Scream 2 (soundtrack)

The music to the 1997 slasher film Scream 2, the second instalment in the Scream franchise and a sequel to Scream (1996) featured an original soundtrack album consists of 15 songs by various artists from the R&B, rap and rock genres; excluding two ("One More Chance" and "The Race") only 13 of them appear in the film. Released as Scream 2: Music from the Dimension Motion Picture by Capitol Records on November 18, 1997,^[1] the soundtrack achieved commercial success, charting at number 50 on the Billboard 200 charts,^[2] and spent there for over ten weeks. It was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America, signifying that the album achieved sales in excess of 500,000 units.^[3]

Scream 2 is scored by Marco Beltrami, who also composed the predecessor, although Danny Elfman would write a choral piece titled "Cassandra Aria" which would be reprised as the finale track of the album. Excerpts from Hans Zimmer's score for the 1996 film Broken Arrow, in particular guitar work by Duane Eddy, for the character Dewey Riley, replaced the original themes that have developed for the character. Beltrami would explain in an interview that Zimmer's piece was used as a placeholder for his incomplete score during the test screening, but as the test audience were more receptive to it, the studio influenced to keep Zimmer's piece, reducing his composition "Dewey's Theme" to minor use during more serious scenes involving the character.^[4]

The score was also influenced by several other composers such as Elliot Goldenthal, Ennio Morricone and Christopher Young. Initially, the score was released along with its predecessor in a dual album in July 1998, and a complete score was released in a limited edition format in October 2016.