Rating summary

Movie		3.0
Video		3.5
Audio		2.5
Extras		1.0
Overall		3.0

Lords of Chaos Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman May 22, 2019

Scandinavian countries often seem like refuges of peace and stability to those of us who live in more fractious, contentious nations. There may be some lingering, simmering signs of dysfunction, though, in these seemingly serene regions, at least as evidenced by such films as The 100 Year- Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared, A Man Called Ove, virtually the entire output of Ingmar Bergman, and such outré documentaries as Hobbyhorse Revolution (those last two are said with tongue kinda sorta but maybe not totally in cheek). As such, the disturbing “based on a real story” Lords of Chaos may not be that surprising, even if its depiction of a bunch of so-called “Black Metal” heads getting into some pretty twisted behaviors may strike some as at least a little odd when thinking about Norway, the country where these events more or less transpired as they are depicted in the film.

Øystein Aarseth was a Norwegian rocker who perished in 1993 (two years shy of being able to “join” The 27 Club, kind of ironically a Cleopatra Entertainment Blu-ray release I’m reviewing more or less in tandem with this one). Before his shocking demise (a plot point which won't be spoiled here), Aarseth had adopted the stage name Euronymous (Rory Culkin), which is how the character refers to himself here courtesy of some voiceover and/or narration. Euronymous founds a “black metal” band called Mayhem, and suffice it to say that courtesy of a slew of really disturbing behaviors by many of the band members, they definitely live up to their name. Among Mayhem’s “extracurricular” (i.e, non-musical) activities turn out to be church burnings and other hate crimes. The main conflict turns out to be between Euronymous and another bandmate who eventually goes by the pseudonym Varg Vikernes (Emory Cohen).

Lords of Chaos will be a visceral viewing experience for any music fan who knows of “black metal”, or who is at least perhaps a fan of more “Western” idioms like goth. But the film doesn’t shirk from some really unsettling aspects here, and so this is definitely not an outing for the faint of heart or squeamish.

Lords of Chaos Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Lords of Chaos is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of MVD Entertainment Group and Unobstructed View with an MPEG-2 encoded 1080p transfer in 1.84:1. The film's closing credits roll list Arri Alexa cameras without specifying which model, and I'm assuming things were finished at a 2K DI. Perhaps due to the now "quaint" MPEG-2 encode, and some kind of middling bitrates, this presentation just doesn't have the crystal clarity some may prefer, though that said, a number of stylistic tweaks have been employed, including a kind of quasi-grainy distressed look for some shots, and quite a bit of unusual lighting and/or grading for some performance scenes in particular. Close-ups still reveal often quite good levels of fine detail, and some of the more troubling imagery (like some animal mutilations) will probably certainly provide enough detail to make some viewers squirm. Contrast is a little uneven at times, with blacks looking a trifle milky, and several dimly lit scenes don't offer much in the way of fine detail.

Lords of Chaos Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Unfortunately, this is not only another Blu-ray release with only lossy audio, there seems to be either an authoring error or at least a menu listing error on this disc, as I could find no surround track, something that's advertised on the Setup Menu. Instead the disc seems to have only two identical Dolby Digital 2.0 tracks, which leads me to believe a surround track fell by the wayside somewhere during the production process. This is another release where what's here isn't substandard by any means, but where the lossy audio arguably just doesn't provide enough energy for the musical side of things. My hunch is any surround track, even a lossy one, would have obviously opened up not just the performance side of things here, but even some of the more "horror" tinged sequences. Dialogue is presented cleanly and clearly enough, but not to sound like a broken record, it's my firm opinion that Blu-ray releases should default to lossless audio.

Lords of Chaos Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

All of the extras below aside from the Trailer are described on the back cover of this release as being "11 Director's Teasers":

• Pelle (1080p; 00:26)


• Dead (1080p; 00:21)


• This is Gonna End Bad (1080p; 00:26)


• Attila (1080p; 00:37)


• Coffin (1080p; 00:17)


• Dirty Harry (1080p; 00:22)


• Graveyard (1080p; 00:28)


• Hold Door (1080p; 00:17)


• The Bass (1080p; 00:30)


• Time to Leave (1080p; 00:24)


• Dark Throne (1080p; 00:23)


• Trailer (1080p; 2:22)

Lords of Chaos Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's some viscerally unsettling material here, including the film's depiction of a probably lesser known "fringe" element in the Scandinavian rock world. Culkin is quite good as Euronymous, and Cohen matches him every step of the way, but my hunch is some of the behaviors being shown here are going to be so off putting for some that whatever "larger" story is being told may well fade into the background. Both video and audio have separate issues on this release, for those who are considering a purchase.