Lords of Chaos

R18

2019

112 mins

Directed by Jonas Åkerlund
73%
62%
Horror
Music
Thriller

Horrific true story from Swedish filmmaker Jonas Åkerlund (Spun) that recounts the grisly beginning of the Norwegian black metal movement.... More

Horrific true story from Swedish filmmaker Jonas Åkerlund (Spun) that recounts the grisly beginning of the Norwegian black metal movement. Stars Rory Culkin, Emory Cohen, Jack Kilmer and Sky Ferreira.

"Based on an astonishingly true story, Lords of Chaos recounts the exploits of the Norwegian black metal movement’s most notorious band: Mayhem. Its founder, Øystein Aarseth, better known as Euronymous, was one of the originators of the annihilating metal guitar sound that burst onto the scene in the early ’90s. After the gruesome suicide of vocalist Per Yngve Ohlin, who performed under the pseudonym “Dead,” Euronymous used the opportunity to inject a mix of satanism, havoc, and murder into the music to sell more records. Bassist Varg Vikernes began to take Euronymous’s headline-grabbing talk too seriously and went on a spree of church burnings, forming a deadly rivalry between the two bandmates that culminated in an infamous and bloody end." (Sundance Film Festival)

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Where to watch Lords of Chaos

Lords of Chaos is available to stream in New Zealand... More now on YouTube and Google TV and Prime Video and Apple TV Store and Shudder and Academy On Demand and AroVision and AMC+ and Prime Video Store.

There is no screening information for this title.

Lords of Chaos | Ratings & Reviews

73_%73 reviews
Rotten Tomatoes® rating
62_%699 reviews
Audience score rating

"Lords of Chaos is a big screen adaptation of the controversial non-fiction book of the same name, revolving around members of the black metal band Mayhem. It is about damaged outcasts doing ugly things."

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Flicks

"Euronymous shaped the Norwegian Black Metal scene. You'd think that'd make him cool, but Åkerlund wisely doesn't buy it."

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Variety

"Akerlund, a veteran music-video director who intersperses "Lords of Chaos" with mildly surrealistic bursts, never establishes a coherent or interesting point of view."

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The New York Times

"Despite the film's inherent shock value, Lords Of Chaos still manages to successfully mine the explosive psychology of adolescent angst - even if the horror movie aesthetics occasionally threatens to overwhelm proceedings."

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Screen Daily

""Lords of Chaos" is two hours of boys behaving badly, but somehow forgets that the devil is in the details."

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Los Angeles Times

"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."

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