The Gory Cartoon Film Conclusion That Haunts Audiences
Among every mature animated films I have ever watched, no other has remained with me as much as the terror-laced ending of the explicitly bloody as well as overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, the Spanish writer-director developed a dark, somber and frequently brutal universe that included a few small , desolate twinges of optimism.
Although Unicorn Wars seems like it stemmed from a desire to advance the medium further, the filmmaker stated that it was rather an attempt to communicate a widespread, multicultural message about “the common origin of every conflict.”
This theme is expressed via a group of colorful pastel bears , openly modeled after a popular line of cuddly figures.
Being raised in a culture built around militarism and the military-industrial complex, a lot of the bears are fixated on exterminating unicorns, thanks to a religious scripture which states them they previously were kings of the woods, before these creatures drove them out.
A few have not completely accepted the indoctrination, and would rather try out narcotics and fornicate in the forest.
In contrast to their cuddly equivalents, these colorful critters have visible sexual organs and obvious sex drives.
For one especially vicious, cynical bear, the bear named Bluey, the conflict with unicorns transforms into a route toward dominance — and especially to supremacy above his softer, more compassionate sibling the bear Tubby.
The character behaves aggressively and an obvious antisocial figure , and while terror overcomes his unit and kills his teammates sequentially, he grabs increasingly control on his own behalf, in increasingly gory, harmful methods.
Simultaneously, the unicorns are experiencing their own horror, through an expanding, deadly beast in their forest.
“Initially, it feels like a lighthearted film,” the director said. “Yet it turns into a more dramatic and melancholic movie. And in the finale, it’s a terrifying movie.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out resembling one of the more whimsical movies by an iconic animator, which find a mischievous joy in letting drawn beings curse, shoot each other, or sex each other up.
Subsequently it becomes closer to a more grim movie by that same artist, with increasingly explicit brutality , a noticeable connection to the real tragedy of war.
By the end, it’s an outright theatrical horror bloodbath.
The terror that turns this a Halloween-friendly movie starts well before than one might expect.
Unicorn Wars is ideal for the hardcore gorehounds, for fans of intense movies who want to watch something they’ve never watched previously, and are able to withstand a story which delivers unflinching brutality.
See it in a dimly lit space free from interruptions, and the finale will crawl into your mind and take up residence there.
How to view: Available for rental or purchase on multiple digital platforms.
