He has worked in a number of genres, including horror (Scream, Mimic, The Faculty, Resident Evil, The Woman in Black, Carrie, A Quiet Place, and The Nun II), action (Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines, Live Free or Die Hard, World War Z), science fiction (I, Robot, Snowpiercer), Western (3:10 to Yuma, Jonah Hex, The Homesman), and superhero (Hellboy, The Wolverine, Logan, Venom: Let There Be Carnage).

He has also worked with such directors as James Mangold, Guillermo del Toro, Tommy Lee Jones, Alex Proyas, Ole Bornedal, Kathryn Bigelow, Bong Joon-ho, Dan Gilroy, and John Krasinski.

Apart from horror/thriller and action, he also scores certain independent films such as The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys and Tommy Lee Jones' The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada.

He was nominated for an Emmy Award for his score for the film David and Lisa in 1998, indicating a desire to spread his musical wings beyond the bounds of his genre pigeonholing.

It was reported in October 2002 on Beltrami's official website that he had worked on orchestral arrangements for "Thyme", "The General", and "Elvis Presley and the Monster of Soul" (also known as "Leave Me Alone") from the then-unreleased Guns N' Roses album Chinese Democracy.