The Gruesome Animated Film Conclusion That Stays With Viewers
Out of all the adult-oriented cartoon movies I’ve personally watched, nothing has stuck with me quite like the dread-soaked ending of a graphically gory as well as overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, the Spanish filmmaker created a grim, bleak , frequently brutal world with several minor , desolate twinges of optimism.
While Unicorn Wars seems like it originated from a drive to push animation even more, the director explained that it was actually a try to communicate a widespread, cross-cultural theme concerning “the shared root of all wars.”
This theme is conveyed via a band of colorful pastel bears , obviously modeled after a popular line of lovable figures.
Maturing in a culture centered on aggression as well as the war machine, a lot of these animals are obsessed with killing the mythical beasts, thanks to a religious scripture that claims the bears they were once kings of the woods, before the unicorns drove them out.
A few have not completely accepted the brainwashing, and would rather experiment with narcotics and engage sexually outdoors.
In contrast to their friendly counterparts, these vivid animals display sexual organs , obvious urges.
For a particular particularly cruel, skeptical animal, the bear named Bluey, the battle with the unicorns turns into a path to power — and specifically to dominance over his more tender, kinder brother Tubby.
The character is a bully and an apparent antisocial figure , and while terror overcomes his unit and kills his teammates one by one, he takes increasingly power personally, in increasingly gory, destructive ways.
Simultaneously, these mythical beings are experiencing their own terror, through an expanding, destructive monster in their habitat.
“Initially, it feels like a lighthearted film,” the filmmaker commented. “But then it turns into a more serious and melancholic film. And in the finale, it transforms into a terrifying movie.”
Unicorn Wars starts out resembling one of the more whimsical features by a renowned animator, that uncover a naughty glee in permitting animated figures swear, shoot each other, or sex each other up.
Afterward it evolves into closer to a bleaker film from the same artist, with increasingly explicit brutality , a palpable link to the actual horror of war.
In the finale, it becomes an outright extreme drama bloodbath.
The fear that turns this a Halloween-friendly movie starts much sooner than one might expect.
The Unicorn Wars is one for the most dedicated lovers of violence, for lovers of intense movies who want to see something they haven’t ever watched previously, and are able to withstand a story that offers unflinching brutality.
View it in a dimly lit space free from interruptions, and that ending will burrow under your skin and stay with you.
How to view: Available for rental or purchase on various streaming sites.
