Gotham News commented that "This new album attempts to retain the style of the old, while speaking to the present content-diluted market.

"[2] Shadowlocked criticized the soundtrack's overly light tone, saying that "There's little here that I would have picked for a horror movie.

"[7] James Christopher Monger, in his review for AllMusic, commented that the up-and-coming indie rock and pop songs resulted in a "hodgepodge of moods and styles that never quite clicks, but dutifully echoes the formless post-MP3 musical culture of 2011", giving two-and-a-half to the album.

[8] Filmtracks.com summarised that "Despite the memorable history Beltrami has afforded the franchise musically, Scream 4 is a substantially disappointing continuation of the narrative.

He and four assistant composers handle the 2011 entry from a purely functional stance, tackling individual scenes with stylistic remnants of the previous scores while accomplishing absolutely nothing new.