That Gory Animated Film Ending That Stays With Fans
Among every adult-oriented animated films I have personally watched, no other has remained with me quite like the terror-laced ending of the viscerally violent and deeply subversive 2022 movie The Unicorn Wars.
In the year 2015, this Spain-based writer-director crafted a grim, bleak and often savage universe with some tiny , forlorn glimmers of hope.
Although The Unicorn Wars seems like it came from a desire to push the medium even more, the director stated that it was more a try to convey a widespread, multicultural theme about “the shared root of each battle.”
That idea is expressed through a band of brightly hued teddy bears , obviously inspired by a well-known line of cuddly characters.
Being raised in a society built around militarism and the war machine, a lot of these creatures are consumed by killing the mythical beasts, due to a religious scripture which states them they used to be masters of the woodland, before these creatures drove them out.
Others have not completely fallen for the indoctrination, and prefer to try out drugs and fornicate outdoors.
In contrast to their cuddly counterparts, these colorful critters show genitals and obvious sex drives.
For a particular particularly cruel, pessimistic creature, the bear named Bluey, the conflict against unicorns becomes a road toward dominance — and especially to authority over his more tender, more compassionate sibling the character Tubby.
Bluey acts as a tormentor , an apparent psychopath , and as terror overcomes his group and takes his fellow soldiers one by one, he takes more and more control personally, via progressively violent, destructive ways.
Simultaneously, the unicorns are suffering their own nightmare, as a growing, harmful creature in their woods.
“In the early stages, it appears as a humorous movie,” the director stated. “But then it turns into a more intense and sad film. And by the end, it’s a terrifying movie.”
Unicorn Wars starts out resembling one of the most quirky films by an iconic animator, which find a wicked pleasure in permitting cartoon characters swear, fire weapons, or have intimate relations.
Then it becomes more akin to a bleaker film from the same director, featuring progressively visual gore , a palpable relation to the real horror of war.
Ultimately, it’s a complete theatrical horror carnage.
The terror that makes the film an ideal spooky-season watch begins a lot earlier than that description suggests.
Unicorn Wars is one for the most dedicated lovers of violence, for fans of graphic films who wish to watch a movie they’ve never viewed until now, and are able to withstand a narrative which delivers absolutely no punches.
View it in a dimly lit space with no disturbances, and the conclusion will crawl into your mind and stay with you.
How to view: Accessible via streaming or buying on multiple online services.
