The Gory Cartoon Movie Ending That Haunts Fans
Out of every mature animated films I have personally watched, no other has lingered in my mind quite like the dread-soaked finale of a explicitly bloody and overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
Back in 2015’s, this Spanish filmmaker developed a grim, melancholy and often savage universe with a few small , forlorn glimmers of hope.
While Unicorn Wars seems like it stemmed from a drive to advance animation even more, the director explained that it was actually an attempt to express a universal, cross-cultural message about “the shared root of every conflict.”
This theme is expressed through a group of brightly hued teddy bears , openly modeled after a well-known line of lovable characters.
Being raised in a society centered on militarism as well as the defense industry, a lot of the bears are fixated on exterminating the mythical beasts, due to a sacred text which states the bears they used to be masters of the woodland, before the unicorns forced them out.
A few haven’t fully accepted the brainwashing, and choose to experiment with drugs and fornicate in the woods.
Unlike their gentle counterparts, these bright beings have visible genitals and definite urges.
For one especially vicious, pessimistic creature, the bear named Bluey, the conflict against the unicorns turns into a path toward dominance — and especially to supremacy over his more tender, more compassionate sibling Tubby.
The character acts as a tormentor , a seeming antisocial figure , and when terror overcomes his group and kills his teammates individually, he grabs more and more power for himself, through ever more violent, destructive ways.
At the same time, the horned creatures are enduring their own nightmare, in the form of a growing, destructive monster in their woods.
“Initially, it seems like a comedy,” the director stated. “However it turns into a more serious and sorrowful movie. And in the finale, it transforms into a horror film.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out feeling a bit like among the playful movies from a renowned filmmaker, that uncover a naughty glee in permitting cartoon characters curse, fire weapons, or sex each other up.
Subsequently it becomes closer to a bleaker work by that same director, including ever more explicit brutality , a tangible link to the actual suffering of battle.
Ultimately, it becomes a full-on Grand Guignol carnage.
The fear that turns the film a perfect Halloween watch starts much sooner than that description suggests.
The Unicorn Wars is suited for the devoted gorehounds, for enthusiasts of graphic films who desire to watch a movie they’ve never seen on-screen before, and who can handle a plot that pulls no restraint.
View it in a dark room without any distractions, and the finale will burrow into your mind and stay with you.
Where to watch: Accessible via rental or purchase on various digital platforms.