Scream 3

Review by Thomas Glorieux:

As said in the movies before that, you could easily call this series Stab 1, Stab 2 and Stab 3 since there is obviously more stabbing than screaming coming out of the speakers of the movie theatre complex. And I also have a theory about the intellect of the movies itself. The first was effective and scary to a degree (I will never forget the opening scene which is pure brilliance), the second was better since it made a mockery of its own rules and the third had good ideas but totally lost interest since nothing new came to the foreground. However with Wes Craven as director, young composer Marco Beltrami lead the Scream series to a music highlight with the usual brass fanfares, suspension licks and dissonant clangs. But whereas a person like Elliot Goldenthal (I personally see Beltrami as a very light and early Goldenthal) would overdo and write more complex music about it, Beltrami still relied on solid cohesive scary music. Scream 3, the third in the series therefore doesn't take a whole lot of chances but wisely follows the line while adding the own ingredient in it that the movie personally offered as new in the story. Meaning the theme for Sid and the rather spooky control of this theme when the ghost of Sid's mother appears through the movie and score.

Speaking also of releases, Scream 3 is the sole release that warrants on itself 30 minutes of playing time since Scream 1 and 2 were both mixed together to give just 30 minutes onto themselves. For that we have to be grateful for the material at hand. Yet the material isn't always that nice. This is after all horror music and you will find your fair share of horror music with its dissonant clangs, bangs and whatever makes a successive noise. This is also why I accept it being here in the first place. 'Last Call' is an example of good thriller music with fanfares, short term vocals and no utter frustrating dissonance while 'DoppleGailer' and 'Roman Abound' are harder to enjoy yet solely effective as background score for the movie. In this case scores like these depend on how much you can deal as musical score on itself, how much minutes are spend on that part and what else is there that can make up for the hard and found on the score. What makes up for it are several moments, as said sometimes a good suspension track (with dissonant licks) as 10 or 'Cotton Gets Picked' and 'Ghosts Attack' are better onto themselves, a short secondary motif on electronics provides the change on tone for the Hollywood business of scary movies in 'On the Set' and 'Sunset Pictures'. But the main attraction here is the often good use of vocals. Scream 2 had more room to give choral short flashes and in the third I heard them equally in the movie (the scene were Cotton gets picked) but alas, the short use is welcome enough.

Often these vocals are accompanied by its sole main theme and of course better to appreciate drama material. The main theme for the tortured Sid appears for the first time in 'Home Sweet Home' (with a good vocal), 'Piéd a Terror' is the same yet a bit more darker and the more conclusive happy climax is saved for last. The short choral fanfare in 'Stone Cold' is equally good but 'Sid Wears a Dress' is where the theme and choir receive much more color, the binding of choir and orchestra around 2.00 is stunning and the electronics bounce along nicely with a relieved statement of Sid's theme with vocal. It might not make it purely grand but it surely makes tons more of impression than the bland last track which should have been omitted in the first place. This also makes Scream 3 a normal to effective listen, which also means that horror music needs to do only one thing, make it count in the movie and make it effective on disc so that you enjoy its power as music. Beltrami overall did these things and perhaps equally why it is effective is because the length didn't demand for more dissonance. Scream 3 could have been hacked into pieces if it received more time, yet luckily Wes Craven, Marco Beltrami and Varese Sarabande knew when to call it quits.

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Tracks

Single Disc

1. Here We Go Again (0.44)

2. Cotton Gets Picked (2.19)

3. DoppleGailer (1.28)

4. On The Set (0.49)

5. Home Sweet Home (2.02)

6. Comparing Photos (1.23)

7. Mother's Watching (1.51)

8. Dewey Mobile (1.07)

9. At The Station (3.14)

10. Ghosts Attack (3.22)

11. The Fall Girl (0.47)

12. Roman Abound (0.50)

13. All In The Family (0.35)

14. Piéd A Terror (1.45)

15. Sunset Pictures * (1.46)

16. Last Call (3.19)

17. Gail Force (0.55)

18. Stone Cold (0.31)

19. Sid Wears A Dress (2.48) Excellent Track

20. Sid's Theme (Reprise) (0.49)

* Incorporates thematic elements from Nick Cave's "Right Red Hand 2"

Total Length: 32.24

The use of artwork or photos is posted for non profitable reasons

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