Beltrami: Scream: Scream II [SOUNDTRACK]

Thankfully though, the music is excellent, & Beltrami makes every one of those minute count. Scream commences with "Sidney's Lament" - a haunting, melancholic melody performed by the solo voice of Rose Thompson. This theme also re-appears in the similar tracks "It's Over, Sid" and "A Cruel World", whilst in the sublime "NC-17" the voices are masterfully mixed with a relaxed, contemporary beat. Indeed, one of the most impressive elements of the two scores is the incorporation of those contemporary rhythms - in the films this helps to bridge the gap between songs and score (although that's not a factor on this CD), and also helps to make them a little bit more 'hip' for the teen audience, although crucially without compromising on the atmosphere. "Trouble In Woodsboro" and "Sundown Search" (this latter track unused in the film) are the best examples of this, featuring urban techno rythms mixed with a haunting, wordless chorus. The chase music ("Altered Ego," "Chasing Sidney" and "Hairtrigger Lunatic") is driven by strong rhythms, propelled by an orchestra possessed - yet they remain models of orchestral clarity, never descending into pure noise.

Scream 2 is a far grander affair featuring some splendid writing for guitar and whistling (the unused music for the Deputy Dewey character, replaced in the film by Hans Zimmer's music from Broken Arrow), reminiscent of Ennio Morricone. The second part of the album starts off with a magnificent 3-parter in "Stage Fright Requiem." Opening with funky contemporary drums (again unused in the film), the orchestra soon asserts itself with some fairly aggressive chase music, before opening into a grandiose and powerful requiem utilising the full orchestra and wordless chorus - truly spine-tingling! "Love Turns Sour" is another stunner, starting with Dewey's unused guitar motif, before storming in the most fiercely virtuoso chase music on the CD, with demonic showers of strings and furiously aggressive brass and percussion. Dewey's motif re-appears at around three minutes in (the only time that Beltrami's version is heard in the film), & then the melodic "requiem" cell from the previous track appears, before the fury returns. "Cici Creepies" is a beautiful, yet ominous and unsettling piece of music to rank alongside Jerry Goldsmiths' film version of his "Alien" main title. Dewey's theme gets more development in "Deputy For A Friend" and "Dewpoint and Stabbed" - this last track concluding with more attack music. "Hollow Parting" is another unsettling peice, featuring some strange echoing synth sounds, making a really ominous mood.

To sum up, these two scores are way above the normal quality you would expect to get in a "slasher-movie", and Beltrami should do well in the future. Whilst the short CD may not quite do the full scores justice, it is the only commercially available release, & as such is hugely recommended. As a complete Scream score, the Scream 3 score album is slightly more succesful & coherent, but it IS the conclusion of a trilogy, & as such should not be treated as an alternative, but rather as a complement to this album.