The Grisly Cartoon Movie Ending That Haunts Fans
Out of all the mature cartoon movies I’ve ever watched, no other has stuck with me as much as the dread-soaked conclusion of a graphically gory as well as deeply subversive 2022 movie Unicorn Wars.
In the year 2015, the Spanish filmmaker developed a grim, bleak , frequently brutal world that included several minor , forlorn twinges of optimism.
Although The Unicorn Wars feels like it stemmed from a drive to expand animation further, the director stated that it was rather an attempt to convey a widespread, multicultural message concerning “the mutual source of every conflict.”
This theme is expressed by means of a band of colorful pastel bears , clearly inspired by a well-known series of lovable characters.
Being raised in a culture built around militarism as well as the defense industry, a lot of the bears are consumed by exterminating the mythical beasts, thanks to a religious scripture that tells them they used to be masters of the forest, until the horned beings drove them out.
Some did not entirely fallen for the brainwashing, and choose to experiment with substances or mate outdoors.
In contrast to their cuddly counterparts, these bright beings have visible genitals , clear sex drives.
For a particular especially vicious, skeptical animal, the character Bluey, the battle with unicorns turns into a path toward dominance — and especially to authority over his gentler, nicer brother Tubby.
The character acts as a tormentor and an apparent sociopath , and when terror takes over his group and takes his fellow soldiers one by one, he takes increasingly influence for himself, via progressively bloody, destructive ways.
Meanwhile, these mythical beings are experiencing their own horror, in the form of a growing, harmful creature in their forest.
“Initially, it seems like a lighthearted film,” the filmmaker stated. “However it becomes a more serious and melancholic film. And in the finale, it’s a horror film.”
Unicorn Wars starts out feeling a bit like one of the most whimsical features from a legendary animator, that discover a naughty glee in letting cartoon characters curse, engage in violence, or sex each other up.
Then it becomes more akin to a darker work from the same creator, including ever more visual gore and a palpable relation to the actual suffering of battle.
In the finale, it is a complete Grand Guignol massacre.
The fear that makes the film an ideal spooky-season watch begins much sooner than that description suggests.
The Unicorn Wars is ideal for the hardcore gorehounds, for fans of extreme cinema who wish to see something they’ve never seen on-screen before, and who can handle a narrative that pulls absolutely no punches.
View it in a dark room free from interruptions, and the conclusion will burrow into your mind and take up residence there.
Where to watch: Accessible via digital rental or sale on multiple streaming sites.
