Lords Of Chaos - Movie Review 

Spoilers ahead: Fenriz dies, Euronymous goes to prison and Varg hides in a cabin eating mushrooms and smoking weed

if I wanted to watch a comedy based on mayhem. I would have hired tommy wiseau as Euronomous

Movie is like an unintentional parody.

This movie had the most realistic stabbing scene in history of cinema. More realistic than the opening scene in Goodfellas

Lets burn some cinemas.

Edgelords of Chaos

"I hate speed and thrash metal" -Rory as Euronymous Shop has Sodom, Metallica and Motorhead vinyls throughout it.

This is the story Aarseth's parents tell their friends over dinner.

9:29 “I wasn’t there and neither were you” fenriz is secretly watching and you just made him cry. Good job myke smh 😤😤😤

All I got from this movie is that the director was hell bent on making varg look bad. That's it. It was a pointless movie. You nailed it on your review.

The thing you said about Dead's characterization and suicide being perfect isn't true, it's the same old myth. A person isn't their disease, and that portrayal really dehumanized him. No character depth. In Sweden, he was seen as fun, bossy, creative etc., but he BECAME depressed in Norway. He wasn't depressed from the start. The fact that Euro made false promises about how great Mayhem would become really took the fight out of him, and after the failed tour, the band fell apart and Dead's purpose in life, his music, went away. The guys in Mayhem had a lot to do with him getting more depressed as well. They bullied and pushed him to commit suicide, especially Euro. If he didn't make the coffee right, they'd tell him to go kill himself. Euro fired the shotgun into the woods when Dead tried to sleep there because the constant arguments with him became too much. The others started spending more time with their families or girlfriends and away from the house, and Dead, who had no one and lived in the middle of nowhere without a phone or even money to keep sending letters, got isolated and started worshipping thoughts of death and "Transylvania" (he believed in the afterlife - in Transylvania). And in the end, Varg wasn't the villain and Euro the hero (at all). Euro was first jealous of Dead, pushed him to die, and then of Varg. The characterization was all in all terrible.

Alright.. I went and saw it in a theater (the type of people there for it was exactly what I expected) with a few friends. I gotta say, as a movie, its pretty good. The church burnings looked great, the gore was good, the details of all the locations, what they are wearing and even the stickers on the guitars looked extremely accurate. Plus, it was cool seeing Attila's son play him. Accuracy as to what actually happened? Holy fuck. Yeah, I wasn't there, but considering how there isn't too many people who remember Euronymous fondly (his own band members for example), I gotta say, I was annoyed with how they made him out to be some innocent kid. They went WAY too far to make Varg out to be some sort of timid, bullied dork that later becomes the bully. I don't agree with Varg on a lot of things, but this was one of the worst cases of character assassination I've seen in a movie. It was enjoyable as a made up, bullshit movie, but the story and the portrayal of Varg nearly sucked all enjoyment out for me.

about being stabbed: you'd be surprised what a person would do when adrenaline is up.

Wait you don't think people in the metal scene say things like "MAYYYYHAAAAM!!!!" in dorky voices? Have you never seen a band introduce themselves or a kvlt kiddie?

I mostly liked the movie, but how they portrayed Varg was pretty ridiculous and took away from the viewing experience.

I did read that Varg did go to raves to get laid, but he was still a dork in many ways lol

The Euronymous stabbing scene was actually incredibly realistic. When people are stabbed in real life, the body becomes almost super-human and will do everything in its power to stay alive. Our bodies are programmed to survive. It’s not like in horror films where someone gets stabbed once and falls over dead. That just doesn’t happen. All in all, the scene was very disturbing,

Before watching, I see the Dawn shirt, and so I know you'll be on the right side of this.

Varg put out a video recently where he stated that Euronymous only said “that’s enough” during the stabbing and he thought no it’s not. Varg also said he never stopped to drink any chocolate milk.

******SPOILERS****** I agree with your point that the movie emphasized comedy too much. It made the really visceral and disturbing murder sequences feel almost out of place. Comedy doesn't have to be silly. A better director could have incorporated comedy into the dark atmosphere without having the two cancel each other out. They tried to form an arc around Euronymous's relationship with Dead, but the reality of how he treated him was not as "best friends," like the film made it out to be. Beyond the allegations that he encouraged Dead's suicidal behavior and the fairly obvious fact he capitalized on it, Mayhem members have said that their relationship was unhealthy and hostile. Euronymous definitely never stopped to ask if Dead was alright, which would explain why he reacted how he did when he found the body. I think they didn't want him to look like too much of an asshole, but having him go from "oh no my friend killed himself and I'm so shocked and appalled" to "where's my camera" in literally seconds was incredibly weird. As for Varg, they simultaneously captured and destroyed his persona. I love the scenes where everyone else is "raising hell" and partying and he's just sitting there wishing he was reading or playing D&D. But because he had a more traditional, straight-laced lifestyle, having him screwing groupies all the time made no sense. He has said numerous times that he AVOIDED that kind of thing, but I guess sex is the only thing people associate with popularity. It would have been better for posers to come to "the man behind Burzum" and get told off by him. That also would have worked a lot better as a contrast to his introduction, where Euronymous rebukes him for his Scorpions patch. He was also never a Christian. He was sucked into nationalism and paganism way before he got involved in the metal scene. I'm not saying he was this mad genius... as he was a dumb kid just like the rest of them... but having him transform into a scene bully seems antithetical to who he was. He as a nerd with a chip on his shoulder. Having him taunt Euronymous while he killed him didn't make much sense. I get that what he did was wrong, but you don't have to be that on the nose about it. On all accounts, the killing seemed driven by paranoia, not power. Just my two sense.

This new Lord's of Chaos movie, it's uhhhh..... NOT GOOD

Jack Kilmer really is a black metal fan.

My biggest thing with the movie is how there was no mention of emperor or darkthrone I enjoyed the movie very much because I went in with VERY VERY low expectations so I enjoyed it

*Varg has left the cinema*

I agree with them making Varg way too much of a dork almost to the point of being spiteful. They downplayed a lot of the extreme racism and homophobia that is very prominent in the Michael Moynihan book that the movie was inspired by. Speaking of that book, there are some chapters that really did go into Euronymous being more of a poser and pushing the extreme ideas in order to sell more records as well as people complaining that Varg fucked everything that moved. How accurate that is no one knows since literally everyone in featured in the book has come out and said none of it is true. The movie not getting the rights for Burzum or Emperor really did make it so they had to gloss over a lot of story critical developments making the music feel like an afterthought instead of the main driving force. As much as Varg and Euronymous were assholes in real life there was no arguing their massive musical talent which felt ignored.

Funniest thing was. The guy who played Varg was Jewish. Varg is European Pagan.😆😆

Wait was Varg played by a Jewish actor? I bet he loved that.

Agree pretty much, and definitely about Dead. It felt like they just got everyone else intentionally wrong on purpose. I mean, Varg's real "Norwegian C3PO" voice is enough to be comedic, but giving him that nasal Steve Urkel voice and laugh and really going out of their way to turn him into a poser and a moron was way too over the top. And none of the actors actually looked like the musicians they were supposed to portray. I guess Attila was played by his son, but when I met him, he TOWERED over me, but in the movie, he's almost the same height as Euronymous, who was supposed to be tiny (though not quite as scrawny as the actor who played him). Euronymous never had a girlfriend, he was supposedly asexual, and he never cut his hair. I guess having a love story is obligatory for Hollywood. Varg supposedly had a girlfriend, but wasn't that "rock star fucking groupies" type. Being a white supremacist, he seems to hate people who live the "sexual freedom" lifestyle. According to Varg, Euronymous also never cut his hair before the stabbing, that was probably inspired by autopsy photos where they had to shave his head. Finally, not only did they leave out Emperor and Darkthrone, they seemed to have omitted a good chunk of people, like Maniac, Samoth, Fenriz, Abbath, and pretty much all the "level headed" people in the scene. Anyways, i thought it was trash, and you're right..... ho the fuck is the intended audience?? It feels like an insult to both black metal fans and newbies.

Varg is on youtube - ThuleanPerspective. Go hear about it from the man himself.

For what it's worth: I got stabbed 6 times a couple years back. I didn't even realise at first, thought I'd just been punched Really hard. Then I noticed my stomach and side were bleeding. About 5 minutes later 2 guys came up and told me I had 2 more stab wounds in my back! luckily all were flesh wounds - one of them was 1cm from my spine so I was almost paralysed.

Lords of Character Murder

Personally.... I always thought the concept of “true Norwegian black metal” was something of a cartoon. Or at least, when I became old enough to understand that it was only something that intrigued me as a kid. The older I got, the more a joke it became. And I fucking love darkthrone to this day!!! Still... as silly as it was, I wasn’t surprised to see a movie portray it with just as much silliness. Having said that, I like it a lot. TRVE KVLT kiddies be dammed.

Ya, I didn't really like this film either. But Varg is having a melt-down over it and that is the real entertainment. As if the man couldn't character assassinate himself!

the Cohen performance was not good enough for a liberal arts film on vimeo

I personally really liked this movie, by far one of my favorites. I found euronymuseses death scene is fantastic. It was dark, extended and honestly realistic. I found this movie to be a masterpiece, although it wasn’t on point, it’s almost impossible to truly portray the true events, especially because a lot of it was hidden to the public eye. Although it was pretty cheesy, the comparison between the real people is awesome, it’s well shot and the acting is great.

Dude - in order to enjoy or even get the most of this flick I think one has to embrace the irony of having a group of youngsters acting out their Lord of the Flies worst in their misplaced competition of being the lesser 'poser'. Group dynamics is a wierd thing. Wished it had dealt with this aspect on a deeper level... On another level I think this movie goes as deep as the real life people surrounding these events allow. Sorry to disappoint any, but I dont get the idolisation of ppl acting nuts and hurting others. I get why a lot of fanboys long for glorified story of mysterious epic darkness that truly represents their own fascination. I get what BM means to some and understand the urge to act as an antagonist to a pretty braindead mainstream culture ... however, for me the humour in this movie was a much needed vehicle to endure the never ending stream of braindead counterculture cliches and not least the pathetic tragic actions carried out by of a sad gang of mostly irresponsible selfish jerks. A decline into mocking and killing each other. Great friendships at its best! Simply wanting to be famous "at any price" is by definition the ultimate way of selling out. This is not only a subculture conundrum - it's a fucking identity split and it's complete delusion eventually giving birth to group psychosis within the 'black circle'. What better way to express these dynamics than through a band taking their self image waaaaaaay too seriously - to the point of 'anything goes'. I'm not a complete stranger to these events albeit from a distance. The story is disturbing and it should go down in history as such. In terms of characters and storyline accuracy it seems to hold. Evidently there's a bunch of die hard 'BM owners' out there who feel betrayed that their idols now again get exposed as brainfarts. Funnily this movie does show how low you can go but actually in a loving and caring fashion insofar possible - and one the holds up to the police reports as well.

1. The scene with dead killing himself, wasnt the night after the gig. You can see the scars on his arms had healed 2. Varg used a small pocket knife that locked to kill Euronymous. Varg stabbed him 23 times, from the apartment, down 3 stories of stairs before he killed him by stabbing him in the head. Jonas said in real life, the murder was much much longer and more brutal. They only show them go down one story of stairs in the movie. The murder of the gay man was worse in real life too, 37 stabs. Faust came back after hearing him gurgle and kicked him to death in the head with his boots. 3. When you listen to Rory Culkins voice in normal interviews, compared to his narration in the movie, he has put on Norweigan accent/intonation 4. Euronymous really died in his pajamas and underwear like he is seen in the movie, as Varg woke him at 4 am in the morning and demanded he open the door 5. Varg was 19 and Euronymous was 25 when Varg killed him, so I understand why they had to portray Varg as "paying his dues", being initially uncool. But I agree, the Varg role was all wrong. In real life Vargs tall, very thin and creepily playful and cheerful. He reminds me of Floki from Vikings. Hes very natural and casual in his narcissism and lack of empathy. In the movie, he reminds me of Nathan Explosion. 6. The reason they focused on "the girl" is because the media and Varg have alluded to the fact that Varg killed Euronymous over a 16 year old Ilsa Raluce Anghel or "The Gypsy" (who probably wrote the article below) who took their photos. She lived with both of them at different times, but was now with Euronymous. Her police statement got Varg arrested and convicted of murder. If you have read "Lords of Chaos" and researched all aspects of these murders, the inclusion of this female role shows the movies covering all these bases. Varg constantly lies to cover up the facts about this female, saying Euronymous, never had a girlfriend, he was gay, all sorts of discrediting shit to cover up the fact that this was probably true. Plus, Varg was jealous of Faust having killed a man, Snorre says this in the book. www.reddit.com/r/BlackMetal/comments/ak070l/interview_with_the_exgirlfriend_of_euronymous/

Honestly, the biggest cringe factor for me was people making fun of people who thought the film sucked. I saw tones of people throwing around accusations that people who disliked the film were just fan boys who were upset that their favourite musician wasn't wearing the right jacket or that all the inaccuracies were just unimportant shit. This is very dismissive of the fact that it is just a boring Hollywood cardboard cut out of a film that is just trying to capitalize on the sensationalism of the "Trv Story."

“Now I don’t know how accurate [the murder] was” *”...I wasn’t there”*

Watch 'Ex-Drummer' instead.

"no one talks like that" you must have never met my friend Brutal Joe

I went into it as a "Based on true events" movie. Because that's what it is, it wasn't going to be 100% true. It felt like a mockumentary. Going into it with that mindset, made it a hilarious entertaining event. I'm glad we got this movie, even with the fuck ups there is still an amazing attention to detail when it comes to make a metal and or black metal movie that doesn't try too be too serious. Every battle of the Alamo movie is different, every D-day movies is different.

Great words, man. Killer review.

i just don't understand why we couldn't have a good Black Sabbath movie before a mediocre to alright Mayhem movie.

Just watched it. The murder scene was actually hilarious. He starts drinking chocolate milk in between stabbing Euronymous, for fucks sake. had me in tears. I agree with everything you said.

A couple positives- Rory Culkin did a great job. The record shop, and the photo shoots were great. Also, I think Varg picked up that Sodom In the Sign of Evil EP in the shop, which is proto black metal.

This film is the black metal version of Bohemian Rhapsody. AWFUL! Jonas Akerlund is an incompetent director.

(Originally a reply, reposting as stand-alone comment) I'd recommend these 3 documentaries for anyone interested in learning about the early black metal scene in Norway, all should be available on youtube: Det Svarte Alvor, Satan Rir Media (Satan rides the media) and Once Upon a Time in Norway. On a side note: I haven't read the book Lords of Chaos, but I've seen many critiquing it for taking an almost admiring and uncritical position on the events that transpired, something to consider for anyone interested in reading it.

It will be end up as a cult hit in the future, like 'Showgirls', when people start wondering if Ackerlund was putting the 'meta' into 'metal'...full of hidden layers of deliberate intent when it comes to irreverence, mockery, subversion and humour. For example, the actor they chose to play Varg was a chubby Jewish man. Does anyone seriously think that's irrelevant, an inconsequential quirk only discovered post-casting by the director? So funny, oh good on 'em. Ackerlund is an aesthete, an arty farty, high concept-money man-- he's not a documentarian with a deep reverence for historical accuracy and the real substance here. There are all different types of storytellers and movie makers: some are visual, some care about psychology, which is why some projects just don't work and obviously jar to the discerning viewer who can sense something coming up really short and disappointing. Just a mismatch between script, subject and director etc. I'm not recommending filling a bowl and watching his movie with the word 'comedy genius' in mind, but...wouldn't it be more fun to consider it in this light? Well conceptualised, deftly executed mockery as an artform...dude, it's a fine line and not as easy as it looks: it's a form of art and if your cover is blown, well it's all over. Keep 'em engaged-- doesn't matter if they 'get' it. The trick is getting away with it, for people to wonder if they're imagining a 'tone' there or not, remaining shadowy, evasive but throwing clues left and right. This movie is not a documentary 'with heart' and integrity. Again, not suggesting you pass a dutchie between mates and laugh your heads off until one of your rolls off the couch, but...

Knowing the history of Mayhem, I thought this film portrayed just fine. I would rather see a movie about this insane story, than not. So yeah. Thanks. Lots and lots of stabbing

Euronymous' death scene was my least favorite part. It was soooooo exaggerated. I get WHY it was (it's a movie) but it turned me off. According to Varg (in his most recent video) he stabbed him until he was done and never said a word. No dramatic monologue haha.

I enjoyed some of the movie but I felt they tripped up badly in a couple of areas. I don’t understand why they made a love interest for Euronymous. I don’t feel like it added anything of substance to the story. They also did a terrible job of introducing Faust in the story considering that the murder in Lillehammer is featured in the story. Someone with no understanding of the story wouldn’t have known who he was. We just saw him hanging around Helvete up to that point. They didn’t even introduce him in the story. I would’ve liked to see some of the fluff taken out and some of the investigation put in instead.

good review Myke, my wife and I saw the movie last night, both of us are big fans of Norwegian black metal. with all honesty, if they changed names and made the band and characters 100% fantasy, it may have been an all right movie. That being said to start the timeline was all fucked up 1st Dead was still alive when Mayhem started recording Des Mysteriis Dom Sathanas. 2nd Varg was far more involved earlier on in the scene then this shit flic would have us believe, and though I think he has some stupid personal views, he is not an idiot. Finally they really played up the friendship between Euronymous and dead, that by all accounts did not really exist, and really downplayed Vargs part.

This movie could have been good but they inserted so much BS into it. Varg was not a vegetarian and the milk scene in the end is just silly. No Darkthrone mention either felt strange.

I went into it knowing very little about the genre besides the story and it left me wanting to get nerdy and find out more

Good, tastes vary but for me personally, Van Zandt would have been the wrong choice (and I still loath his "Elephant"). If we'd talk Harmony Korine, well, that would have been another thing - though probably scrapping a little too close to being a fan-movie. As it is (and having been a fan and collector at a time when Dead was not quiet as dead as he is today), we have to keep it mind that this is primarily a film for normies. Which is fine since Akerlund managed to keep that fine line between a film for the indie-film-crowd, yet keeping it entertaining for the BM-crowd, showing a love for details and being familiar with the basic scene (we might also point out, that a much younger Akerlund also made a video for Candlemass, which featured Dead before he joined Mayhem). But two more points I disagree with: The humour: I found it well-placed and by no means a distraction. Not only because BM-fans, especially from the Nordic regions, often have a slightly morbid taste of humour. Taking a closer look at the artwork of the "Deathcrush"-EP or the stories about Dead chasing cats through the woods, all that was rather hilarious at the time. I recall suggesting, in the comment sections in one of Varg's early video about the movie, that the film might best work as a very black comedy, so as to not degenerate into a soapy social-drama (and mentioning to him, that a scene with Euronymous in his underwear, screaming his lungs out while running down the staircase, would work best with Boney M's "Daddy Cool" playing in the background... yeah: he blocked me for that. LOL!). The violence: Dead's suicide and Faust stabbing the guy in the park were damn realistic; more kudos to the director. But the final killing of Euronymous may well have been the most realistic stabbing I've seen on film. Keeping in mind: all those kids were middle-class, from a very sheltered part of society. Unlikely that Varg has killed anything bigger than a cat prior to the murder. And killing with a knife is not easy and technically a pure gamble, if you don't know what you're doing. The human body can take an enormous amount of punishment, especially when you're under shock and no vital organs are hit directly. Varg was simply a kid, who got his "knowledge of anatomy" from Death Metal lyrics and flicks like The Evil Dead and Braindead (the film featuring snippets from both movies), and who essentially panicked. Mix that with incompetence, and you'll get a bloodbath like those in the film. So, forget Varg's often told, "glorious" tale of "one fatal blow to the head" (and the other wounds coming from shards of broken glass and pressumably mosquito bites; I'd trust that the police medics would be well aware of the differences).

The stairway murder-scene was great, minus the short hair. The whole drinking chokolate milk thing and Euronymous trying to find his spare keys to let himself out was laughable, and just made to create more tension, like a bad horror flick... Kilmer as "Dead", was the best part of the movie. I also loved the 'Freezing Moon' Live concert video. Varg was not well portrayed. They was going to make him that from day one. I also hated the ficitious "love interest" character. There was a lot of historical accurate clothing, places etc. which was positive. I think they actually drives past the road that leads up to the house they lived in, and Dead killed himself in. I think it's near Kråkstad. They must have shot that Volvo-driving scene there. I recall the house is rented out as a "summer home" or something to this day.

I assumed the two DM kids who visited the store were Darkthrone. Don't know why.

I am a black metal fan and I find all the fanboys butthurt about this movie very laughable. Great movie, good job.

Holy shit, Bully is such a great way to describe how this movie should've been. Ok, I'm not gonna live-comment your video anymore, let's talk about it in person soon.

Loved the review and agreed with most of your points, except that I loved some of the things you hated. I’ve never identified as a black metal fan or been a part of the scene in any way, so I’ve absolutely no problem with this movie being made. But I’d say I’ve been slightly more interested and digging into the story than the average music listener - in a reasonable way. As a Norwegian I was really eager to see how well they captured the vibe the music and story had given me in the past. At first it did, because I absolutely agree with you about Dead (even though I wish they’d paid more attenion to the pre-Varg story); His death scene was amazing, not just well executed (hehe!), bu the set itself resembled the album cover Euronymous took so much without feeling forced or set up, and made it feel eerily ‘actual live footage!’-y. But that was pretty much the only scene in the whole movie that captured that vibe for me. Still loved it though. I disagree strongly about Culkin’s performance. I think his acting and whole character was absoultely amazing, but did it remind me of the real Euronymous? In no way. Not just his looks, but accent, mannerisms - I didn’t see it, nor hear i. His death scene was painful to watch, but still felt a bit too cinematic more than realistic to me - compared to Dead’s death scene at least. This didn’t feel like the story in Oslo we’d heard so much about. He was also a bit too likeable and rational IMO. Here’s the part I strongly disagree wih you on: I LOVED the movie lookin at it as a really disespectful, childish dark comedy - the way Varg was handled made me laugh all the fuckin time. His whining and taking things overly serious, it HAS to be just a straight up diss, and I seriously loved that. Looking at it as a just some movie, sure, must’ve been lame. But based on his RU-vid channels, interviews, conflicting statements and overall attitude - this was the exact treatment he deserved, and even if he didn’t it’s exactly what Varg feels like to me. Just taken a bit further with the whining. I found it hilarious. Varg's the kinda guy Myke blocks on Twitter daily. Oh, and about Varg fuckin alot; in Bergen I’ve talked to quite a few people before this movie was released, and the rumor is at least that he DID in fact fuck alot. I skipped the parts about Ann-Marit, they were pointless. My main problem with the movie was how nothing really had any effect on anything. Varg and Euro burned down the only churches? How about the waves of (attempted) church burnings around Norway? My impression was always that they’d told/inspired people to do it. Not done it themselves. And the murder in Lillehammer? Like three people went ‘whoa, scary and cool, dude.’ This was a huge deal in Norway, especially after Varg talked to the media (holy shit, that scene was good). But in this movie it really felt like maybe 4-5 norwegians and some cops gave a shit.

Anybody whose into metal.. not even black metal, will know this entire movie is nothing but crap filled with lies. The black circle is part of metal history.

They butchered Varg and made him look like an idiot, he’s a really intelligent person, with his own opinions, but intelligent

Seems like this movie has a lot of flaws. I'm still gonna watch it regardless of that. I'm really curious.

If the knife doesn't puncture the heart or cuts the spine or something like that, death will probably happen because of blood loss. It is actually realistic that the people stabbed in this movie don't die instantaneously.

Loving the Dawn T-shirt. 🖤

Varg, two questions if you don’t mind: 1) do you approve the book “The Death Archives: Mayhem 1984 - 1994” by Jorn Stubberud. 2) are you considering to write your own book regarding your time in the Black Metal scene, Burzum, Euronymous, and life after those events? BTW; your last two Burzum albums are magnificent.

Movie was good, i love that all you black metal purists are mad about it.

Happy to see that this was a legit review with good thoughts and not a politically charged load of nonsense. Actually I'm happy to see that this film hasn't (at least yet) sparked any kind of moronic uproar or toxic nonsense.

Myke the Kid C Town back again!!

Jack Kilmer is actually in deed into black metal, pre-movie

Haven't seen the movie and not planning to in the nearby future either, I'm just here to comment about the stabbing scene. Being stabbed a shitton of times and being able to keep going might seem ridiculous, but from what I understand, it happens. A few years ago, my dad was stabbed two times with a 12 inch kitchen knife by his coworker. He said that the stabs itself felt like he was punched, and it wasn't even all that painful at the moment, he only started feeling shit and collapsing, when he lost enough blood. Yeah, I know, I managed to focus on he most important part of the video, haha Btw, what's your opinion on Until The Light Takes Us? I remember that you once briefly mentioned it, so I assume you've seen it

Are you sitting in front of my vinyl shelf??? It looks almost EXACTLY the same! Uff! Well, anyway... Cheerz from Goremany!

Yeah the darkthrone thing got me too, and idk i wish they talked about deathcrush a bit but ehh still awesome

Dead's death scene was probably my favourite part of the movie too. A lot of the gore and death was really hard-hitting and unpleasant to watch. I also found the fact that Varg was portrayed as a socially awkward shitheel to be hilarious, if not accurate. Rory Culkin's performance as Euronymous was decent and I got more laughs out of this movie than I thought I would. Mostly the things I'm negative about is how the story gets bogged down with too much Hollywood schmaltz garbage, the underdeveloped and worthless love interest and the overall pacing and structure of the story was disjointed and I never felt like I knew how much time has passed. Obviously they got a ton of things wrong or glossed over others and they should have taken more of the unique elements of the actual story, amplified and highlighted them rather than adapt it into a generic Hollywood drama. I don't think it was dogshit, but I'm definitely not pleased as a black metal fan.

DETHGASM is better than lords of chaos and probably more truth than LOC lol

Tomas Alfredson would've been another great choice as director. For some reason, "Let the Right One In" in some ways gives me a black metal vibe

imo this movie should have never been made. even though the story of these huge figures in bm is interesting, i dont think that it needed to be told this way.

Hey man I really appreciate you making this video. I’ve been pondering watching this movie all day today. And I was really stoked about seeing it now I’m not in as much of a rush to see it. I was shocked that anyone made a movie about this. And I have a feeling I’m going to be mad after watching it. Some stories were never meant to be told. But I’m going to watch it anyways I guess. Thank you for your honesty because now my hopes won’t be so destroyed. And yes you’re righ, if this guy didn’t tell the story right then they should have gave it to someone who would. After all this is probably the only chance this story will have have to be made into a movie.

cool dawn shirt \m/

I actually disagree about the stabbing part. It might have been a bit to dragged-out but that is very hard to say "objectively". The depiction of the stabbing was much more realistic than usually in films, though, were a guy gets stabbed two times and dies in 10 seconds. Depending on what gets injured somebody might survive quite a long time and you certainly can still movie around after being stabbed in the belly a few times. They also depicted the shock quite well. Stabbing of course hurts immensely but that is overwritten by the fear of death and the realization of what is happening setting in.

I believe the movie is the best that could create for the events that took place in norway back then, even if the characters (like Varg) call the movie bullshit..if you had listen the interviews through the years from the people that envolved and connected all between them you will see that 80% of what you see in the film are truth, of course its a movie and have a little sause in it but in all films who based on true stories that happens to do the film more interesteding, people who say that the film made the characters look like idiots dont forget that we are talking about kids varg was only 19 when he killed euronymous.

I was entertained, but agree with most of what you said. I wish they focused more on the music, the actor who played Varg was so mis-cast. It was too silly. They should have had Norweigan actors, with subtitles, or at least accents. I thought the violent death scenes were good, very brutal (especially Dead's suicide and the homesexual attack). A Bully-esque Larry Clark movie would have been awesome

Hey Myke, I agree with you that Jonas definitely went out of his way to make Varg look like a dork, but for different reasons. I don't think this was about Varg's non-participation, but for something more personal, that we're not privy to yet. I looked at the sex scenes as Jonas' way of insinuating that Varg was overcompensating for possibly being gay. He made Varg look a little overweight as well as planting that he might have been a poser (Scorpions reference). I also wished he would've used actors that spoke with a Norwegian accent. Man... yes...imagine if Larry Clark did this instead...

Not into Varg's politics but he doesn't seem the person to lie about what happened. He just doesn't seem to give a shit about his image as long as people don't believe all the gossip and tall tales. So I do believe what he mentioned about his interactions with Euronymous. Self defense is of course in the eye of the beholder but what I've read about Euronymous I can kinda understand that Varg mistrusted the guy. Not condoning the murder of course but I don't believe Varg's a liar. As for the movie.... Inaccuracies aside it was engaging. Hampered by the true events honestly. If it were completely fiction it would have been a cool metal movie, but because it's based on true events it kinda suffers. Also Lukas Moodysson should have made this film. Him or Shane Meadows. They would have been unflinching and wouldn't have put unnecessary humor in it while still being able to capture the fact that these people were indeed highschool kids at the time.

It was just a very average flick.

Varg saying Burzum everytime he says it "BURTZEM!" They did and still do emphasize their names and the phrase black metal. And euronimis (misspelled)was more of a marketing person who sold an idea and made an idea but knew better than to actually believe it ... varg was kind of a dumb nerd dungeons and dragons kid who wanted to actually believe it and he didnt seem to knows that it was a concept and not really a way of life . Trve kvlt . And also when that adrenaline kicks in, people have been shot and stabbed several times before their body responds to it. Real life isnt just a one stab and fall down type of thing. Anyway, good review man, I know it's going to be inaccurate as hell but I still want to see it

LOL we disagree on pretty much everything you didn’t like. I loved Varg’s character and the lines you hated. But, I respect the review being in-depth and not the cookie-cutter “I’m so metal that I hate this movie cause we all hate hollywood.”

My theory is that Akerlund intended this movie as not just a character assassination of Varg, but of the whole black metal scene in general. It portrays everyone involved as arrogant, bigoted, and unintelligent which may be the case for SOME black metal musicians, but there is almost no one in the film that seems morally grounded other than Ann-Marie, the character that was fabricated. I'm not why Akerlund has turned his back on the scene, but this movie was a very immature and heavy-handed way to make his statement.

why watch lords of chaos when you can watch the beautiful documentary until the light takes us. Excellent video and I'm glad to hear opinion from someone who's been enjoying BM for much longer than others.

Yeah....there's a lot of BS about the film, but they basically made a movie out of pictures and interviews. If it was more realistic we would have an hour of metal heads sitting around at a record store.

Varg has 5 videos about the film on his channel ThuleanPerspective.

Depicting Varg’s character having a shitload of sex was just another nanny nanny boo boo towards the actual Varg. The actual Varg would see this as degenerate behavior “I suspect”.

*it was a brutal self defense

My cousin was there. And i talked with people who where part of scene. Movie has some mistakes but from what i learned from people who where there one thing is done well, Varg was, is and always will be a liar and poser.

hey myke, since this one doesnt look too great do you have any recommendations for movies/docs/books about the early black metal scene that are actually good?

You wouldn't believe what a human body can take in regards to stab wounds. This is why we see what appears to be overkilling with 30+ stabs in a lot of murders where knifes are involved. While one stab could surely kill a person it would take ages. I saw an incident captured by a CCTV recently where a person entered a fastfood restaurant and started stabbing people in the back with a lot of force involved. The stabbed people just walked around like nothing happened for quite some time. Also there is some disturbing footage on the internet involving basically gutting a person alive and the person is alive for minutes while his abdomen is cut open brutally. So the Euronymous murder scene isn't that unbelievable actually.

Dude, Larry Clark would've been perfect. I don't think I am going to waste my time with this one.

I only just found out about this movie and I was intrigued. Then I began hearing all that was wrong with it. Your comments really drive home some of the points, and funnily enough, one of the things I thought was that this should have been either in Norwegian with subtitles or the actors could have at least had Norwegian accents. And that was the first thing you mentioned! I think this could be a story that would make a great movie in the right hands but this sounds like not enough thought or veracity went into it. I guess I'll pass. Still curious though...

Just saw this film. Total trash.