Marco Beltrami has been hired to score the upcoming horror thriller The Thing. The prequel’s story takes place before the actions of the 1982 classic directed by John Carpenter. The movie directed by Matthijs van Heijingen Jr. is set in the Antarctica where a discovery full of scientific possibility becomes a mission of survival when an alien is unearthed by a crew of international scientists. The Thing stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Eric Christian Olsen and Joel Edgerton. Universal Pictures has set a April 29, 2011 release date for the movie.
Beltrami also will be continuing his working relationship with director Wes Craven on Scream 4. The horror sequel takes place ten years after the events of Scream 3 and Sidney Prescott, who has put herself back together thanks in part to her writing, is visited by the Ghostface Killer. The movie reunites Craven with the trilogy’s cast including Neve Campbell, Courtney Cox and David Arquette and adds new cast members Hayden Panettiere, Emma Roberts and Rory Culkin. The Weinstein Company is planning a release on April 15, 2011. You can check out the film’s teaser trailer right here.
Also coming up for Beltrami is the horror thriller Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark, which the composer co-scored with Buck Sanders. The film is directed by Troy Nixey and stars Katie Holmes and Guy Pearce. The movie is produced and scripted by Guillermo Del Toro, who has worked with Beltrami on multiple movies including Mimic, Blade II and Hellboy. Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark is based on a 1973 TV movie about a young girl who moves in with her father and his girlfriend and discovers they are sharing the house with devilish creatures. A release date announcement is expected in the near future.
