The Gory Cartoon Film Conclusion That Lingers Fans
Out of all the mature animated films I’ve personally watched, no other has stuck with me quite like the dread-soaked conclusion of a explicitly bloody and overwhelingly transgressive 2022 movie Unicorn Wars.
Back in 2015’s, the Spain-based filmmaker developed a dark, somber , often savage world that included several minor , desolate glimmers of optimism.
Although Unicorn Wars appears as it came from a desire to push the medium further, the filmmaker explained that it was rather a try to communicate a universal, cross-cultural theme regarding “the shared root of every conflict.”
This theme is expressed through a group of colorful pastel bears , openly modeled after a well-known line of lovable figures.
Maturing in a society focused on aggression and the war machine, numerous the bears are obsessed with killing the mythical beasts, due to a sacred text that claims them they were once rulers of the woods, until these creatures expelled them.
Others have not completely fallen for the indoctrination, and choose to experiment with drugs and engage sexually in the forest.
Unlike their cuddly equivalents, these bright beings have visible genitals , definite urges.
For one especially vicious, pessimistic creature, the character Bluey, the war against the unicorns becomes a route toward dominance — and especially to dominance over his gentler, more compassionate sibling the character Tubby.
Bluey acts as a tormentor , an obvious sociopath , and as fear takes over his group and kills his fellow soldiers one by one, he grabs progressively influence personally, via progressively bloody, damaging approaches.
At the same time, the unicorns are suffering their own terror, in the form of an expanding, destructive monster in their forest.
“Initially, it appears as a humorous movie,” the filmmaker commented. “Yet it becomes a more serious and sad film. And in the finale, it’s a terrifying movie.”
The Unicorn Wars starts out feeling a bit like among the whimsical features by an iconic animator, which find a mischievous joy in allowing animated figures swear, engage in violence, or have intimate relations.
Afterward it turns into more akin to a bleaker work from that creator, with increasingly graphic violence , a tangible relation to the real tragedy of battle.
Ultimately, it becomes a complete Grand Guignol carnage.
The fear that turns this an ideal spooky-season watch starts much sooner than one might expect.
The Unicorn Wars is one for the hardcore gorehounds, for lovers of extreme cinema who desire to see a film they haven’t ever viewed until now, and who can handle a plot which delivers unflinching brutality.
Watch it in a dimly lit space with no disturbances, and the conclusion will dig into your mind and take up residence there.
How to view: Accessible via digital rental or sale on multiple streaming sites.
