That Gruesome Cartoon Movie Conclusion That Haunts Audiences
Out of every mature animated films I have personally viewed, nothing has stuck with me as much as the fear-filled finale of the viscerally violent and overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 Unicorn Wars.
In 2015’s, the Spain-based writer-director created a dark, melancholy , often savage world that included some tiny , desolate twinges of hope.
While Unicorn Wars seems like it originated from a drive to advance the medium even more, the filmmaker explained that it was rather an effort to communicate a universal, multicultural message about “the shared root of each battle.”
That idea is communicated via a squad of brightly hued teddy bears , openly based on a famous series of cuddly characters.
Being raised in a culture centered on militarism and the defense industry, a lot of these creatures are obsessed with killing unicorns, because of a sacred text that claims the bears they previously were masters of the woods, until the unicorns drove them out.
Some haven’t fully fallen for the indoctrination, , prefer to try out substances or engage sexually outdoors.
Unlike their gentle counterparts, these colorful critters have visible genitals and definite sex drives.
For a certain especially vicious, pessimistic creature, Bluey, the war against unicorns turns into a route toward dominance — and specifically to authority above his gentler, nicer brother the bear Tubby.
This bear behaves aggressively , a seeming sociopath , and when terror takes over his unit and claims his fellow soldiers sequentially, he seizes more and more control for himself, in increasingly bloody, damaging approaches.
Meanwhile, the unicorns are experiencing their own nightmare, in the form of an expanding, destructive monster in their woods.
“In the early stages, it appears as a comedy,” the director commented. “But then it evolves into a more intense and sorrowful movie. And ultimately, it becomes a horror film.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out resembling one of the more playful movies by a renowned filmmaker, which find a mischievous joy in letting drawn beings curse, shoot each other, or sex each other up.
Afterward it evolves into closer to a darker film by that same artist, with increasingly graphic violence , a palpable connection to genuine tragedy of battle.
Ultimately, it is an outright theatrical horror bloodbath.
The terror which makes the film a Halloween-friendly viewing begins much sooner than that description suggests.
Unicorn Wars is suited for the devoted lovers of violence, for lovers of extreme cinema who wish to view a film they haven’t ever seen on-screen before, and are able to withstand a narrative that offers unflinching brutality.
View it in a dimly lit space with no disturbances, and the finale will burrow into your mind and stay with you.
Where to watch: Offered for streaming or buying on multiple digital platforms.
