The Grisly Animated Movie Ending That Haunts Fans
Out of all the adult-oriented animated films I’ve ever viewed, no other has remained with me as much as the terror-laced ending of a viscerally violent as well as overwhelingly transgressive 2022 movie Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, this Spanish writer-director developed a grim, bleak , often savage universe that included a few small , forlorn hints of optimism.
While Unicorn Wars appears as it originated from an impulse to push the medium further, the filmmaker clarified that it was rather an effort to communicate a universal, multicultural theme about “the shared root of every conflict.”
That idea is conveyed through a group of colorful pastel bears , obviously based on a popular series of cuddly characters.
Growing up in a culture built around aggression as well as the military-industrial complex, numerous the bears are obsessed with slaughtering unicorns, because of a sacred text which states the bears they used to be rulers of the woodland, before these creatures expelled them.
Some have not completely fallen for the indoctrination, and choose to try out narcotics and engage sexually in the woods.
In contrast to their friendly counterparts, these colorful critters display genitals and obvious urges.
For a particular particularly cruel, skeptical animal, the bear named Bluey, the battle with unicorns transforms into a route to control — and particularly to authority over his gentler, nicer brother Tubby.
This bear behaves aggressively and an apparent sociopath , and as fear takes over his group and claims his teammates sequentially, he grabs progressively influence personally, in increasingly gory, damaging approaches.
Simultaneously, these mythical beings are experiencing their own nightmare, in the form of a spreading, deadly beast in their habitat.
“In the early stages, it appears as a lighthearted film,” the director said. “Yet it evolves into a more dramatic and melancholic movie. And in the finale, it transforms into a horror film.”
Unicorn Wars starts out feeling a bit like one of the most playful movies by a legendary animator, which find a wicked pleasure in permitting animated figures curse, fire weapons, or have intimate relations.
Afterward it turns into more akin to a more grim movie from the same creator, with increasingly explicit brutality and a tangible link to the actual tragedy of conflict.
By the end, it’s an outright theatrical horror bloodbath.
The terror that turns this a perfect Halloween movie kicks in a lot earlier than that description suggests.
The Unicorn Wars is ideal for the hardcore lovers of violence, for enthusiasts of graphic films who wish to watch a movie they haven’t ever watched previously, and who can handle a plot which delivers unflinching brutality.
See it with the lights off with no disturbances, and the finale will crawl deep within you and linger.
How to view: Available for streaming or buying on various streaming sites.
