Russia Delivers A Unique, Mongolian Tinged Sword And Sorcery Epic With THE HORDE

One of the most beloved genres of the written word, the sword and sorcery tale has always struggled to make it to the big screen. The genre raises unique challenges - prime among them how to do it without looking silly, and how to do it on a limited budget - but when done well it inspires arguably the most intensely loyal cult audiences of any genre. See Conan The Barbarian for proof of that.

The surprising thing about the sword and sorcery tale is how most are based on such overwhelmingly European mythology. There are plenty of other cultures ripe for the picking and yet - other than a wave of fantasy pictures out of Hong Kong back in the Golden Era there - there seems to be little variety.

Director Andrei Proshkin appears ready to change that.

Proshkin's upcoming film The Horde (Орда) hits Russian screens in September. The horde in question is Mongolian, the scale of things earns the epic tag, the magical presence both undeniable and rather unusual in execution.

The trailer for the film lies below and while it sadly carries out the peculiarly Russian quirk of overdubbing Russian voices over top the existing audio of anyone speaking any other language - a wildly distracting practice - the visuals are simply gorgeous. Check it below.