In Norway during the late 1980's, Øystein Aarseth, otherwise known as Euronymous, forms infamous black metal band Mayhem. The lineup that is focused on consists of Necrobutcher, Hellhammer, and Swedish frontman Dead - a troubled sort that has an obsession with death and self-harm. Mayhem is known for their raw, dark sound and for their extreme shows featuring dead animal heads, self-mutilation, and generally evil sh*t. Dead eventually ends up committing suicide by blowing his brains out with a shotgun. His body is discovered by Euronymous, who rather than calling the police immediately, decides to take photos of the grisly scene and makes necklaces out of the pieces of the skull (this actually happened for those of you who don't know the story). The photo is used on a live bootleg of Mayhem's 'Dawn of the Black Hearts'. Some time later, Euronymous opens Helvete, a record store, and creates his own label, Deathlike Silence. By this time, regular patrons of Helvete that are involved in other black metal bands and with Euronymous become known as the 'Black Circle'. In this timeframe, Euronymous meets Varg Vikerenes, the one man powerhouse behind Burzum, another black metal band that ends up signed to Deathlike Silence. Euronymous makes Varg the new bassist of Mayhem. A supposed power struggle begins to ensue between Euronymous and Varg - the latter of whom actually exhibits the extreme behavior that Euronymous fronts by burning down churches. The film also touches on the murder of a gay man in Lillehammer at the hands of one of the members of the black circle, Faust of the band Emperor. Varg decides to tell these stories to a local newspaper. He ends up getting arrested, but is released because there is no evidence that he was responsible for the murder or for the burning of the churches. Euronymous gets too big for his britches and tells members of the black circle that he wants to take Varg out to the woods, torture him, and kill him. Varg obviously doesn't take too kindly to this and decides to finish things first. He drives to Euronymous's apartment in Oslo and stabs him many, many times, killing him. Varg ends up receiving Norway's maximum sentence, 21 years in prison, for the murder of Euronymous and for the burning of several churches.
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| Mayhem 1988 |
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| Øystein Aarseth aka 'Euronymous' 1987 |
Things I Liked:
The Sets- The movie was filmed in Oslo, Norway and really goes out of it's way to depict the actually not bad life these guys had. After all, people seem to forget that they were teenagers still dependent on their parents in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, and the film wants you to recognize that. From the party house in the woods, to the black metal cavern underneath Helvete, to the icy white pristine of Varg's home, each set is quite realistic and serves a purpose to set a mood or show how a character is feeling.
The Costumes / Styling - Realistic and not overly edgy, which Hollywood tends to do with the underground types. Band shirts were carefully selected from the era the movie was filmed in, and wardrobe was combined with heavy metal attire and Nordic culture - several scenes depict characters in wool sweaters, which really shows how the characters fit in their environment while they toggle between their fantasy and reality. I also like the fact that Euronymous, played by Rory Culkin, doesn't have perfect hair all the time. His dusty ass roots were showing for a lot of the movie and it made the visual personification of Euronymous easier to believe.
Rory Culkin as Euronymous - Albiet the cheesy TRUE NORWEGIAN BLACK METAL and MAYHEM growls, I enjoyed Rory's characterization of Euronymous. Obviously I never knew him personally, as I am 1) American and 2) Was born only 2 weeks before he was killed in 1993 and 3) Why would I? However, the character, while not very developed, is believable. He is displayed as a calculating, manipulative sort who wants people to see him as, ironically, almost god-like, even though he probably isn't that intelligent or confident. My friend Karly described it perfectly - "he seems like the type of guy you'd meet at a show and be interested in from afar, only to lose interest as soon as he starts talking." His big mouth gets him into and out of many risky situations until the very end - unfortunately he couldn't talk his way out of that one. Sadly, Rory's placid blue eyed personification isn't totally realistic of Euronymous in the real world. If you check out some of the later photos of Euronymous, you'll see what I mean.
As a wise man once said before he wiped out half the universe: Reality is often...disappointing.
Dead - I thought the character of Dead was well done. Considering that the actual folks this movie was depicted on wanted no part in this and/or are deceased, I thought his development came together nicely. You really get a sense of just how messed up and in anguish this guy is, so much that he tries to inflict as much pain on himself as possible before he dies. The impact of his death on Euronymous is an interesting twist as they (attempt) to delve into the psyche of a young man who has lost one of his closest companions.
Things I Disliked / Hated:
Emory Cohen as Varg Vikernes - The character of Varg in this movie is a total pleb. Not trying to insult the actor, but he was just not at all the right person to be playing Varg. They portray him as a complete mouth-breather who fanboys over Euronymous and then ends up trying to be hard af as a member of the black circle. After a member of the black circle kills the man in Lillehammer, this characterization of Varg says that to celebrate, wE ShUd BuRN A ChUrCH huhuhuhuh. This is so lame and dumb and contrived that I just prayed he would remain through the rest of the movie without speaking. As the antagonist, they could have written a MUCH better script for him and developed his character to such that he isn't so cringy and one-dimensional.
Cheesy, Unnecessary Romance - Sky Ferreira is cast as the groupie girlfriend of Euronymous, Ann Marit. She did not exist in real life and was created just for this film. Not only is this character so incredibly dull, I just don't find that this arc of the story contributes anything to the film. I get that maybe she was added to "humanize" Euronymous, but I would have rather just had them focus on his trauma from Dead's suicide and spiral into madness rather than this dumpster fire of a relationship. She also gives Euronymous a bad and fictitious haircut at some point which I'm still mad about.
Boy if you don't get some Neutrogena wipes in there ... As a skincare enthusiast, this scene triggered acne PTSD.
The Script - Overall just lazy and at times hard to bare with the cringe factor. The director also didn't seem to care that the actors didn't even attempt to seem European or Norwegian which made it seem inauthentic.
So is Lord of Chaos that bad? Although it was entertaining and I could stay awake through a late night watch, it's not worth the money. If you are really interested in seeing it, the movie is available to rent on Vudu and Amazon Prime. If you are looking for an informative, reliable source about Black Metal, let me tell you - this ain't it. Until the Light Takes Us is a documentary about these events with interviews of the actual people in these bands - I would recommend that over this any day. Either way, just please, for the love of all that is (un)holy, take off your corpse paint before you play tonsil hockey with anyone.
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