STILL ALIVE:
40 Years of
Suicide Commando
A feature documentary about how Suicide Commando - a Belgian electronic band - turned humanity's darkest emotions into four decades of music therapy, and why thousands of people say it helped them survive.
For 40 years, Johan Van Roy, founder of Suicide Commando, has transformed violence, grief and fear into uncompromising electronic music.
Through intimate interviews, rare archives and deeply personal fan stories, the film explores why confronting darkness can become an unexpected form of healing.
More than a documentary about an iconic industrial artist, STILL ALIVE is an investment in preserving cultural history, advancing meaningful conversations around mental health and resilience.
Johan Van Roy
Johan started Suicide Commando as a one-man band in 1986, and still describes his music as therapy.
He is at the core of band’s philosophy, psychology, authorship, and creative direction. His music provokes questions instead of delivering answers.
In this film, we humanize Johan’s intentions and dismantle the idea that the band is just nihilistic shock art.
Director’s Statement
Through the story of Suicide Commando and its creator Johan Van Roy, the film explores how darkness, aggression, fear, alienation, death, rage, anxiety, and emotional sensitivity can be transformed into connection, identity, and meaning.
This is not a documentary about a band surviving 40 years.
It is a film about using dark, heavy music as a survival mechanism.
In the world we’re living today, the themes addressed by Johan and his band are more relevant than ever. This film is my attempt to bring that awareness to the global audiences beyond the goth and industrial scenes and underground communities.
Key Characters
Mario Vaerewijck
As described by Johan, Mario is “the best live drummer in the world”.
Mario doesn’t rehearse. He likes drumming because “it's in his nature.”
Mario’s side projects reveal an important philosophical counterpoint: creation for joy rather than success. This complements Johan’s “music is therapy”.
Torben Schmidt
Torben frames the band’s longevity not as a business arrangement, but as a friendship sustained through mutual respect, humor, and creative freedom.
He covers backing visuals, vocal effects, samples, vocoders, and technical assembly. Music is his lifelong identity.
“Over these 26 years, [since joining Suicide Commando in 2000] we actually became sort of close friends.” - Torben.
MARKETABILITY
Provocative Themes
STILL ALIVE explores the transformative power of confronting darkness rather than avoiding it. Through themes of mortality, grief, mental health, artistic expression, and human resilience, the film challenges conventional perceptions of industrial music, revealing how provocative art can become a catalyst for healing, connection, and emotional survival.
Bold Style
Blending immersive concert cinematography, intimate cinéma vérité, archival footage, and atmospheric visual storytelling, STILL ALIVE favors emotional experience over chronology. Long observational moments, striking monochromatic imagery, and recurring visual motifs create a cinematic journey that is both haunting and deeply human.
Director-Driven Vision
Rather than telling the history of a band, STILL ALIVE uses Suicide Commando's forty-year legacy as a lens to examine universal questions about identity, creativity, mortality, and belonging. The film deliberately shifts from music documentary to psychological portrait, inviting audiences to discover that behind the provocative imagery lies a profoundly human story about transforming darkness into art—and ultimately, into hope.
Target Audience
Primary
People drawn to emotionally-driven documentaries about identity, resilience, and the human condition.
Secondary
Goth, industrial, EBM, darkwave and alternative music communities.
Tertiary
Mental health and psychology communities.