It's the Devil's Music - Landgraves - Horror Short Reviews

Heavy metal musicians have always been accused of being evil or Satanic. But most of them appear to be normal people behind the scenes.

Most of them.

In this post, we’ll be talking about the psychological horror short film, Landgraves, by Jean-François Leblanc. It is now streaming on Alter’s YouTube channel, and you can also watch it at the end of this article. It might inspire you to get a script ready for the next Killer Shorts Horror Short Screenplay Competition.

The Plot

A reporter for a newspaper goes to a house deep in the woods to interview the controversial metal band, Landgraves. The band is promoting their first album since being imprisoned for an incident that left a member of another band dead. But when the interview is over, a snowstorm hits and he is forced to stay with the band. It is then that he starts seeing weird things and begins to worry for his safety with the band.

That’s Metal!

*TW: the following section mentions Satanism, murder, and suicide in reference to events in this short film.

This short is based on the controversial activity of much of the Norwegian black metal scene, which has built itself on the image of Satanism and misanthropy. A few prominent members of the scene have even been convicted of murder, and a string of church burnings. Even the most ridiculous aspect of the short (the band using a picture of the body of the man they killed as the cover of their latest album) is loosely based on reality. When the former frontman of the band Mayhem committed suicide with a shotgun, the rest of the band also took a picture of the body and made that the cover of their next album.

This is a slow burn horror with a strong focus on atmosphere. The band members are creepy in their stoicism while talking about the manslaughter. And even though it is left ambiguous as to whether there was any supernatural elements or danger, or if it was all just the reporter’s paranoia, it is clear that the band members may not be good people.

This short also shows a good amount of restraint in showing how bad they are to make it feel more realistic. It would be easy to show them as cold-blooded killers, or to explain the bizarre things the reporter had experienced, but that might have made it feel less grounded.