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Lords of Chaos


Lord of Chaos (2018) N

In the early 90s churches were burning in Norway as the black metal was making its presence known to the world. At the centre of it all was Mayhem and its leader Euronymous. And, of course, Varg Vikernes who murdered him and became Norway's most notorious musician.


I don't like Åkerlund's choice to make Lords of Chaos so comedic and almost a mockery of the subject. Maybe he felt that his involvement in Bathory was too close to them and he needed to redeem himself by making all of these people look like clowns and idiots. Whatever the reason the only feeling I get from the movie is his contempt.

As far as I know current members of Mayhem aren't too happy about the film and Varg's been raging about it on multiple occasions (I know Varg may have personal interests in the matter but his comments gain little more weight from others disapproving the film too). Lords of Chaos makes black metal seem like irrelevant trash that was accidentally born from the minds of few sick individuals, something that has no value, something that Åkerlund wishes to go away.

Acting is mostly average and there are some casting issues (especially Varg). It's odd that the film concentrates so little to the actual music (probably because they didn't get the rights from many artists) and the whole scene is reduced to handful of people (hell, they didn't even mention Faust's band - he felt like Mayhem groupie instead of a member of another major band Emperor).

I doubt Lords of Chaos has much historical value and it's barely mediocre as entertainment. It had some surprisingly brutal scenes (especially Dead's suicide - best wrist cutting seen in movies, I think) but the overall tone was totally off. I can't escape the feeling that the main reason for this film was to slander Varg.