The Grisly Animated Film Ending That Haunts Viewers
Among all the adult-oriented animated films I have ever viewed, no other has stuck with me as much as the fear-filled conclusion of a graphically gory and highly provocative 2022 movie Unicorn Wars.
In 2015’s, the Spain-based writer-director crafted a grim, somber , frequently brutal universe that included some tiny , forlorn twinges of hope.
While The Unicorn Wars appears as it originated from a desire to expand the medium further, the director clarified that it was actually a try to convey a widespread, cross-cultural theme regarding “the shared root of each battle.”
That idea is conveyed through a band of vividly colored bears , clearly based on a popular line of lovable characters.
Growing up in a society centered on militarism as well as the war machine, many of the bears are fixated on exterminating unicorns, due to a sacred text which states them they used to be kings of the woods, until these creatures forced them out.
Others haven’t fully bought into the brainwashing, and choose to sample substances or fornicate in the forest.
Unlike their gentle counterparts, these colorful critters display genitals , definite libidos.
For a particular especially vicious, cynical bear, the bear named Bluey, the war with unicorns turns into a path toward dominance — and especially to authority over his softer, more compassionate sibling Tubby.
The character acts as a tormentor and a seeming sociopath , and as terror overcomes his group and claims his comrades sequentially, he takes increasingly power for himself, in increasingly bloody, harmful methods.
Simultaneously, the horned creatures are suffering their own horror, as a growing, harmful creature in their forest.
“At the beginning, it seems like a humorous movie,” the director stated. “However it evolves into a more serious and sorrowful film. And by the end, it transforms into a terrifying movie.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out similar to among the quirky features by a renowned filmmaker, that discover a mischievous joy in permitting animated figures curse, fire weapons, or have intimate relations.
Then it turns into closer to a more grim movie from that creator, including ever more explicit brutality , a tangible link to the real suffering of battle.
By the end, it is a full-on theatrical horror carnage.
The horror that turns this a perfect Halloween viewing kicks in a lot earlier than indicated.
The Unicorn Wars is suited for the devoted gorehounds, for lovers of graphic films who desire to see a movie they haven’t ever watched previously, and who can handle a narrative that offers absolutely no punches.
View it in a dimly lit space free from interruptions, and the finale will dig into your mind and stay with you.
Where to watch: Available for rental or purchase on several digital platforms.
