That Gruesome Cartoon Movie Ending That Lingers Audiences
Among all the mature animated films I have personally viewed, nothing has stuck with me quite like the fear-filled finale of the viscerally violent and highly provocative film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, the Spanish writer-director crafted a dark, melancholy and frequently brutal universe with some tiny , forlorn hints of optimism.
Although The Unicorn Wars seems like it came from an impulse to advance the medium further, the director clarified that it was rather a try to communicate a global, cross-cultural theme concerning “the common origin of all wars.”
That message is communicated by means of a squad of colorful pastel bears , obviously inspired by a popular series of cuddly figures.
Growing up in a culture focused on warmongering as well as the military-industrial complex, many of these creatures are obsessed with exterminating unicorns, because of a holy book that tells them they previously were rulers of the forest, until the unicorns expelled them.
A few did not entirely bought into the brainwashing, , would rather experiment with narcotics and fornicate outdoors.
Unlike their friendly equivalents, these colorful critters display genitals and definite libidos.
For a certain especially vicious, skeptical animal, the character Bluey, the conflict against unicorns turns into a path to power — and especially to supremacy above his more tender, nicer brother Tubby.
The character behaves aggressively and an apparent psychopath , and as terror overcomes his group and claims his comrades individually, he takes increasingly influence for himself, via progressively violent, damaging approaches.
Simultaneously, these mythical beings are suffering their own terror, as a growing, harmful creature in their habitat.
“At the beginning, it seems like a lighthearted film,” the director said. “But then it turns into a more dramatic and melancholic movie. And by the end, it transforms into a scary feature.”
Unicorn Wars begins feeling a bit like one of the more quirky features by an iconic filmmaker, which find a mischievous joy in permitting cartoon characters curse, engage in violence, or have intimate relations.
Then it turns into closer to a more grim work by that same artist, with increasingly explicit brutality , a noticeable relation to the actual tragedy of conflict.
Ultimately, it becomes a complete extreme drama carnage.
The terror that turns the film an ideal spooky-season watch begins much sooner than one might expect.
The Unicorn Wars is suited for the hardcore gorehounds, for lovers of intense movies who wish to watch something they’ve never seen on-screen before, and who can handle a plot which delivers absolutely no punches.
View it in a dark room with no disturbances, and the conclusion will dig deep within you and linger.
Where to watch: Offered for digital rental or sale on multiple streaming sites.
