The Grisly Animated Movie Ending That Lingers Audiences

Among every mature cartoon movies I have personally watched, no other has remained with me quite like the fear-filled ending of the explicitly bloody and highly provocative film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.

Back in the year 2015, the Spain-based writer-director crafted a grim, bleak and frequently brutal world with some tiny , desolate hints of optimism.

While The Unicorn Wars seems like it originated from a drive to push animation further, the filmmaker explained that it was actually an attempt to convey a global, cross-cultural message regarding “the shared root of all wars.”

That message is communicated by means of a squad of brightly hued teddy bears , obviously based on a famous line of lovable figures.

Being raised in a community centered on warmongering as well as the war machine, a lot of these creatures are fixated on slaughtering the mythical beasts, thanks to a religious scripture which states them they previously were rulers of the woods, before the unicorns expelled them.

A few haven’t fully bought into the indoctrination, and would rather experiment with drugs or fornicate in the forest.

In contrast to their friendly counterparts, these vivid animals show genitals and clear sex drives.

For one particularly cruel, skeptical animal, the character Bluey, the war against the unicorns transforms into a route to power — and specifically to supremacy over his softer, more compassionate sibling the bear Tubby.

Bluey acts as a tormentor , a seeming psychopath , and while fear dominates his squad and claims his comrades individually, he grabs increasingly power personally, through ever more violent, destructive ways.

Meanwhile, these mythical beings are experiencing their own horror, in the form of an expanding, deadly beast in their forest.

The Unicorn Wars begins feeling a bit like one of the most quirky films from an iconic filmmaker, that uncover a wicked pleasure in allowing cartoon characters swear, fire weapons, or sex each other up.

Then it becomes more akin to a more grim film by that same creator, with increasingly explicit brutality , a tangible connection to genuine tragedy of battle.

In the finale, it is an outright theatrical horror bloodbath.

The fear that makes the film an ideal spooky-season movie kicks in a lot earlier than that description suggests.

The Unicorn Wars is suited for the hardcore lovers of violence, for lovers of extreme cinema who want to see a movie they have not watched previously, and are able to withstand a plot that offers no restraint.

See it with the lights off free from interruptions, and the conclusion will crawl under your skin and stay with you.

How to view: Offered for rental or purchase on various streaming sites.