That Gruesome Cartoon Movie Ending That Haunts Fans
Out of every adult-oriented animated films I’ve ever watched, nothing has lingered in my mind quite like the terror-laced finale of a graphically gory as well as overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, the Spanish writer-director crafted a grim, melancholy , frequently brutal universe with several minor , desolate hints of hope.
Although Unicorn Wars appears as it stemmed from an impulse to advance the medium even more, the director stated that it was rather an effort to convey a global, cross-cultural theme about “the common origin of each battle.”
This theme is communicated via a band of vividly colored bears , obviously modeled after a well-known series of lovable characters.
Being raised in a society focused on militarism and the defense industry, many of the bears are obsessed with exterminating the mythical beasts, because of a religious scripture that claims them they were once rulers of the forest, until these creatures forced them out.
A few haven’t fully fallen for the brainwashing, and prefer to sample drugs and engage sexually outdoors.
In contrast to their cuddly equivalents, these colorful critters show genitals and obvious urges.
For a particular particularly cruel, skeptical animal, the character Bluey, the war with unicorns transforms into a route to power — and particularly to dominance above his softer, kinder brother the character Tubby.
Bluey acts as a tormentor and an apparent sociopath , and as horror overcomes his group and claims his comrades sequentially, he seizes increasingly influence personally, in increasingly gory, harmful methods.
At the same time, these mythical beings are enduring their own terror, as a spreading, deadly beast in their woods.
“Initially, it seems like a lighthearted film,” the filmmaker said. “Yet it turns into a more intense and sad film. And by the end, it becomes a terrifying movie.”
Unicorn Wars begins similar to among the quirky films from a renowned animator, which find a mischievous joy in letting animated figures curse, fire weapons, or sex each other up.
Then it turns into more akin to a darker work from the same creator, featuring progressively graphic violence , a noticeable link to the actual horror of war.
By the end, it becomes an outright Grand Guignol carnage.
The horror that turns the film an ideal spooky-season watch starts well before than indicated.
Unicorn Wars is one for the most dedicated fans of gore, for fans of extreme cinema who want to see a movie they haven’t ever seen on-screen before, and are able to withstand a plot that offers absolutely no punches.
See it in a dimly lit space free from interruptions, and the conclusion will dig under your skin and linger.
How to view: Offered for digital rental or sale on multiple digital platforms.
