The sun went down, and clouds crowded the sky. The eerie, slow music of the local metal band, Woorms, began to permeate the night. A century-old silent horror film began to play on the inflatable screen on the Baton Rouge Gallery lawn.
Baton Rouge Gallery’s Music & Movies on the Lawn program, “pairs silent films with not-so-silent Louisiana bands.”
In the final installation of the 2022 series, sludge noise band Woorms created an original score to accompany the silent film “Nosferatu,” a 1922 classic following a vampire named Orlok. The movie played on the huge outdoor screen, and the band performed live on a stage nearby.
Woorms’ lead singer Joey Carbo explained how the preparation for this event was much more intense than a normal concert. Carbo said he had to map out his music for each part of the movie beforehand, to ensure the score fit what was happening on the screen.
His hard work paid off. An entirely new audience who had never been exposed to this type of music before, lined up at the merch table after the end of the event.
“It’s really cool when 60-year-old ladies from a whole different world than I’m from come up and tell you that they liked it,” Carbo said. “You know, that’s not something I’ll get again.”
Josef Horáček, who works for LSU’s Communication across the Curriculum program, was one among many in the audience of the Sept. 17 show. Horáček had seen “Nosferatu” before, but was especially excited to see it play while Woorms performed their original soundtrack.
 “It’s all about local art, local music,” Horáček said. “That’s what I enjoy. I think there needs to be more of it.”