One of the pillars that defined Scream’s identity and tone was the groundbreaking score Marco Beltrami composed for the films directed by Wes Craven. Thirty years after the original, Beltrami is back — returning to the franchise for Scream 7.

Last night, on Instagram — the same platform where he surprised fans with the announcement of his comeback — Beltrami shared new clips straight from the recording studio, alongside collaborators Buck Sanders, Brandon Roberts, and Angela R. Claverie.

“So what are we doing here at one in the morning in the studio? Well, we’re recording Scream 7, and we’re doing it in Budapest, Hungary,” Beltrami says in one of the videos.

He added: “Just finished recording three nights in a row. You might recognize a theme, as well as hearing a new one.”

The new score sounds both familiar and different. It carries Beltrami’s unmistakable signature: eerie tones that suggest something dreadful unfolding, mixed with grandeur and a fine, lingering melancholy.

Tracklist Glimpses

Some of the titles visible in Beltrami’s videos included:

• “School Drama” – 3M01 (V3)

• “What’s In A Name” – 6M08-V5

• “Mrs. Evans Lament” – 7M01-V3

Among them, “Mrs. Evans Lament” instantly stood out — a haunting reinterpretation of the now-iconic “Sidney’s Lament”, perhaps the most recognizable piece of music in the entire series.

In Scream 7, Sidney now carries the surname Evans, taken from her husband Mark Evans (Joel McHale). The title works as a meta echo of “Sidney’s Lament”: the same ache, but tied to a new chapter in her life, suggesting that Beltrami’s score is not only revisiting Sidney’s past but weaving it into her present family.

The codes attached to each track (for example, 3M01 (V3)) reflect the traditional system film composers use to organize scores: the number before the “M” identifies the reel of the film, while the digits after mark the cue’s sequence within that reel. The “V” notation refers to different versions of the same cue, meaning what we’re seeing are working iterations of Beltrami’s evolving compositions for Scream 7.

Legacy of an Original Voice

Ashley Cullins, author of the recently released book Your Favorite Scary Movie, interviewed Beltrami as well as producer Julie Plec, who recalled why Wes Craven wanted him in the first place: Craven loved that Beltrami was original, not another composer trying to sound like John Williams.

Beltrami himself remembers the early challenges of scoring Scream on a limited budget: “There were a few places — I think most notably you can hear it in the beginning of a track called ‘Sidney’s Lament’ — where I had Wes and a few other people come into the room and whistle as the string players were playing. So, it was tricks like that I had to rely on to get through the scoring process. Still, I ended up spending my own money on producing the score, but to me it was an investment I had to make.”

Kevin Williamson, screenwriter of the original and now director of Scream 7, reshared Beltrami’s post on Instagram Stories with the caption: “So grateful to have Marco and his team return for Scream 7.”

With 24 wins and 45 nominations to his name — including two Academy Award nominations for The Hurt Locker (2010) and 3:10 to Yuma (2008) — Beltrami’s return is one of the most anticipated “homecomings” for fans.`

The Deluxe Box Set

Beltrami’s bond with Scream music was already celebrated in 2022 with the release of The Deluxe Scream: Original Motion Picture Soundtracks Box Set.

• Vinyl edition: a 4-LP set, pressed on blood-red vinyl with black smoke swirls, dedicates a full album to each film and includes two hours of unreleased material. The collection folds out into a 3’ x 2’ Ghostface mask.

• CD edition: a 6-disc set, limited to 1,500 copies exclusively on VareseSarabande.com, features every score in its entirety, plus over four hours of unreleased demos, cues, and alternate takes.

• Digital edition: also available, mirrors the CD release.

Final Cut

Beltrami’s return to Scream 7 isn’t just about scoring a sequel — it’s about closing a circle. From low-budget experiments and whistled notes to orchestral grandeur recorded in Budapest, his music has always captured the dread and depth at the heart of Scream. The franchise’s sound has never felt more alive — or more haunted.