Lords of Chaos

The real events of the Norwegian black metal scene: the band Mayhem, the church burnings and two deaths. Euronymous founded the band and sits at the centre of the scene. Dead, the singer, is genuinely occupied with dying; he harms himself and eventually kills himself. Euronymous photographs the scene and uses the picture. Then Varg Vikernes joins the circle and a contest begins between the two men over who will go further. Churches burn. The director, Jonas Åkerlund, is not at a distance from this material: he drummed for the Swedish band Bathory in the 1980s. Rory Culkin plays Euronymous, Jack Kilmer plays Dead and Emory Cohen plays Varg. The production drew opposition from the scene throughout. Vikernes, by then out of prison, objected openly and refused permission for his music; some current and former members of Mayhem objected both to the content and to how it was made. Åkerlund worked with the families of Dead and Euronymous and eventually secured the rights to Mayhem's music. Before you watch, know this: the film shows a real suicide and real murders in detail and does not soften the violence. It is also worth weighing that members of the actual scene consider it historically wrong.