I've had this one saved to drafts for a while now, so when I read that The Depreciation Guild were influenced by Dario Argento films, I figured now was as a good a time as any to dust it off.

It took my roommate and I four months after Netflix sent it before we sat down to watch Phenomena. (Our catch-up-on-Lost marathons were seriously getting in the way.) But once I got over my aversion to horror movies, I really enjoyed it. Argento's 1985 classic has it all: blood, beauty, new wave fashion, a preposterous premise and, perhaps most important, a kick-ass soundtrack. As for most of Argento's films, Claudio Simonetti's prog-rocking Goblin does the title theme and mood music, and on this one Iron Maiden, Motörhead and Andi Sex Gang rip through the chase scenes.

° Goblin - Phenoma mp3
(make sure you get past the intro to a minute:30)

° Goblin - Sleepwalking mp3

As a general rule, before I saw this, I didn't do gore. But with that soundtrack and Giorgio Armani on wardrobe duty, I was sold. Still, I had no idea I'd enjoy it so much. There's a lot that makes Phenomena awesome. But mutants, swarms of insects, and a razor-wielding chimpanzee aside, it was the music, the lighting, and the outfits that made it gel. So I guess I can do stylish, moody horror. Go figure. Chainsaw Massacre = not so much. The Hunger = totally.

As for the messy: "Well, we know she's going to be crawling around down there with a bunch of maggot-filled body parts," I said at one point, "so we can just get ready for that visual now." Ha! The scene was so much more revolting than I predicted—it was perfect. There's a reason they call him the "Italian Hitchcock."

See also:
+ Music vids for Phenomena theme music
+ More Goblin from MissingToof and how Justice got Phantom from Goblin's Tenebre
+ MT also points to a list of more Italian-made "well-scored gore."