The Grisly Animated Film Ending That Stays With Audiences
Out of every adult-oriented animated films I have ever watched, no other has remained with me quite like the dread-soaked finale of the explicitly bloody and highly provocative film from 2022 Unicorn Wars.
Back in 2015’s, the Spain-based filmmaker developed a grim, melancholy and often savage world with some tiny , desolate hints of hope.
Although Unicorn Wars appears as it originated from a desire to push the medium even more, the director explained that it was actually an attempt to express a universal, cross-cultural theme regarding “the shared root of every conflict.”
This theme is communicated through a squad of colorful pastel bears , obviously inspired by a well-known series of cuddly characters.
Maturing in a society focused on aggression as well as the defense industry, a lot of these creatures are consumed by killing unicorns, due to a religious scripture which states them they used to be rulers of the woods, until these creatures forced them out.
Some have not completely accepted the propaganda, and prefer to try out narcotics and engage sexually outdoors.
Unlike their cuddly counterparts, these bright beings show genitals and obvious urges.
For a particular particularly cruel, pessimistic creature, the character Bluey, the war with unicorns becomes a road to power — and specifically to supremacy over his gentler, more compassionate sibling the bear Tubby.
Bluey behaves aggressively and an apparent sociopath , and when fear dominates his squad and kills his comrades one by one, he seizes more and more power personally, in increasingly violent, destructive ways.
Simultaneously, the unicorns are enduring their own nightmare, as an expanding, destructive monster in their woods.
“At the beginning, it feels like a comedy,” the director commented. “But then it turns into a more dramatic and sad film. And in the finale, it transforms into a terrifying movie.”
Unicorn Wars begins similar to among the quirky features by a legendary filmmaker, that discover a mischievous joy in letting animated figures curse, shoot each other, or have intimate relations.
Then it turns into closer to a darker movie from the same director, with increasingly visual gore , a tangible relation to genuine suffering of conflict.
In the finale, it becomes a full-on theatrical horror bloodbath.
The terror which makes the film a Halloween-friendly movie begins a lot earlier than that description suggests.
Unicorn Wars is suited for the devoted fans of gore, for enthusiasts of intense movies who wish to watch a film they haven’t ever viewed until now, and can endure a plot that offers absolutely no punches.
View it with the lights off with no disturbances, and that ending will dig into your mind and linger.
How to view: Accessible via digital rental or sale on multiple streaming sites.
