April 3 [16:00 EST] -- Seriously creepy-crawly imagery is at least as old as German expressionism, and in recent years has been explored at great length by such gifted practitioners as director David Lynch and photographer Joel Peter Witkin.

Now, inevitably, it's a rock-video phenomenon, too and nobody's busier with it than director Floria Sigismondi, the woman behind such unsettling clips as David Bowie's "Little Wonder" and Marilyn Manson's "The Beautiful People.

An Italian now living in Toronto, Sigismondi aspires to direct films. She reveres Tim Burton and, of course, Fellini, but right now she's happy providing nightmares for pop-fans. The effects of her work on the sleeping patterns of viewers comes as no surprise when you consider where these ideas are born.

A lot of my images come from that time when you just go to sleep, and I usually end up writing in the dark or just when I wake up," Sigismondi told MTV News.

People think of women I guess

doing softer more beautiful pink things... I've just got a little bit of that other side," Sigismondi said. That would be the dark and creepy side, which is what makes Sigismondi such a magnet for musicians wanting to create dark and disturbing videos. Fluffy, David Bowie, Tricky, and the grand master of grim Marilyn Manson have turned to Sigismondi for that special flesh-crawling touch.

[article id="1440535"]"I think it could get pretty scary if people hide that side of them, and then kind of let it out in other ways, where I'm very visible with it, and it's a safe way,"[/article] Sigismondi said.

Sigismondi is now in Toronto shooting a video with Tricky for his new track, "Makes Me Want To Die.