Mr. Bungle Sampled PHANTASM and It’s as Weird as You’d Expect

There’s something about Phantasm that sticks with you, like a floating silver sphere to the head. It’s eerie, surreal, and just the right kind of bizarre—which makes it a perfect fit for Mr. Bungle. Fronted by Mike Patton, a known fan of horror and all things strange, the band has always blurred the line between chaos and theater. So when Phantasm shows up in their 1991 track “Squeeze Me Macaroni,” it feels less like a surprise and more like a perfect match.

At the 3:27 mark, you hear it: a clipped bit of dialogue from Phantasm’s iconic “BOY!” scene. It drops right into the middle of a sonic freakout—funk riffs, carnival chaos, and Patton’s wild vocal gymnastics. The sample isn’t just a nod to a cult horror gem. It’s part of the weird DNA that makes Mr. Bungle, well, Mr. Bungle.

Produced by avant-garde jazz legend John Zorn, the band’s debut album threw genre rules out the window. Everything from cartoons to slasher flicks were fair game, and horror was always lurking somewhere in the background. Phantasm fits right in—both it and Bungle feel like fever dreams you can’t quite shake.

And of course, Mr. Bungle isn’t the only band to tap into Phantasm’s eerie world. Metal acts like Municipal Waste and more have also sampled it over the years. But none of them dropped it into a song about food and sex wrapped in ska-metal absurdity.

So if you hear the Tall Man’s chilling voice in the middle of a musical meltdown, don’t panic. That’s just Mike Patton pulling the strings and reminding you that horror and music were always meant to get weird together.