The Gory Cartoon Movie Ending That Stays With Viewers
Out of all the adult-oriented cartoon movies I’ve ever watched, no other has stuck with me as much as the dread-soaked finale of a viscerally violent as well as overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
In 2015’s, this Spanish filmmaker created a grim, somber , often savage world with a few small , desolate twinges of hope.
Although The Unicorn Wars seems like it came from a drive to advance animation even more, the director explained that it was actually an effort to communicate a widespread, cross-cultural message about “the mutual source of each battle.”
That idea is expressed through a squad of colorful pastel bears , obviously inspired by a well-known line of lovable characters.
Being raised in a culture focused on aggression and the defense industry, a lot of these animals are obsessed with exterminating the mythical beasts, because of a holy book that tells the bears they were once rulers of the forest, until these creatures drove them out.
A few haven’t fully fallen for the indoctrination, , would rather sample drugs and mate outdoors.
Unlike their cuddly counterparts, these bright beings have visible sexual organs , definite sex drives.
For one especially vicious, skeptical animal, Bluey, the conflict with the unicorns becomes a path to power — and specifically to authority above his softer, nicer brother the character Tubby.
This bear is a bully , an obvious antisocial figure , and when fear overcomes his unit and takes his teammates individually, he grabs more and more power for himself, in increasingly bloody, damaging approaches.
Meanwhile, the unicorns are experiencing their own terror, through a growing, deadly beast in their habitat.
“Initially, it seems like a humorous movie,” the director said. “Yet it becomes a more intense and sad film. And by the end, it’s a terrifying movie.”
Unicorn Wars begins resembling one of the most playful movies by a renowned animator, that uncover a mischievous joy in allowing cartoon characters curse, fire weapons, or engage sexually.
Then it evolves into closer to a bleaker work from that director, featuring progressively visual gore and a noticeable relation to genuine tragedy of conflict.
By the end, it’s an outright theatrical horror carnage.
The horror that turns the film a Halloween-friendly viewing begins well before than one might expect.
The Unicorn Wars is one for the devoted gorehounds, for lovers of intense movies who wish to watch something they’ve never seen on-screen before, and can endure a plot that pulls no restraint.
View it with the lights off free from interruptions, and that ending will crawl into your mind and stay with you.
How to view: Accessible via rental or purchase on multiple digital platforms.
