Dracula 2000 (Promo)

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

It might not mean much, but I'm beginning to become a fan of Marco Beltrami. Its something about his sense for melody that attracts my attention a bit. Of course melody isn't the word for the composer that got famous scoring Scream and various other horror films but the one moment in Scream 3 where all melody came into a masterful mix with the choir ('Sidney Wears a Dress') was just the sign that Beltrami has knack for great melody. Further his superb brass fanfare for Blade 2's finale ('Family Feud') proves what I'm saying all along, he is a little Elliot Goldenthal. Yet the difference is Goldenthal has his own other twists and Beltrami has his. And that is noticeable in Dracula 2000, another decent rewrite on the classic Dracula tale of old. This time its new, its in the recent time and Christopher Lee is replaced by a young yet well chosen Gerard Butler, the setting is still the dark yet desiring London and the score is this time of the pen of the only composer scoring horror films these days, namely Beltrami. Yet this is not a Scream territory since here he can inject the mystifying, liturgical meaning as the exotic location where Dracula lives. All this is injected into the mix of Beltrami's score, which at times really cooks and at other times bring solid if a little boring underscore or clashes of sound. Yet for its short 29 minutes, the promo is a good piece of music where Beltrami proves his skills for writing good material for decent films, let's hope he can write great material for big films (Terminator III).

The score opens swiftly with a wonderful track, 'Lifeboat' opens with brass fanfares and a exotic voice, performed by Mamak Khadem which brings spice into the proceedings. This track seems to capture the theme for the overall movie, namely either Dracula's theme or Mary's theme. Why, because the theme equally appears in the following track 'Mary's Theme' along with violin. Beltrami's usual style is all over this place, whether the percussion, brassy fanfares or electronics set the tone and pace of the score, Dracula 2000 stays overtly enjoyable. 'Vampire Hunters / Drac Loves Lucy / Break-In' has fanfares and light choral support, along with an up tempo sign of these electronics, which for one don't mesh well enough with the other times strong orchestral play. 'Brotherly Love' is one of the album's highlights because first of all percussion grows to Mary's theme (with the exotic vocal of Khadem) but altogether a rather emotional fanfare of brass and choir adds an unseen depth to the film and title, it is one of the few times that Blade's 2 brilliant fanfare ('Family Feud') came close in reaching that same scope. As usual the brassy fanfares end the track with enough gusto and power.

The longest track is 'Hot Cross Buns / L2K / Vamp on a G String / Trimmin' the Bush' which is perhaps the least interesting track overall, only the action chase material here at times has good potential. Yet again it is the brass in 'Movable Feast / Come to Daddy' that really cooks, for about 30 seconds the talent of Beltrami comes to the highest level. I picked 'The Sun also Rises' as the true highlight because here the climax is created in the film, mainly due to the music where the vocal, percussion, brass and choir all create an exhilarating depth. The last cue is as with many score albums of late a trashy non appreciating track of synths. Dracula 2000 is short but to the point, it offers enough moments that warrants a release and so this promotional disc of Dimension Records delivers it. I'm beginning to love Beltrami but too many scores of the same genre will at a specific time deliver more or less the same material. And even now, similarities between Blade 2 and Dracula 2000 are noticed. Beltrami has got enough skills to make his way to the top but his constant relationship with the directors that bring each time horror isn't of course the way to go. You can score horror, but make sure there is also something different standing in line. For once, Terminator III is more or less different, and perhaps Beltrami will then finally emerge onto bigger things.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Lifeboat (2.19)

2. Mary's Theme (2.13)

3. Canned Heat (3.12)

4. Vampire Hunters / Drac Loves Lucy / Break-In (3.22)

5. Brotherly Love (4.10)

6. Hot Cross Buns / L2K / Vamp On A G String / Trimmin' The Bush (7.01)

7. Movable Feast / Come To Daddy (3.42)

8. The Sun Also Rises (2.19) Excellent Track

9. Gang Fang (1.03)

Total Length: 29.28

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=== Link to Composer Site: Marco Beltrami ===