Among all the mature cartoon movies I have ever viewed, no other has stuck with me as much as the terror-laced finale of a graphically gory as well as overwhelingly transgressive film from 2022 The Unicorn Wars.
Back in the year 2015, this Spain-based writer-director created a dark, somber , frequently brutal world with several minor , desolate hints of optimism.
Although The Unicorn Wars appears as it originated from a drive to push the medium even more, the filmmaker explained that it was actually an effort to convey a widespread, multicultural message regarding “the mutual source of all wars.”
That message is communicated by means of a band of brightly hued teddy bears , openly inspired by a popular line of lovable characters.
Being raised in a society built around militarism and the war machine, numerous these animals are fixated on slaughtering unicorns, thanks to a holy book which states them they previously were kings of the woods, until the unicorns drove them out.
Some have not completely bought into the indoctrination, , choose to experiment with drugs and mate in the woods.
Unlike their friendly counterparts, these bright beings display genitals and obvious urges.
For a certain particularly cruel, cynical bear, Bluey, the battle with the unicorns becomes a route toward dominance — and specifically to supremacy above his softer, nicer brother the character Tubby.
Bluey is a bully , a seeming psychopath , and when fear takes over his group and claims his fellow soldiers individually, he grabs increasingly power for himself, via progressively bloody, destructive ways.
Meanwhile, the unicorns are experiencing their own terror, as a spreading, deadly beast in their forest.
“Initially, it seems like a lighthearted film,” the director commented. “Yet it becomes a more dramatic and melancholic movie. And in the finale, it’s a terrifying movie.”
Unicorn Wars starts out feeling a bit like one of the most playful films by a legendary animator, that discover a naughty glee in permitting cartoon characters curse, fire weapons, or sex each other up.
Afterward it turns into something more like a more grim film from the same director, featuring progressively graphic violence , a tangible connection to genuine tragedy of war.
Ultimately, it becomes a full-on extreme drama bloodbath.
The terror that turns this a Halloween-friendly viewing starts much sooner than that description suggests.
The Unicorn Wars is suited for the most dedicated lovers of violence, for lovers of graphic films who want to watch a movie they haven’t ever watched previously, and are able to withstand a story that pulls unflinching brutality.
Watch it in a dark room without any distractions, and the finale will crawl deep within you and linger.
How to view: Offered for streaming or buying on various online services.