Find out more about the upcoming UK DVD release of AMER here

The soundtrack can make or break a film. US teen films of the early to mid 80s are easily spotted not just because of the hairspray andstone washed denim but because nothing says high-school movie movie more than the epic art-pop of Simple Minds, forgotten White-funk and cheap drum machines.

AMER, which  pays tribute to a lost, golden era of psychedelic Euro-Horror and crime cinema by recreating the classic look and feel of the Giallo movie shot through an arthouse filter, is a movie that uses it’s music to evoke the baroque, lysergic swing of the best Italian B-cinema. The soundtrack music used in the eras giallo movies can still be startling today. Swooning, queasy strings swoop over funky Jazz rhythm sections, odd burbling Moog noises and reverb effects cause unease, a tinkerly Harpsicord picks up the theme, a ghostly choir of children sing a song of innocence that leaves a creepy feeling running up and down your spine. Then the bongos kick in in time for the footchase to begin, which is when the loose chicken scratch guitar brings a little urban grit.

In the player below, you’ll find a selection of music and clips from golden era Euro-Crime flicks whose music features in AMER. Composers like euro-sleaze stalwart Bruno Nicolai and Stelvio Cipriano.