Lords of Chaos is a 2018 biographical horror drama directed by Jonas Åkerlund, based on the 1998 book of the same name. Starring Rory Culkin as Øystein “Euronymous” Aarseth, the film presents a fictionalised version of the early Norwegian black metal scene, focusing on Mayhem, the arrival of Dead, the rise of Varg Vikernes, and the increasingly violent spiral of suicide, church burnings and murder that came to define the story’s mythology. The film is deliberately stylised and controversial, not least because it treats real people and events through a dramatic and highly subjective lens rather than as strict documentary reconstruction.
Although the story is rooted in Oslo and in the real early-1990s Norwegian black metal milieu, the production was split between Norway and Hungary. Public production records state that the film was shot in Oslo, while the live performance scenes were filmed in Budapest. That gives the film an interesting mix of authenticity and reconstruction: Oslo grounds it in the actual city where Mayhem emerged, while Budapest was used to stage concerts and to build large-scale elements such as the burning churches, which were constructed at half scale rather than filmed at the original sites. The result is a film that feels tied to real Norwegian locations and history, while still relying heavily on recreated environments to shape its bleak, mythic version of the black metal underground.
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