The Watcher

AMG Review of The Watcher

Jason Ankeny
All Music Guide

While previous scores like Scream and Mimic established Marco Beltrami's credentials as a horror music composer nonpareil, with The Watcher he lampoons the genre's excesses and implicates himself in the process, mercilessly tweaking the relentless pacing, rumbling brass, and dissonant strings that define his work. With themes titled "Keanuvision" and "Hot Tomei-To" (in honor of headliners Keanu Reeves and Marisa Tomei), it's clear Beltrami has no intention of taking this score seriously, yet his tongue-in-cheek approach results in some more outré ideas that work surprisingly well -- drum'n'bass rhythms and otherworldly solo vocals ratchet the tension to excellent effect, and fit comfortably alongside more conventional themes like "Face Down."