The Grisly Cartoon Film Ending That Lingers Fans
Among all the mature cartoon movies I’ve ever watched, no other has remained with me quite like the terror-laced finale of the viscerally violent as well as overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
In the year 2015, this Spanish writer-director crafted a grim, melancholy , often savage universe with a few small , forlorn hints of optimism.
Although Unicorn Wars feels like it originated from a desire to push the medium further, the filmmaker stated that it was more a try to convey a global, multicultural message concerning “the shared root of all wars.”
That message is communicated through a band of vividly colored bears , clearly inspired by a popular series of lovable figures.
Growing up in a community focused on warmongering as well as the military-industrial complex, a lot of these animals are obsessed with killing the mythical beasts, due to a sacred text that tells them they used to be rulers of the forest, until the unicorns expelled them.
Some did not entirely bought into the brainwashing, and would rather sample substances and fornicate in the forest.
Unlike their friendly equivalents, these colorful critters display sexual organs , definite urges.
For a certain notably brutal, cynical bear, the character Bluey, the battle against unicorns becomes a path to power — and specifically to supremacy over his more tender, nicer brother Tubby.
Bluey behaves aggressively and an apparent antisocial figure , and as horror overcomes his unit and takes his comrades one by one, he grabs increasingly power for himself, through ever more violent, damaging approaches.
At the same time, the horned creatures are enduring their own nightmare, in the form of a spreading, harmful creature in their woods.
“At the beginning, it feels like a lighthearted film,” the filmmaker stated. “Yet it becomes a more serious and sorrowful movie. And ultimately, it becomes a horror film.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out similar to among the whimsical movies from a renowned animator, which find a mischievous joy in permitting cartoon characters swear, shoot each other, or sex each other up.
Subsequently it becomes more akin to a more grim movie from that creator, with increasingly visual gore and a tangible relation to the actual suffering of battle.
In the finale, it becomes a complete theatrical horror carnage.
The terror that makes this a perfect Halloween watch begins well before than that description suggests.
The Unicorn Wars is suited for the most dedicated gorehounds, for enthusiasts of extreme cinema who wish to see something they’ve never viewed until now, and are able to withstand a plot that pulls absolutely no punches.
View it in a dark room with no disturbances, and that ending will crawl into your mind and take up residence there.
How to view: Offered for streaming or buying on several digital platforms.
