The Gruesome Cartoon Movie Conclusion That Haunts Viewers

Out of every mature animated films I have personally viewed, nothing has stuck with me quite like the dread-soaked finale of a viscerally violent as well as highly provocative film from 2022 Unicorn Wars.

Back in 2015’s, this Spanish writer-director developed a grim, somber , often savage world with a few small , forlorn hints of hope.

Although Unicorn Wars seems like it originated from an impulse to push animation further, the director clarified that it was more an attempt to communicate a universal, multicultural message concerning “the common origin of every conflict.”

That message is expressed by means of a band of colorful pastel bears , openly based on a popular series of cuddly characters.

Growing up in a culture centered on militarism and the military-industrial complex, a lot of these creatures are consumed by killing unicorns, due to a sacred text that claims them they were once kings of the forest, until the unicorns expelled them.

A few haven’t fully bought into the indoctrination, and would rather try out narcotics and engage sexually in the forest.

Unlike their cuddly counterparts, these vivid animals show sexual organs , clear sex drives.

For one especially vicious, pessimistic creature, the character Bluey, the war with the unicorns becomes a road toward dominance — and particularly to dominance above his more tender, nicer brother Tubby.

The character is a bully , an apparent antisocial figure , and as horror takes over his group and claims his fellow soldiers sequentially, he seizes progressively power on his own behalf, in increasingly gory, destructive ways.

Meanwhile, the unicorns are experiencing their own horror, as a spreading, harmful creature in their woods.

Unicorn Wars starts out feeling a bit like one of the most playful features from a legendary filmmaker, that discover a naughty glee in letting cartoon characters curse, shoot each other, or have intimate relations.

Then it evolves into something more like a darker movie by that same creator, with increasingly graphic violence , a palpable link to the actual horror of battle.

In the finale, it is a full-on extreme drama bloodbath.

The terror that makes the film a Halloween-friendly viewing kicks in much sooner than that description suggests.

The Unicorn Wars is ideal for the hardcore lovers of violence, for fans of graphic films who want to watch a film they have not viewed until now, and are able to withstand a narrative which delivers no restraint.

See it in a dimly lit space free from interruptions, and the finale will burrow under your skin and take up residence there.

Availability: Accessible via digital rental or sale on several digital platforms.