That Gruesome Animated Film Conclusion That Stays With Fans
Among every adult-oriented cartoon movies I’ve personally watched, no other has stuck with me as much as the terror-laced finale of the viscerally violent and overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, the Spain-based filmmaker developed a grim, melancholy , often savage universe with some tiny , forlorn glimmers of hope.
Although Unicorn Wars appears as it stemmed from an impulse to push animation even more, the filmmaker clarified that it was actually an effort to convey a universal, multicultural theme about “the shared root of each battle.”
That idea is communicated through a group of colorful pastel bears , openly inspired by a famous line of lovable figures.
Maturing in a community built around militarism as well as the defense industry, a lot of the bears are obsessed with slaughtering unicorns, because of a holy book that tells the bears they used to be masters of the woodland, before the unicorns expelled them.
A few haven’t fully fallen for the propaganda, and would rather sample narcotics and engage sexually in the woods.
Unlike their friendly counterparts, these vivid animals have visible genitals , definite libidos.
For one particularly cruel, cynical bear, the character Bluey, the battle with unicorns transforms into a route toward dominance — and specifically to dominance over his gentler, nicer brother the character Tubby.
The character acts as a tormentor and a seeming sociopath , and as fear dominates his group and claims his comrades sequentially, he seizes more and more control for himself, through ever more violent, destructive ways.
At the same time, the unicorns are enduring their own terror, in the form of a growing, deadly beast in their forest.
“In the early stages, it appears as a lighthearted film,” the director stated. “However it becomes a more serious and sorrowful film. And in the finale, it’s a scary feature.”
Unicorn Wars begins resembling among the playful features from an iconic filmmaker, that uncover a mischievous joy in permitting animated figures curse, fire weapons, or engage sexually.
Then it evolves into something more like a bleaker movie by that same artist, featuring progressively explicit brutality and a palpable link to the actual tragedy of war.
By the end, it becomes a full-on extreme drama bloodbath.
The terror that makes the film a Halloween-friendly viewing kicks in much sooner than that description suggests.
Unicorn Wars is ideal for the hardcore gorehounds, for lovers of graphic films who wish to view a film they haven’t ever watched previously, and who can handle a story that pulls no restraint.
View it in a dimly lit space without any distractions, and the finale will crawl into your mind and take up residence there.
Where to watch: Available for rental or purchase on multiple online services.
