That Gruesome Animated Film Conclusion That Haunts Audiences
Out of all the mature cartoon movies I have personally watched, nothing has stuck with me quite like the dread-soaked finale of the explicitly bloody as well as highly provocative 2022 movie The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, this Spanish filmmaker developed a dark, melancholy and often savage universe with a few small , desolate hints of hope.
While Unicorn Wars seems like it came from an impulse to advance the medium even more, the filmmaker explained that it was more an attempt to express a widespread, cross-cultural theme concerning “the mutual source of each battle.”
This theme is expressed by means of a squad of vividly colored bears , obviously based on a famous series of cuddly figures.
Growing up in a society focused on militarism and the defense industry, numerous the bears are fixated on killing the mythical beasts, thanks to a religious scripture that claims them they used to be kings of the woods, until these creatures forced them out.
A few haven’t fully bought into the indoctrination, and choose to sample drugs or mate in the forest.
Unlike their friendly counterparts, these colorful critters show sexual organs and obvious libidos.
For a certain particularly cruel, pessimistic creature, the bear named Bluey, the war with the unicorns turns into a route to control — and especially to supremacy above his gentler, more compassionate sibling Tubby.
This bear behaves aggressively and an obvious psychopath , and while terror overcomes his unit and takes his fellow soldiers one by one, he grabs progressively influence for himself, through ever more bloody, destructive ways.
At the same time, the unicorns are experiencing their own terror, as an expanding, deadly beast in their woods.
“At the beginning, it feels like a lighthearted film,” the filmmaker said. “Yet it turns into a more serious and melancholic movie. And by the end, it’s a terrifying movie.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out resembling one of the most playful movies by a legendary animator, which find a wicked pleasure in permitting cartoon characters swear, shoot each other, or sex each other up.
Afterward it evolves into closer to a more grim film from the same creator, with increasingly visual gore , a tangible link to the actual horror of battle.
By the end, it is a complete Grand Guignol massacre.
The terror that turns the film a perfect Halloween movie kicks in well before than one might expect.
Unicorn Wars is one for the hardcore gorehounds, for fans of graphic films who wish to view a movie they’ve never viewed until now, and can endure a story which delivers unflinching brutality.
Watch it in a dark room without any distractions, and that ending will crawl into your mind and linger.
Where to watch: Accessible via streaming or buying on various streaming sites.
