The 13th Warrior (1999)

I can feel your confusion radiating through time and space. Sword and sorcery on a horror podcast? Now wait one sanctimonious second! First off, it is based on a book by Michael Crichton named EATERS OF THE DEAD, which aside from being totally metal, is also pretty horrific. The book is about cannibalistic cavemen that torment viking villages dressed like the monster from The Village. Next, they use swords, which means? Yes, they are literal SLASHERS! Now, the original cut of the film by John McTiernan (Die Hard, Predator, Last Action Hero) was more horror, as evidenced by an abandoned movie trailer, which resurfaced online. That cut was deemed "unwatchable" by author/ producer, Crichton, who took over reshoots and changed the name to The 13th Warrior. We get into the reasoning behind that name change on the show. McTiernan later went to prison for wiretapping in relation to the Rollerball remake, so this was probably for the best. Crichton not only changed the pacing of the film, cutting the run time by almost a half hour, but he also replaced Graeme Revell (The Crow, From Dusk Till Dawn, Freddy vs Jason) with Jerry Goldsmith (Alien , Poltergeist, Gremlins). We get into the comparisons of the two soundtracks. The film stars Antonio Banderas (Desperado, Interview with a Vampire, The Mask of Zorro) as Ahmad ibn Fadlan. Fadlan was a real-life Muslim traveler who ventured into Scandinavia and provided a tremendous account of viking funeral rites. Banderas is joined by a bunch of giant white dudes, whose names are too hard to spell and frankly aren't worth the metadata. The narrative follows Fadlan, almost like an Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter, as he goes on a quest beyond his historical counterpart, into a bizarre situation where he is basically ordered by a soothsayer to accompany a band of vikings as The 13th Warrior. This episode is very fact-intensive. We cross-reference the original Fadlan manuscript with Norse Mythology, and Eaters of the Dead. Plus, you get to hear Jake make bold claims, like that the second half of this film is as good, if not better, than The Lord of the Rings, all while mispronouncing virtually every character's name! This week's "Hidden Track" is Faerie Ring, with their song: Heavy Trip. This song comes from their album The Clearing. The first 20 fans that message [email protected] with the secret password and we will reply with a download code to get that album FOR FREE! You can find them at https://faeriering.bandcamp.com/ and https://www.instagram.com/faerie_ring/ If you ever have feedback or recommendations on future episodes, please let us know at [email protected]. You can always find us on our social media: Instagram, Twitter, Slasher App: @slasherspod Facebook: /slasherspod Reddit: u/slasherspod https://www.youtube.com/c/slasherspodcast