The Gory Cartoon Film Ending That Lingers Audiences
Among every mature animated films I have personally viewed, nothing has lingered in my mind quite like the fear-filled conclusion of the viscerally violent as well as deeply subversive 2022 movie The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, this Spanish filmmaker developed a grim, bleak , often savage universe that included a few small , desolate glimmers of optimism.
Although The Unicorn Wars feels like it stemmed from a drive to push the medium further, the director stated that it was actually an effort to communicate a global, multicultural theme about “the mutual source of every conflict.”
That idea is expressed by means of a group of colorful pastel bears , openly based on a popular series of lovable characters.
Growing up in a society centered on warmongering as well as the defense industry, numerous these creatures are fixated on exterminating the mythical beasts, due to a religious scripture that claims them they used to be rulers of the woods, until the unicorns drove them out.
Some did not entirely accepted the brainwashing, , prefer to experiment with narcotics or engage sexually in the woods.
In contrast to their gentle counterparts, these colorful critters display genitals , obvious urges.
For one especially vicious, skeptical animal, the character Bluey, the conflict against the unicorns becomes a path to control — and specifically to authority above his more tender, more compassionate sibling the bear Tubby.
This bear acts as a tormentor and an apparent psychopath , and while fear takes over his unit and kills his comrades one by one, he grabs increasingly control for himself, through ever more violent, harmful methods.
Simultaneously, the horned creatures are experiencing their own terror, in the form of an expanding, deadly beast in their woods.
“At the beginning, it feels like a humorous movie,” the filmmaker said. “However it turns into a more dramatic and sorrowful film. And ultimately, it becomes a terrifying movie.”
Unicorn Wars begins similar to one of the more quirky features by an iconic animator, that discover a mischievous joy in letting animated figures curse, shoot each other, or engage sexually.
Afterward it evolves into more akin to a more grim film from that artist, with increasingly explicit brutality and a palpable relation to the real tragedy of war.
Ultimately, it’s an outright Grand Guignol massacre.
The terror that makes the film a perfect Halloween watch starts well before than one might expect.
The Unicorn Wars is one for the hardcore fans of gore, for lovers of extreme cinema who wish to view something they have not watched previously, and can endure a story that pulls absolutely no punches.
See it in a dark room with no disturbances, and that ending will dig into your mind and stay with you.
How to view: Accessible via rental or purchase on several online services.
