Lords of Chaos

Name: Lords of Chaos
Genre: Biography, Drama, Thriller, Horror, Music
Released: February 8, 2019
Duration: 118 min
Rating: 48
Cast: Andrew Lavelle, Anthony De La Torre, Emory Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, Jack Kilmer

2019

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 17 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Ratings

See All

5.1

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

5.1	Your Score
5.1	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 27 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Lords Of Chaos

Now Playing: Lords Of Chaos

Movie Details & Credits

Arrow Films | Release Date: February 8, 2019 | R

Starring: Andrew Lavelle, Anthony De La Torre, Emory Cohen, Gustaf Hammarsten, Jack Kilmer, Jon Øigarden, Jonathan Barnwell, Lucian Charles Collier, Rory Culkin, Sam Coleman, Sky Ferreira, Valter Skarsgård, Wilson Gonzalez Ochsenknecht

Summary: Based on an astonishingly true story, Lords of Chaos recounts the exploits of the Norwegian black metal movement’s most notorious band: Mayhem. After the gruesome suicide of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin, the band's founder, Øystein Aarseth, used the opportunity to inject a mix of satanism, havoc, and murder into the music to sell more records.

Director: Jonas Åkerlund

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Thriller, Horror, Music

Rating: R

Runtime: 118 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Stream On

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

IndieWire Michael Nordine

Feb 7, 2019

Much like the music, Lords of Chaos is frequently unpleasant but oddly compelling — not least because Åkerlund ensures that the film never takes itself as seriously as its subjects did. Read full review

Amy Nicholson

Oct 4, 2018

Åkerlund’s music videos established him as a whiz-bang technician, a skill he only unleashes in two terrifying montages. Lords of Chaos proves that he can also get great performances out of a young cast, especially Kilmer’s otherworldly Dead. Read full review

Justin Lowe

Oct 4, 2018

As a depiction of the very public emergence of a marginal movement, Lords of Chaos provokes both awe and repulsion, but not necessarily admiration for a musical form and subculture unwaveringly devoted to literalism, no matter how extreme. Read full review

Katie Rife

Oct 4, 2018

Åkerlund’s understanding is more like contempt, in a film that downplays the bigotry of the Norwegian black metal scene and shrugs off the severity of its actions with a “boys will be boys” approach that has no reverence for the scene, but doesn’t provide any insight into it, either. Read full review

Robert Abele

Feb 13, 2019

Ultimately it all adds up to a hodgepodge of styles and attitudes with hardly any insight into what made this corrosive clique so magnetic to its adherents. Read full review

Keith Watson

Feb 4, 2019

Jonas Åkerlund’s breezy approach to this material not only cheapens the music, but also has the effect of downplaying the severity of the scene’s truly unsavory politics. Read full review

The Playlist Kevin Jagernauth

Feb 5, 2019

Lords Of Chaos is more interested in the spectacle than the substance behind the true story, and that kind of phoniness likely wouldn’t even get the film or Åkerlund invited into The Black Circle. Read full review

SEE ALL 17 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

Bertaut1

Apr 8, 2019

Equal parts funny and harrowing; an enjoyable "true story"

Looking at late 80s/early 90s Norwegian black metal, Lords of Chaos asks, "was its extreme image authentic or manufactured". Adapted from Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind's 1998 book, written for the screen by Dennis MagnussonEqual parts funny and harrowing; an enjoyable "true story"

Looking at late 80s/early 90s Norwegian black metal, Lords of Chaos asks, "was its extreme image authentic or manufactured". Adapted from Michael Moynihan and Didrik Søderlind's 1998 book, written for the screen by Dennis Magnusson and Jonas Åkerlund, and directed by Åkerlund (himself a founding member of black metal band Bathory), the film suggests that behind the scenes, most black metallers knew that their militant anti-establishment Satanism, claims of human sacrifices, championing of suicide, and advocation of anti-Christian violence were simply marketing tools, not to be taken literally. The film tells the story of what happened when some black metallers took them very literally, leading to suicide, arson, and murder.

Oslo, 1987; the film follows Oystein "Euronymous" Aarseth (Rory Culkin), who has established a band named Mayhem to create a new subgenre of "true Norwegian black metal". Hiring troubled singer Pelle "Dead" Ohlin (Jack Kilmer), the band starts to build up a following, including the awkward Kristian "Varg" Vikernes (Emory Cohen). After Dead commits suicide, Euronymous welcomes Varg into the fold. However, as Varg becomes more and more extreme, a power struggle develops between the two.

Åkerlund isn't especially interested in valorising black metal, with the majority of the film designed to chip away at its image of evil. In this sense, the story is primarily about image and marketing. Whereas some of the others saw evil in a literal sense, Euronymous saw it in terms of branding.

It's in relation to this manufactured image that much of the film's humour is to be found. Describing their style, Euronymous proudly declares, "when people hear our music, we want them to commit suicide." Later on, he admits, "all this evil and dark crap was supposed to be fun." He has to borrow his parents' car to get anywhere (it's difficult to be taken seriously as a purveyor of terror when you're in your dad's Volvo). An impassioned speech about the nature of black metal is interrupted by someone being told their kebab is ready. Euronymous complains of Christianity, "they're oppressing us with their kindness and their goodness". And in easily the funniest scene in the film, as Euronymous and Varg wait outside a recording studio, a group of elderly women emerge, with Euronymous running up to them and growling, "Hail Satan!"

From an aesthetic point of view, the film features three notable scenes; two murders and one suicide. All three scenes are shot matter-of-factly by cinematographer Pär M. Ekberg and sparsely edited by Rickard Krantz, with the suicide really getting under my skin. I'm not sure if it's the length of time it takes (the scene runs over three minutes), if it was Mattias Eklund's sound design wherein we can hear the knife cutting flesh, if it was the lack of cutaways, or if it was the close-ups of the wounds, but I found the scene brilliant, but harrowing.

Another aesthetic element worth mentioning is that the actors all speak in English with their own accents. Personally, I find this far less distracting than everyone speaking English but with Scandinavian inflexions. It's a little jarring at first, but you quickly acclimate yourself to it, and it ultimately proves far less distracting than an actor with a God-awful accent.

In terms of problems, some will take issue with how ironically the film approaches the material. The repeated shots of band members leaving their parents' homes does seem to betray something of a judgemental jokey disdain. Additionally, the film never examines what drove these young men to make this kind of music in the first place, or why these poorly recorded aggressive songs garnered such a fanatical following, which leaves a noticeable lacuna. In one respect, Lords of Chaos is an act of de-mythologizing, attempting to show that this frightening group of Satan-worshipping church burners and murderers were really just middle-class kids with a case of ennui. On the other hand, it illustrates that what had started out innocently led to some serious real-world ramifications. Euronymous is depicted as a wannabe cult leader, but one who doesn't subscribe to his own ideology of violence and rebellion, and is completely at a loss how to put the genie back in the box when certain members take his words literally. Lords of Chaos is his story before it is the story of black metal, and this is a vital point. For adherents, this will prove offensive. For everybody else, the ironic humour, harrowing violence, and thematic nihilism gel to form a fascinating film that's well worth checking out.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

umaumai

Jun 4, 2020

As interesting as this film’s topic is, I honestly can’t recommend anyone watch it. There are some very disturbing acts and horrific images throughout it’s run time. In fact it’s pretty gruesome. While on the whole that does service the film, it just feels sensationalized. Especially inAs interesting as this film’s topic is, I honestly can’t recommend anyone watch it. There are some very disturbing acts and horrific images throughout it’s run time. In fact it’s pretty gruesome. While on the whole that does service the film, it just feels sensationalized. Especially in contrast to the mental health issues that never seem to be brought up for more than a brief mention. None of the characters are likable - and that’s okay because I don’t think that you’re supposed to like them. It’s based on actual events that literally set the world on fire durning the late 80s in Norway. It’s not a bad film, but the content is just very dark and it left me empty. It’s like the film A Clockwork Orange and the movie Airheads hooked up and had a deeply disturbed idiot baby that grew up to to be a homicidal nut case.… Expand

1 of 2 users found this helpful11

mma_SAIF

Oct 23, 2019

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. amazing jjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjjj… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

imthenoob

Feb 25, 2019

The story behind the rise of Norwegian Black Metal is truly captivating. The movie, however, is not. The cast is truly unlikable, The attempts at shock value fell flat and this movie felt almost oddly comedic to me at times too.

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

WeAllPod

Feb 17, 2022

Where do I even begin with this. I have so many complaints, but I'll try to make this brief.

The fact that the main characters are all American bothered me to no end. Much of the main supporting cast was also American or or English, with the exception of Valter Skarsgård who plays Faust andWhere do I even begin with this. I have so many complaints, but I'll try to make this brief.

The fact that the main characters are all American bothered me to no end. Much of the main supporting cast was also American or or English, with the exception of Valter Skarsgård who plays Faust and Arion Csihar who is actually the son of Attila Csihar. The actors themselves are good actors, nothing against them, but I would have loved this to have actually been played by Scandinavian actors. Heck if there were some actors that were from elsewhere, but could pull off a Scandinavian accent, then fine.

Jonas Åkerlund was in Bathory for their first album which many will argue was the first black metal album. To say he doesn't have clout would just be a lie. Though he went into filmmaking when, according to him, black metal became too serious. That said, it doesn't absolve him of making a movie about underground black metal, but for a very mainstream audience. That's not something that's easy to do and honestly just shouldn't have been attempted at all.

The character of Ann-Marit is unnecessary. Plain and simple. Being a female metalhead myself, it's always annoying to see because Euronymous did have girlfriends, but it was nothing like Ann-Marit from everything I've read.

While the average person probably doesn't care about the inaccuracies, for a lot of the metal world this story is very important. I mean, they missed a giant opportunity about Glen Benton meeting Euronymous (and yes, I know there's a lot of dispute around that meeting, but it's such a famous thing that it's shocking they didn't even touch on it).

There's not enough black metal. I know this was supposed to be for mainstream audiences, but it still bothers me.

Pretty much the only positives are the actors and that it really upset Varg cause let's face it, Varg is an ****

If you actually are interested at all in what really happened during that time, I highly recommend you watch Until The Light Takes Us.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

SEE ALL 5 REVIEWS