"Lords of Chaos" seemingly begins by encouraging viewers to decide for themselves what happened when the Oslo-based black metal enthusiast Euronymous (Culkin) tried and failed to start a scene based on the vague concept of "true Norwegian black metal." Euronymous puts a lot of neurotic care into his public persona as the ghost-paint-wearing lead singer of Mayhem, a somewhat formative (in real-life) black metal group. In a rare concert scene, we see the kind of high energy that Euronymous and his guys chase after throughout much of the film's 117-minute run time. It's a solid concert scene, one that captures the manic highs and crushing lows of attending a great heavy metal concert.
But that sequence isn't characteristic of the rest of "Lords of Chaos." Much of the plot concerns Euronymous's frenemy relationship with heavy metal poseur turned heavy-duty black metal band leader Christian (Emory Cohen), who later changes his name to Varg, and then "The Count." Varg, in real life, was the leader of Burzum, a semi-influential black metal group. [SOMETHING OF A SPOILER] Varg's also a convicted murderer, so you can probably guess how this particular story ends.
Writer/director Jonas Akerlund (along with co-writer Dennis Magnusson) deserve some scrutiny for making a fictional drama that is, at heart, about the death and meaning of real-life people and their respective legacies. But, instead of arguing whether or not "Lords of Chaos" is a responsible work of fiction, I'd rather talk about how Akerlund and his collaborators tell this particular story. For starters: they use lots of pop culture signifiers--music cues, poster art, and movie footage--to quickly establish a connection between their audience and their characters. When Euronymous and Varg aren't butting heads, they're surrounding themselves with metal LPs—Metallica's "Kill 'Em All," Motörhead's "Bomber," and, uh, Black Sabbath's "Seventh Star"?—and gory horror movies, like "Dead Alive," "The Evil Dead," and "A Nightmare on Elm Street."
This is a weird mix of titles, mostly because these characters would probably head-bang along with music by metal bands like Venom, Death SS, and Slayer. Still, you can tell that some care went into the assembly of the film's collection of pop culture references (there are some strategically-placed Venom fliers in a few scenes). And the fact that most people can recognize these pop culture artifacts (if only by their iconic cover or poster art) suggests that these songs, albums, and movies were chosen in order to make a redundant comment about how Euronymous and Varg are both "poseurs," since authenticity is all they seem to talk about (in the film, anyway).
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