Out of every mature cartoon movies I’ve personally viewed, nothing has stuck with me quite like the fear-filled conclusion of the viscerally violent and deeply subversive 2022 movie Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, the Spanish filmmaker developed a grim, melancholy , often savage world with a few small , forlorn glimmers of optimism.
While The Unicorn Wars seems like it originated from a desire to push the medium even more, the filmmaker explained that it was rather an attempt to express a widespread, multicultural theme about “the shared root of all wars.”
That idea is communicated via a group of brightly hued teddy bears , obviously based on a famous series of lovable figures.
Maturing in a society centered on aggression and the military-industrial complex, numerous these animals are fixated on killing unicorns, because of a sacred text which states the bears they were once kings of the woodland, until these creatures forced them out.
A few have not completely bought into the brainwashing, and would rather experiment with drugs and engage sexually outdoors.
In contrast to their cuddly counterparts, these vivid animals display genitals and obvious urges.
For a particular notably brutal, skeptical animal, the bear named Bluey, the war against the unicorns transforms into a path toward dominance — and specifically to supremacy above his more tender, nicer brother Tubby.
This bear behaves aggressively , a seeming antisocial figure , and when terror dominates his squad and claims his fellow soldiers sequentially, he takes increasingly control personally, via progressively violent, damaging approaches.
Meanwhile, these mythical beings are experiencing their own terror, in the form of an expanding, deadly beast in their woods.
“In the early stages, it seems like a comedy,” the filmmaker said. “But then it evolves into a more serious and sorrowful movie. And in the finale, it becomes a terrifying movie.”
Unicorn Wars commences feeling a bit like one of the more playful movies by an iconic animator, that discover a mischievous joy in allowing animated figures curse, shoot each other, or have intimate relations.
Subsequently it evolves into closer to a bleaker movie from the same artist, featuring progressively explicit brutality , a palpable link to genuine suffering of battle.
By the end, it is an outright extreme drama carnage.
The fear which makes the film an ideal spooky-season watch begins a lot earlier than indicated.
The Unicorn Wars is one for the most dedicated gorehounds, for enthusiasts of intense movies who desire to view a film they haven’t ever seen on-screen before, and who can handle a story which delivers unflinching brutality.
Watch it in a dimly lit space with no disturbances, and the conclusion will burrow into your mind and take up residence there.
How to view: Accessible via digital rental or sale on several digital platforms.
Lena is a tech journalist with over a decade of experience covering consumer electronics and emerging technologies.