Few adult animated films linger like the bleak, dread-filled finale of Alberto Vázquez’s uncompromising Unicorn Wars (2022). Coming after his sorrowful, often savage Birdboy: The Forgotten Children (2015), Vázquez again builds a world where small sparks of hope are swallowed by misery. The director has said the picture isn’t mere provocation but an attempt to express a cross-cultural idea about “the common origin of all wars.” Read the original review.
The story centers on delightfully pastel bears — visually indebted to the Care Bears aesthetic — who inhabit a society suffused with militarism. Vázquez admitted he likes using familiar iconography to make his themes hit harder. A sacred text convinces many bears they were once rulers of the forest and that unicorns usurped their birthright, fueling a genocidal campaign. Others reject the propaganda entirely, preferring to get high and seek carnal pleasures in the woods; unlike the childhood toys they resemble, these creatures are explicitly sexualized and biologically rendered.
Bluey — not to be confused with the children’s character of the same name — emerges as the film’s central antagonist. A brutish, power-hungry bear, he converts the chaos of battle into personal ascendancy, crushing dissent and dominating his gentler brother, Tubby. As violence escalates and his unit fractures under horror, Bluey seizes authority through increasingly grotesque and remorseless acts. On the other side, the unicorns face their own nightmare: a spreading, destructive corruption deep in their woods.
Tonally, Unicorn Wars begins with the mischievous, subversive energy of films by Ralph Bakshi — think Cool World or Fritz the Cat — delighting in animated profanity and transgression. It then darkens into something closer to Wizards, trading cheeky rebellion for escalating carnage and an unmistakable resonance with the real-world tragedies of warfare. By the finale it has transformed into an almost Grand-Guignol spectacle, where theatrical gore underpins a deeper moral indictment. Grand-Guignol imagery feels apt.
“At the beginning, it feels like a humorous movie,” Vázquez has said. “But then it becomes a more dramatic and sad film. And by the end, it’s a horror film.” That tonal pivot happens sooner than you might expect: the unsettling and graphic elements mount steadily, making this picture most suitable for viewers who actively seek extreme cinema. If you watch Unicorn Wars in a dark, focused setting, its closing sequence will burrow in and remain with you long after the credits roll.
Where to watch: Available to rent or buy on Amazon, Apple, and other digital platforms. Purchase or rent on Amazon.
Polygon’s annual Halloween Countdown is a 31-day selection of recommended horror films, shows, and specials to stream throughout October. Find the full schedule here.
Source: Polygon
