Buy it... if you, like most listeners, have never been satisfied with the duo score album for Scream and Scream 2, and you seek an impressive expansion of the franchise's themes into a more orchestrally robust realm.

Avoid it... if you've never found the famous, vocalized theme for the Sidney character to be alluring, for the three best moments of Scream 3 involve surprising dramatic development of that idea.

Beltrami

Scream 3: (Marco Beltrami) The magic touch of Wes Craven and Kevin Williamson had worn thin by Scream 3, with the franchise becoming a parody of a genre that it so adeptly avoided in the first installment. By the year 2000, few cared about Sidney Prescott and her troubles with a murderous ghost-faced lunatic, and the script of Scream 3 was so contrived and ridiculous that it was a painful reminder of why the original Scream was so effective. By the end of Scream 3, however, there is resolution and explanation, and despite the creepy open door (literally) at the end of the film, the franchise was finally put to rest. Composer Marco Beltrami had defined his career in the 1990's with the new generation of teen slasher films, using them to launch into a more successful career with blockbuster action films in the 2000's. His involvement with Scream 3 was never in doubt; his scores for the first two installments were a distinct aspect of the franchise's character, even though music from both Hans Zimmer and Danny Elfman was famously inserted at the last minute, spurring significant controversy. The Beltrami scores for these films had a unique style of electronic and orchestral manipulation, led by a memorable theme for the protagonist herself (and followed by several sub-themes that make a full circle in the trilogy). For Scream 3, Beltrami changed his equation a bit, emphasizing unusual textures while also beefing up the presence of an orchestral ensemble. The composer not only employed seven orchestrators for Scream 3, but also experimented with the recording of instruments in abnormal circumstances. The natural sound of the piano, for instance, was altered both physically and electronically, as well as a wide range of other struck instruments. Beltrami twisted the resulting performances in the mixing process and sprinkled that creativity in with the standard orchestral contributions. The evidence of this work is often hidden in the more obnoxious cues of Scream 3, however, with the exception of the effect of detuned tubular bells (of some sort) that prevail in most of the cues. Otherwise, it's the incorporation of thematic elements that really makes Scream 3 stand apart from its predecessors.

The main theme for Sidney matures significantly in Scream 3, receiving not only several remarkable performances in its horror and suspense mode, but also in a dramatic major-key translation at the end. The two suspenseful performances of the theme on album, with the female vocalist joined by light choral tones in "Home Sweet Home" and menacing male tones in "Pies a Terror," are offered with robust orchestral accompaniment. This theme's performance of lament at the start of "Sid Wears a Dress" is significant to the storyline, for the opening portion of the theme is translated into a sorrowful duet between the standard female voice and a single male one (likely representing Sidney's half-brother). The eventual explosion of the theme later in that cue is a remarkable transformation into a victorious, major-key statement (as Sidney is seen walking her dog) and, with its ethereal choir, serves as the highlight of the franchise's music. The token reminder of horror in "Sid's Theme (Reprise)" at the end of the album, on whiny, barely enunciated violins, is somewhat tacky. Fans of the franchise's scores will find that Beltrami did an outstanding job at wrapping up the themes from the first two films. The funky acoustic guitar theme for Dewey is heard in "Dewey Mobile," but with some obnoxious faux-string strikes of Bernard Herrmann origin. An extension of the hip, contemporary style from Scream 2, heard in "Sunset Pictures," is a cousin to the material Beltrami would provide for 3:10 to Yuma. The theme for Woodsboro that opened the first score is heard on subtle piano over electronics in "On the Set." The descending theme for Ghostface is used as well, with a prominent choral accompaniment at the end of "Ghost Attacks." While distinct, it's still difficult to enjoy this idea apart from the films. Perhaps the most interesting nod to previous music in the franchise is Beltrami's reprise of the acoustic guitar material from the first film for the scene of closure with Dewey and Gale. Hearing shades of Hans Zimmer's Broken Arrow once again in "Sid Wears a Dress" was honestly a surprise, but a pleasant one. Beltrami definitely knows when to throw a cookie to the audience.

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The weakness of Scream 3 comes in its predictable horror and suspense material. Despite Beltrami's knack for inserting interesting sound design into the mix, the score still leaves you yearning for that next thematic statement. The material in between is either mundane, in the case of the conversational cues "At the Station" and "Comparing Photos," or tiresome, which results from familiar low brass, shrieking strings, and random, dissonant woodwind performances that constitute the terror. The album situation with the Scream scores has never really satisfied fans, despite the Varèse Sarabande label's best attempts to appease them. Two years prior to this album for Scream 3, Varèse offered the Scream and Scream 2 scores on one short, single CD, neglecting the non-Beltrami portions and generally painting too narrow a picture of the music from the two films. Still, this was the best Varèse could afford at the time. By the time of Scream 3, the label offered 33 minutes from Beltrami's score, which was an improvement but still led to several problems. Even though the product is generally a well-rounded and complete listening experience, it is still missing a significant portion of music from the picture. The lack of a continuous presentation of the action and conversational "realization" music from the final confrontation between Sidney and her assailant is disappointing, especially given the interesting variations on Sid's theme that you hear in that scene. Another flaw of the album is its poor editing and mixing; because it is a compilation of fragments from throughout the score, you often hear rough edits at the start or ends of cues, with the volume not properly equalized from track to track. This inconsistency is especially detrimental to the four presentations of Sidney's Theme, because the vocals in the first three and violins in the fourth can be almost inaudible compared to surrounding slashing-related tracks. Sudden dropoffs within the middle of a few cues are also tedious. Still, Beltrami's score for Scream 3 overachieves and is one of the few true bright spots in an otherwise forgettable sequel. A better album presentation could have earned this score a fourth star. ***   Amazon.com Price Hunt: CD or Download

Bias Check:

For Marco Beltrami reviews at Filmtracks, the average editorial rating is 2.75 (in 20 reviews) and the average viewer rating is 2.87 (in 14,767 votes). The maximum rating is 5 stars.