Lords of Chaos

Sun. Feb 17, 2019 at 10:00pm - Mon. Feb 18, 2019 at 12:00am EST
All Ages
$8.50 - $11.50
All Ages
  • Get Tickets
  • Details
Event Stats
$8.50 - $11.50
All Ages
Event Description

2018) dir Jonas Åkerlund w/Rory Culkin, Emory Cohen, Jack Kilmer, Sky Ferreira, Valter Skarsgård, Anthony De La Torre [112 min; DCP]


Legendary music video director (and founding member of influential early black metal band Bathory) Jonas Åkerlund’s take on the insular, troubled metal scene in Norway plays out as essentially a deep black comedy shot through with startling, visceral moments of violence. Inspired by the cult book of the same name, LORDS OF CHAOS follows the birth and inevitable death of Mayhem – one of the original purveyors of True Norwegian Black Metal. 


Rory Culkin plays Øystein Aarseth (aka Euronymous) the founder and guitarist for Mayhem who finds a kindred dark soul in Per Ohlin (aka Dead), the vocalist who crystalized the band’s sound. Despite Dead’s death fixation and self-destructive behavior, the band seems headed in the direction of stardom. That is until Dead’s extremely gory suicide and the introduction of new vocalist Varg Vikernes whose presence ultimately leads to a series of church burnings, more tragic deaths, and the destruction of the band.


Åkerlund paints a portrait of the band members and those around them as a group of goofy young metalheads – partiers, opportunists, psychotic outsiders, and even a few geniuses – but doesn’t let them off the hook for the destructive arsons, two disturbing murders, and one tragic suicide that they were responsible for. The three key moments of violence are portrayed in an unflinchingly graphic procedural style while the normal social and creative moments of the crew are seen mainly through the sarcastic, calculating eyes of Euronymous. The film is at times funny but ultimately disturbing as it cannily describes just how easy it is for posturing and play-acting to turn deadly serious.

Comments
Select Tickets
Sorry, this event has already taken place.
Venue Details
Map of Venue Location.
Brattle Theatre 40 Brattle Street
Cambridge, MA 02138
Join the Conversation