The Gory Animated Movie Ending That Stays With Viewers
Out of all the adult-oriented cartoon movies I’ve ever watched, no other has stuck with me as much as the fear-filled ending of the explicitly bloody and deeply subversive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, this Spain-based filmmaker created a grim, melancholy , often savage world that included some tiny , desolate hints of hope.
Although Unicorn Wars feels like it stemmed from a drive to expand animation even more, the director explained that it was rather an effort to communicate a universal, cross-cultural message regarding “the common origin of all wars.”
That idea is conveyed by means of a band of vividly colored bears , clearly based on a popular series of cuddly figures.
Being raised in a culture focused on aggression and the war machine, many of these animals are obsessed with killing unicorns, because of a holy book which states the bears they used to be masters of the forest, before the horned beings expelled them.
Some did not entirely accepted the brainwashing, , would rather sample narcotics or mate in the forest.
Unlike their cuddly counterparts, these vivid animals display genitals , clear sex drives.
For a certain particularly cruel, cynical bear, the character Bluey, the war against unicorns transforms into a route toward dominance — and especially to dominance over his softer, more compassionate sibling the character Tubby.
This bear is a bully and an obvious psychopath , and when terror takes over his group and takes his fellow soldiers sequentially, he seizes more and more control personally, via progressively bloody, destructive ways.
Meanwhile, these mythical beings are enduring their own horror, as a growing, destructive monster in their habitat.
“At the beginning, it seems like a comedy,” the filmmaker said. “But then it becomes a more intense and sorrowful film. And by the end, it transforms into a scary feature.”
Unicorn Wars starts out resembling one of the most whimsical films from an iconic animator, that uncover a naughty glee in allowing drawn beings curse, shoot each other, or have intimate relations.
Then it evolves into something more like a darker work from that director, with increasingly visual gore and a tangible link to genuine horror of battle.
In the finale, it is an outright extreme drama massacre.
The terror which makes the film a Halloween-friendly viewing kicks in much sooner than indicated.
Unicorn Wars is suited for the most dedicated fans of gore, for fans of extreme cinema who desire to view something they haven’t ever seen on-screen before, and can endure a narrative that offers unflinching brutality.
Watch it in a dimly lit space without any distractions, and the conclusion will dig deep within you and linger.
Where to watch: Accessible via digital rental or sale on various online services.
