That Gory Cartoon Film Ending That Haunts Audiences

Among every adult-oriented animated films I’ve personally watched, no other has lingered in my mind quite like the fear-filled finale of a viscerally violent and overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 Unicorn Wars.

In the year 2015, this Spanish writer-director crafted a grim, somber , frequently brutal world that included several minor , desolate hints of optimism.

While Unicorn Wars appears as it came from a drive to push the medium even more, the filmmaker explained that it was rather an effort to express a widespread, multicultural message concerning “the common origin of every conflict.”

This theme is conveyed via a group of vividly colored bears , openly modeled after a well-known series of lovable characters.

Maturing in a community focused on militarism and the war machine, many of the bears are obsessed with exterminating the mythical beasts, due to a religious scripture which states the bears they were once rulers of the forest, before these creatures forced them out.

Some have not completely fallen for the brainwashing, and would rather experiment with substances or engage sexually in the forest.

In contrast to their friendly counterparts, these bright beings have visible genitals , obvious sex drives.

For one especially vicious, skeptical animal, the character Bluey, the war against unicorns transforms into a route to control — and specifically to supremacy above his softer, nicer brother Tubby.

The character behaves aggressively and a seeming sociopath , and when horror takes over his squad and claims his teammates one by one, he takes more and more power on his own behalf, in increasingly gory, destructive ways.

Simultaneously, the unicorns are experiencing their own terror, as an expanding, destructive monster in their woods.

Unicorn Wars begins similar to among the whimsical features from an iconic animator, that discover a naughty glee in allowing drawn beings swear, fire weapons, or sex each other up.

Then it becomes closer to a more grim movie from the same creator, with increasingly explicit brutality and a tangible link to the actual suffering of war.

In the finale, it becomes an outright Grand Guignol massacre.

The terror that turns this a perfect Halloween movie kicks in much sooner than indicated.

Unicorn Wars is one for the hardcore lovers of violence, for enthusiasts of extreme cinema who desire to watch a film they’ve never watched previously, and who can handle a narrative that pulls absolutely no punches.

Watch it in a dark room with no disturbances, and the conclusion will dig under your skin and linger.

Where to watch: Available for streaming or buying on multiple online services.