That Gruesome Animated Movie Ending That Haunts Fans
Among all the adult-oriented animated films I have personally viewed, nothing has lingered in my mind as much as the fear-filled finale of a graphically gory and deeply subversive 2022 movie The Unicorn Wars.
In the year 2015, this Spain-based writer-director developed a grim, bleak and often savage world that included several minor , desolate twinges of hope.
Although The Unicorn Wars appears as it stemmed from a desire to push the medium further, the director clarified that it was rather an effort to convey a universal, multicultural theme regarding “the shared root of every conflict.”
That idea is conveyed via a band of vividly colored bears , clearly modeled after a famous line of lovable characters.
Growing up in a culture centered on militarism and the military-industrial complex, a lot of the bears are obsessed with exterminating the mythical beasts, thanks to a holy book that claims the bears they used to be kings of the woods, before the horned beings expelled them.
Some have not completely fallen for the indoctrination, , would rather try out substances or mate in the woods.
Unlike their friendly equivalents, these vivid animals show genitals , obvious sex drives.
For a particular particularly cruel, cynical bear, the character Bluey, the war with unicorns transforms into a path to power — and specifically to supremacy over his gentler, kinder brother the bear Tubby.
Bluey behaves aggressively and an apparent sociopath , and as horror takes over his group and claims his comrades one by one, he grabs more and more power on his own behalf, via progressively violent, harmful methods.
At the same time, these mythical beings are suffering their own terror, through an expanding, destructive monster in their habitat.
“Initially, it appears as a comedy,” the director said. “However it becomes a more serious and melancholic film. And by the end, it’s a terrifying movie.”
The Unicorn Wars commences feeling a bit like among the whimsical films by a legendary filmmaker, that discover a mischievous joy in allowing cartoon characters swear, shoot each other, or sex each other up.
Subsequently it turns into more akin to a darker film from that artist, featuring progressively visual gore and a tangible relation to genuine horror of battle.
In the finale, it becomes an outright Grand Guignol carnage.
The fear that turns the film a perfect Halloween watch kicks in well before than that description suggests.
Unicorn Wars is ideal for the devoted lovers of violence, for enthusiasts of graphic films who want to view something they’ve never viewed until now, and are able to withstand a plot which delivers absolutely no punches.
See it with the lights off with no disturbances, and the finale will crawl into your mind and linger.
Where to watch: Available for digital rental or sale on several online services.