The Grisly Animated Movie Ending That Lingers Fans
Among every mature animated films I’ve personally watched, no other has remained with me as much as the dread-soaked finale of the viscerally violent and overwhelingly transgressive 2022 movie The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, this Spanish writer-director developed a dark, somber , frequently brutal world with several minor , desolate hints of hope.
Although The Unicorn Wars appears as it stemmed from a desire to advance the medium further, the filmmaker explained that it was actually a try to communicate a global, cross-cultural theme about “the shared root of each battle.”
That message is communicated via a squad of vividly colored bears , obviously inspired by a popular series of lovable figures.
Being raised in a culture centered on aggression and the defense industry, many of these creatures are obsessed with exterminating the mythical beasts, thanks to a holy book that tells the bears they were once rulers of the woodland, until the unicorns drove them out.
Others have not completely fallen for the indoctrination, , would rather try out substances or mate in the forest.
Unlike their cuddly counterparts, these colorful critters show sexual organs , obvious sex drives.
For one especially vicious, pessimistic creature, the bear named Bluey, the conflict with the unicorns transforms into a path toward dominance — and particularly to supremacy over his more tender, nicer brother the bear Tubby.
Bluey behaves aggressively , a seeming antisocial figure , and as terror overcomes his squad and claims his fellow soldiers individually, he seizes more and more influence on his own behalf, through ever more bloody, destructive ways.
Simultaneously, the unicorns are enduring their own terror, in the form of a growing, destructive monster in their habitat.
“In the early stages, it appears as a humorous movie,” the filmmaker commented. “But then it evolves into a more dramatic and sorrowful movie. And ultimately, it’s a horror film.”
Unicorn Wars starts out feeling a bit like one of the most playful films by a legendary filmmaker, that uncover a wicked pleasure in allowing cartoon characters curse, engage in violence, or sex each other up.
Subsequently it becomes something more like a darker film from the same director, featuring progressively graphic violence , a palpable connection to the actual horror of conflict.
Ultimately, it’s a full-on theatrical horror bloodbath.
The terror which makes the film a Halloween-friendly movie begins much sooner than indicated.
Unicorn Wars is suited for the devoted fans of gore, for lovers of intense movies who want to view a movie they’ve never watched previously, and are able to withstand a plot which delivers unflinching brutality.
View it with the lights off with no disturbances, and that ending will crawl under your skin and stay with you.
Where to watch: Accessible via rental or purchase on various digital platforms.
