The Grisly Cartoon Movie Ending That Stays With Fans
Out of every mature animated films I’ve personally viewed, no other has remained with me quite like the fear-filled ending of the graphically gory and overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
In the year 2015, this Spanish writer-director crafted a grim, somber and often savage universe that included several minor , desolate twinges of hope.
Although Unicorn Wars feels like it originated from a desire to advance animation even more, the filmmaker clarified that it was rather an attempt to express a global, multicultural theme regarding “the common origin of each battle.”
That message is communicated via a group of brightly hued teddy bears , openly inspired by a popular line of cuddly figures.
Being raised in a society centered on aggression as well as the war machine, many of the bears are obsessed with exterminating unicorns, thanks to a religious scripture that tells them they used to be kings of the woodland, until the horned beings forced them out.
Others have not completely fallen for the propaganda, and prefer to sample drugs and mate outdoors.
In contrast to their cuddly equivalents, these vivid animals have visible genitals , obvious libidos.
For a particular especially vicious, pessimistic creature, the character Bluey, the battle with unicorns becomes a road toward dominance — and particularly to authority above his more tender, nicer brother Tubby.
This bear acts as a tormentor and an apparent sociopath , and while horror dominates his group and takes his teammates one by one, he takes increasingly control personally, in increasingly violent, destructive ways.
At the same time, these mythical beings are suffering their own horror, through an expanding, harmful creature in their forest.
“In the early stages, it feels like a comedy,” the director said. “Yet it becomes a more dramatic and sad movie. And by the end, it transforms into a horror film.”
Unicorn Wars commences similar to among the whimsical films from an iconic filmmaker, that discover a mischievous joy in letting drawn beings swear, fire weapons, or sex each other up.
Afterward it turns into more akin to a more grim work by that same director, featuring progressively graphic violence and a palpable link to genuine horror of conflict.
By the end, it’s an outright Grand Guignol massacre.
The fear that turns the film a Halloween-friendly watch kicks in well before than that description suggests.
Unicorn Wars is ideal for the most dedicated fans of gore, for fans of intense movies who want to view a movie they’ve never seen on-screen before, and can endure a plot that offers absolutely no punches.
See it in a dimly lit space free from interruptions, and that ending will dig under your skin and stay with you.
How to view: Offered for streaming or buying on several streaming sites.
