Le Diable Noir was composed to accompany the 1905 silent film of the same name by French filmmaker Georges Méliès. The film follows a hapless hotel guest whose seemingly comfortable bed is claimed by the Devil, who proceeds to torment him by making the room's furniture come alive until the bewildered man is driven to madness and escorted away by the hotel staff. Rather than imitate the musical style of the film's era, the score embraces deliberate anachronism, opening with distorted guitar and a jazz fusion groove that brings a modern energy to Méliès's surreal comedy.