unicorn Wars feels like it stemmed from a drive to advance the medium even more, the filmmaker stated that it was more a try to express a widespread, cross-cultural message about “the common origin of each battle.”
That message is conveyed via a group of colorful pastel bears , obviously modeled after a famous series of cuddly characters.
Being raised in a society built around aggression and the military-industrial complex, many of these creatures are consumed by exterminating unicorns, because of a sacred text which states the bears they were once masters of the woodland, until these creatures expelled them.
A few haven’t fully accepted the indoctrination, , prefer to try out narcotics and engage sexually in the woods.
In contrast to their cuddly counterparts, these bright beings have visible genitals and clear sex drives.
For one especially vicious, pessimistic creature, the bear named Bluey, the war with unicorns becomes a road to control — and specifically to supremacy over his gentler, more compassionate sibling the character Tubby.
Bluey is a bully and a seeming antisocial figure , and while terror overcomes his group and kills his comrades one by one, he seizes more and more control for himself, via progressively gory, destructive ways.
Meanwhile, the unicorns are enduring their own terror, as a spreading, destructive monster in their habitat.
“At the beginning, it feels like a lighthearted film,” the filmmaker said. “However it evolves into a more dramatic and sorrowful movie. And in the finale, it becomes a horror film.”
The Unicorn Wars commences resembling one of the more playful features by a renowned filmmaker, that discover a wicked pleasure in allowing animated figures curse, engage in violence, or engage sexually.
Afterward it becomes something more like a bleaker work from that director, with increasingly graphic violence and a tangible connection to genuine tragedy of war.
By the end, it is a complete Grand Guignol bloodbath.
The terror that makes the film a Halloween-friendly viewing begins much sooner than that description suggests.
Unicorn Wars is ideal for the devoted lovers of violence, for lovers of extreme cinema who wish to see a film they’ve never viewed until now, and are able to withstand a story which delivers unflinching brutality.
See it in a dimly lit space free from interruptions, and that ending will crawl under your skin and take up residence there.
Availability: Accessible via digital rental or sale on various streaming sites.
