[Review] ‘Scream: Music from the Motion Picture’ Soundtrack Invests in the Present, Not the Past

I feel like I should admit a bias/concern I had about the new Scream soundtrack right off the bat: it’s not by Marco Beltrami, who composed the memorable music for Screams 1-4. If filmmakers Matt Bettinelli-Opin and Tyler Gillett wanted to honor the legacy that Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson created with their new film, why not enlist the man who gave the series such a distinctive musical voice?

Then again, the new film is explicitly about “passing the torch,” so it perhaps makes sense to have fresh talent both behind and in front of the camera. Brian Tyler composed the music for the directors’ previous film Ready or Not and has scored a number of horror movies prior to this, including The Final Destination, Escape Room, and The Mummy (2017).

Tyler’s music definitely serves the film well in that it integrates pretty seamlessly into the movie. I didn’t particularly notice it while watching Scream, which can be the mark of a good score—after all, it should feel part and parcel of the experience and not necessarily draw undue attention to itself.

Listening to the album gave me a chance to pay closer attention to Tyler’s work. The main quality Tyler echoed from Beltrami was sweeping emotion; Scream has always been an emotionally charged, melodramatic series, and this music reflects and compliments that. Tyler largely creates his own music and rarely quotes the themes Beltrami originated. “Sidney’s Theme” appears briefly, and the controversial “Dewey’s Theme”—actually a Hans Zimmer composition for Broken Arrow that Craven used in Scream 2 against Beltrami’s wishes—shows up in the haunting “Sacrifice.” (Curiously, neither Beltrami nor Zimmer are credited in the liner notes.)

I must admit that as a major fan of both Scream and its soundtracks I was disappointed not to hear more classic themes. It would have been great to hear, for instance, the wild “Trouble in Woodsboro” theme that highlighted the first two films, or for Tyler to feature the same unusual synth- western sound that Beltrami innovated.

But again, maybe I’m missing the point by focusing so much on the past. Tyler clearly focused on creating effective music for this film, and at that he succeeded, even if no new themes stand out particularly. Still, he mounted an epic recording in the Beltrami mold, enlisting the same Hollywood Studio Orchestra that performed Scream 1, 2, and 3 (at least one of the musicians returned for this one). He knows how to enhance the emotional moments and amp up the scary ones, as on “Ring, Ring” for the opening sequence and “Welcome to Act Three” for the finale. (Pet peeve: the music doesn’t always appear in the same order as it does in the film, i.e. the last piece of music, “New Horizons,” opens the album. This might be more of a soundtrack nerd gripe, but then again, who is more invested in soundtracks than soundtrack nerds?)

Ultimately, Tyler did a fine job creating a score that effectively compliments this new chapter in the Scream universe. Like the writers and directors, he clearly took the assignment seriously and worked to uphold the franchise’s standard. That it doesn’t aggressively hit the nostalgic sweet spot may say more about us fans hung up on the past—a central theme of the new movie—than about any failings on Tyler’s part.

Scream: Music from the Motion Picture is available digitally everywhere and on CD and vinyl exclusively through Varese Sarabande. The vinyl releases June 10.

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