The Drac is Back
Review by Christopher Coleman

One of the modern-day masters of the horror genre, Wes Craven, presents a new rendition of one of the classic horror tales of all time, Dracula.  Dracula 2000 explores the blood and power thirsty conquests of the villainous Count Dracula amidst the trappings of the new millennial world.  The notorious vampire is the condemned Judas Iscariot and is loosed upon the 21st Century after being accidentally discovered by a couple of high-tech thieves.  Taking on the monstrous-mantle is actor Gerard Butler, yes that's Attila, as the devilish Count Dracula.  Taking on the musical-mantle is veteran composer of horror film is Marco Beltrami.

While Dracula 2000 entails the obligatory mix of orchestral and synthesized music generally found in horror films,  Beltrami takes an interesting approach by adding old world musical instruments, ethnic vocals and contemporary rhythms to the mix. Unexpectedly, Dracula 2000 provides some of Beltrami's best music to date.

The soundtrack opens with Lifeboat (1), where the listener is instantly hooked by the haunting, Iranian vocals of Mamak Kajdem along with accentuating orchestral hits. The track moves into a gallop with the orchestra ever-building in its intensity and finally adds a full chorus. This is quite an entertaining portion of music for a contemporary horror-film.  Lifeboat establishes the main theme for Dracula 2000 and, along with Mary's theme, is the most distinct music of the CD. Mamek Kajdem returns in track 2, Mary's Theme. Here the mood is seductive, if not mystical, as the siren like vocals are followed by an engaging viola solo. It finally returns to the vocal theme established in track 1, but refrains from reaching the intensity of track 1.  

Eventually, the music for most any vampire-centered film is bound to turn dark and dissonant. Such a  shift takes place in track 3, Canned Heat, and continues throughout out most of the remaining tracks.   While the remainder of the score doesn't quite live up to the intrigue of the first two tracks, one thing Beltrami does do even within the darkest moments of the score is infuse a bit of a techno.  An example of this can be found, among other places,  in the latter segments of track 4, Vampire Hunters/Drac Loves Lucy/ Break-In. This mixture, again, helps separate this score from a plethora of other thriller scores.  This middle segment of tracks features two additional, secondary themes:  Dracula's menacing, descending theme and a theme representing the two characters hunting down the vampire.  

Audiences' fascination with vampire-films seems to be insatiable, and with so many vamp-films being made, it is nice to finally hear a composer venture out a little. Musically, Dracula 2000 stays true to the horror genre with its foreboding combination of tolling bells, deep to blaring brass, rumbling percussions, and shrieking strings; however, giving this score some ironic signs of life is the inclusion of ethnic and contemporary elements.  The main theme Beltrami devises for the film is this scores strength and gives fans who aren't prone to listening to this genre of film music a bit to listen to and enjoy.

From the Liner Notes

Dracula 2000 is the seventh film I've worked on with Marco Beltrami.  Staring back on the first Scream, we've worked together on Scream 2, Scream 3, Mimic, Halloween H2O and 54.  And as much as I've loved the unique work he's done in the past, I believe his work on Dracula 2000 surpasses them all.  It's an amazing blend of Middle Eastern, Gothic, contemporary and traditional styles, blended to flawlessly compliment (and frequently surpass) the images on film.

Director Patrick Lussier

Track Listing and Ratings

	Track	Title	Time	Rating
	1	Lifeboat	2:20	****
	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	7:10	**
	7	Movable Feast/ Come to Daddy	3:42	**
	8	The Sun Also Rises	2:19	***
	9	Gang Fang	1:02	**
		Total Running Time	29:23

*The Experience-O-Meter displays the track to track listening experience of this soundtrack based on the 5-Star rating given to each track.  It provides a visual depiction of the ebbs and flows of the CD's presentation of the soundtrack.

Home  |  Soundtrack Reviews | Blog |  Podcast | News |  Forum  |  Features  |  About  |  Advertise  |  Links   | Shop