That Grisly Cartoon Film Ending That Stays With Audiences
Out of every adult-oriented animated films I’ve personally viewed, no other has stuck with me as much as the terror-laced ending of a viscerally violent and overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
Back in 2015’s, the Spain-based writer-director developed a grim, melancholy and frequently brutal world that included some tiny , desolate hints of hope.
While Unicorn Wars feels like it came from a drive to expand animation even more, the filmmaker explained that it was actually a try to communicate a universal, multicultural message about “the common origin of every conflict.”
That message is conveyed via a squad of vividly colored bears , openly inspired by a popular series of lovable characters.
Maturing in a society centered on aggression and the military-industrial complex, many of the bears are consumed by killing the mythical beasts, due to a sacred text that tells them they were once rulers of the forest, before the unicorns expelled them.
Some have not completely accepted the brainwashing, and prefer to try out substances and engage sexually outdoors.
Unlike their gentle equivalents, these bright beings have visible sexual organs , definite libidos.
For a certain notably brutal, cynical bear, the bear named Bluey, the war with the unicorns turns into a path to control — and particularly to authority over his softer, more compassionate sibling the character Tubby.
This bear is a bully , a seeming psychopath , and when horror dominates his squad and claims his fellow soldiers one by one, he takes increasingly power personally, in increasingly violent, destructive ways.
Meanwhile, these mythical beings are suffering their own terror, through an expanding, deadly beast in their forest.
“In the early stages, it seems like a comedy,” the director stated. “However it becomes a more intense and sad film. And ultimately, it becomes a scary feature.”
The Unicorn Wars begins feeling a bit like among the quirky films from an iconic animator, that uncover a mischievous joy in allowing drawn beings curse, engage in violence, or engage sexually.
Subsequently it evolves into more akin to a more grim work from the same artist, including ever more explicit brutality , a palpable relation to the actual horror of conflict.
In the finale, it becomes an outright theatrical horror carnage.
The horror that turns the film a perfect Halloween movie starts much sooner than one might expect.
The Unicorn Wars is suited for the most dedicated fans of gore, for fans of extreme cinema who want to see something they have not seen on-screen before, and can endure a story which delivers unflinching brutality.
View it with the lights off without any distractions, and the finale will burrow deep within you and linger.
Availability: Accessible via digital rental or sale on several digital platforms.
