As we finish off Monster Movie Month, we have one more book/movie review to share here on the blog.  It may be that you don’t think of Michael Crichton’s Eaters of the Dead as a horror novel, or of The Thirteenth Warrior as a horror movie, but when you are helping horror lovers find their next fix, think big! Our reviewer, Wendy Zazo-Phillips, notes below that neither the book or movie are primarily focused on the horrific aspects of the story, but there’s certainly enough darkness, gore, and terror within the pages to make it attractive to some kinds of horror readers–there are horror fans who specifically seek out historical horror, for instance. While some horror readers and movie watchers are very specific in what they like, others are willing to really stretch their boundaries, so it definitely doesn’t hurt to identify some possible crossover titles. Enjoy!

Eaters of the Dead by Michael Crichton

Harper, 2009 (Reprint edition)

ISBN: 978-0061782633

Available: Paperback and Kindle

The Thirteenth Warrior, directed by John McTiernan and Michael Crichton (uncredited)

Original Release: Touchstone Pictures, 1999

DVD Release: Walt Disney Video, 2000

When I chose this movie and novel for Monster Movie Month, I recognized that they weren’t conventional selections: no paranormal circumstances, no chainsaws, and not a sex-crazed teenager to be found. However, when considering Eaters of the Dead and The Thirteenth Warrior’s sinister characteristics, the inherent gore, and the terror of the antagonists, the wendol, I submit that these works still fit the bill nicely.

According to the afterward, The Eaters of the Dead was originally written on a dare issued by a friend of Crichton in 1974, who claimed the epic poem Beowulf was a “great bore.” The author had read some of the manuscripts of the real Ibn Fadlan in college and decided the ancient chronicler would be the perfect narrator for the Northmen’s quest to rid themselves of the “monsters of the mists.”

For both versions of the story, the plot is relayed to the reader/viewer by Ahmed ibn-Fadlan, ibn-al-Abbas, ibn-Rasid, ibn-Sulayman; an employee of the Caliph who falls out of favor and is sent as an ambassador to a far-away king, for all intents and purposes exiled from his homeland. He travels north by caravan, where the Arab eventually meets a tribe of Northmen (Vikings) observing the passing of their king. The main contender for the throne is Buliwyf, a celebrated warrior who comes from another tribe. Shortly after the pyre ceremony, however, a messenger from Buliwyf’s homeland arrives, asking the warrior to come to assist the king, Rothgar, against a menace whose “name cannot be spoken.” The angel of death (a wizened woman) is called, and she assigns twelve other men to accompany him. Ibn Fadlan is named the thirteenth warrior, specifically chosen because he was not a Northman.

The band of Vikings journey over numerous days and nights, eventually finding the people of Rothgar’s kingdom beleaguered, their defenses almost depleted. (In the book, the unnamed menace is punishing the king for his extravagance and over-importance. In the movie version there seems to be no reason, except that it just happens from time to time.) The warriors help the remaining Northmen reinforce the battlements and manage the king’s treacherous son, who secretly craves the king’s throne. In the warriors’ first encounter with the mist monsters—a night raid on Rothgar’s great hall—Ibn Fadlan sees the cannibalistic beasts as “black, grunting shapes” with “gleaming red eyes” and covered with coarse, dark hair. After a couple of failed attempts to eradicate the creatures, Buliwyf finds his numbers rapidly dwindling and seeks counsel from a dwarf in the book; another angel of death in the movie. The adviser tells him that he must seek out and kill the mother of the wendol, though it will ultimately mean his death. (The dwarf even goes so far as to insinuate that Buliwyf has been acting in a way that is beneath him, that he needs to step up and be the hero he was meant to be.) They ultimately succeed in their mission, and in the end only four warriors (including Ibn Fadlan) survive the final battle. Buliwyf’s body is prepared and burned in the fashion of a great king, and Ibn Fadlan continues on his journey, eventually writing down his account of the adventure for future generations.

In my brief summary, I can do neither the book nor the movie justice. What makes both of them great is their treatment of the Northman culture, described in respectful detail by both mediums in their own unique way. Ibn Fadlan is completely unprepared for his encounter with the Vikings, and it is quite enjoyable and entertaining to watch him grow from a stranger with barely-veiled contempt of the Northmen to showing begrudging acceptance to finally adapting their ways completely, including drinking mead and enjoying Viking women. The warriors, as well, eventually accept the foreigner into their group, though not seamlessly: “You are an Arab,” Buliwyf observes in the book, “but no fool.” For Ibn Fadlan, who is the first to admit he is no warrior, this is high praise.

The main differences between the book and the movie are where each medium focuses its attention and how. In Eaters of the Dead, it is clear that Buliwyf is the hero. In The Thirteenth Warrior, most if not all of the story’s concentration is on Ibn Fadlan himself, played by Antonio Banderas. In the book, Ibn Fadlan pretty much spends the tale staying out of the warriors’ way and trying not to get himself killed. In The Thirteenth Warrior, Ibn Fadlan takes a more active role: he puzzles out where exactly to seek the mother of the wendol, and he figures out how the group eventually makes their escape from the wendol’s lair. Being the main protagonist and the box office draw, it does make sense that Banderas’ character would need more things to do to keep the character (and the audience) involved in the story; the added actions also serve to make the Arab more valuable to the mission and more heroic to the viewer.

Another difference between the two interpretations of Ibn Fadlan’s tale is the overall purpose of the telling. In the introduction to Eaters of the Dead, Crichton says that the chronicler’s style is of “an ambassador delivering a report; his tone is that of a tax auditor, not a bard; an anthropologist, not a dramatist. Indeed, he often slights the most exciting elements of his narrative rather than let them interfere with his clear and level-headed account.” When I first tried to read this book fifteen years ago, I found this style to be very boring and stilted. However, I’d like to think I’ve matured as a reader since then, because I now find Ibn Fadlan’s accounting of Buliwyf’s mission to be clean, detailed, and fast-paced. The reader does get the impression that, if the concept of nerd was understood in the tenth century, he would have been categorized as one. But it is an endearing quality, especially when the ambassador adapts the ways of the warrior so thoroughly by the end.

The movie’s purpose, in contrast, is boldly-executed action. The humorous scenes are more pronounced, the warrior’s characters more developed—the film uses a much brighter palate of colors and way-larger brush strokes to develop the story. I wouldn’t say that is gauche—quite the contrary, I love its pace and bawdiness—but it is clear that the movie’s main purpose is to entertain and thrill; the book, to witness a legendary journey, quietly allowing the story to speak for itself.

The Thirteenth Warrior tanked at the box office, and has yet to earn back its initial budget. While the making of this film was plagued by delays, rewrites, and other challenges, I think Touchstone still managed to produce a well-done product. The actors, especially the warriors themselves, do a tremendous job of filling out each character, most notably in their treatment of Ibn Fadlan as more-than-useless until he learned their ways. (The scene where the archer has to growl at him to not step in his line of sight, and how the warriors jested when he got seasick, both reminded me of my own more-than-useless existence right after boot camp.) I will say that I liked the development of the translator, Herger, more in the movie than in the book—if nothing else, he was more personable, and was he was used very successfully in the film to allow the plot to come up for air. While I was reading Eaters of the Dead, I found myself missing the movie-Herger’s quips.

In the end, I liked the book and the movie equally, but for very different reasons. I can highly recommend Eaters of the Dead for its ingenious, respectful retelling of a classic tale, The Thirteenth Warrior for its well-balanced application of suspense, action, and humor, and both to just about anyone who likes a good story full of culture, intrigue, and creatures too terrifying to be named.

Both contain: gore, suggestions of sexual congress, cannibalism

Reviewed by: W.E. Zazo-Phillips