The Gruesome Animated Film Ending That Haunts Viewers
Out of all the mature cartoon movies I’ve personally watched, no other has lingered in my mind quite like the dread-soaked ending of the explicitly bloody as well as highly provocative film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
In the year 2015, the Spanish writer-director created a dark, somber and frequently brutal universe with a few small , desolate hints of hope.
While Unicorn Wars seems like it came from a desire to push animation further, the director explained that it was more an effort to convey a widespread, multicultural message concerning “the common origin of every conflict.”
That idea is conveyed through a squad of colorful pastel bears , obviously inspired by a famous line of lovable figures.
Being raised in a culture focused on aggression and the defense industry, numerous the bears are fixated on exterminating the mythical beasts, due to a religious scripture which states the bears they were once kings of the woodland, before the horned beings drove them out.
A few did not entirely bought into the propaganda, and prefer to try out drugs or fornicate in the woods.
Unlike their friendly counterparts, these colorful critters have visible sexual organs and definite libidos.
For one notably brutal, cynical bear, the character Bluey, the battle against unicorns transforms into a road to control — and specifically to authority above his more tender, more compassionate sibling the character Tubby.
This bear behaves aggressively , an apparent antisocial figure , and while horror dominates his unit and kills his teammates individually, he seizes increasingly influence on his own behalf, via progressively gory, damaging approaches.
Meanwhile, these mythical beings are enduring their own horror, through a growing, deadly beast in their woods.
“Initially, it feels like a comedy,” the director commented. “However it evolves into a more dramatic and sorrowful film. And in the finale, it becomes a horror film.”
Unicorn Wars begins feeling a bit like among the whimsical features from an iconic animator, that uncover a mischievous joy in allowing drawn beings swear, shoot each other, or engage sexually.
Afterward it becomes closer to a darker movie from that artist, with increasingly explicit brutality , a palpable relation to the real horror of war.
In the finale, it’s a complete Grand Guignol bloodbath.
The horror that turns the film a Halloween-friendly watch starts a lot earlier than that description suggests.
The Unicorn Wars is one for the hardcore fans of gore, for fans of graphic films who want to see a movie they’ve never watched previously, and can endure a story that pulls absolutely no punches.
Watch it in a dark room with no disturbances, and the finale will crawl under your skin and stay with you.
Where to watch: Accessible via rental or purchase on several online services.
