Lakeshore Records has submitted Tom Schraeder’s original score for Bryan Bertino’s Vicious for GRAMMY® consideration in Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media. The Paramount+ original movie stars Dakota Fanning as Polly, whose encounter with a mysterious box draws her into a waking nightmare. The soundtrack is available digitally through Lakeshore Records.

Vicious marks Schraeder’s second feature collaboration with Bertino, following The Dark and the Wicked. Beginning with Bertino’s script before filming, Schraeder developed themes that evolved with the production. An initial concept for a 64-piece orchestra gave way to a more intimate score shaped around Polly’s breathing, physical endurance and psychological descent.

The score combines live strings, extended instrumental techniques and ghostly vocal layers with homemade instruments, including Schraeder’s “Terror Box.” Its recordings feature Stan Harrison (Radiohead, David Bowie, Bruce Springsteen) on winds and Clive Deamer (Portishead, Radiohead) on percussion. Sessions explored prepared pianos, bowed gongs and gongs submerged underwater to create sounds outside conventional playing techniques.

Working from an office on the Paramount lot, Schraeder collaborated alongside the edit team, integrating live recordings into the evolving cut and shaping the music in close dialogue with the film.

“Working on the score for Vicious didn’t feel like a composer and director collaboration. It’s more like we’re bandmates, with Bryan as frontman and me helping bring his vision to life,” Schraeder said of the collaboration.

“His score is not an accompaniment but a pulse - an open wound, a window into her pain, a world she carries within her.” (Bryan Bertino, Director)

Tom joins Lakeshore Records Podcast host Arielle Paul to discuss the performers, instruments, and techniques behind Vicious’s haunting, intimate score.

Tom joins Soundtrack Your Life hosts Nicole Barlow and Ryan Pak to discuss Vicious, his path to film scoring, and collaborations with celebrated rock musicians.

Tom joins the Movies In Focus podcast to discuss Vicious, his emotional approach to composing, and his journey from songwriting to film scoring.

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Spiral 1:33
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Polly’s Theme (Something You Love) 1:04

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Come In 0:58
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Polly’s Theme (Vocal Reprise) 0:52
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Vicious Theme (Calling Mom) 1:13
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The Box Theme 2:17
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You’re Going To Die 1:10
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I’m Not Your Mother 2:35
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I Wanna Play (The Key) 1:59
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Instructions 1:30
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I Loved Them 2:46
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You and I 1:16
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Box Reprise (It Should Have Been Me) 0:56

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Hourglass (Something You Hate) 2:05
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Something. I. Fear. 1:18
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I’m Gonna Start Now 2:58
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Go Away 1:03
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Hair Cut 1:48
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Vicious Theme 1:03
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Humble Yourself 1:01
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Nothing Left 0:51
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What Happened Auntie P? 1:04
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Wrong Answer 1:20
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It Could Have Been Anyone 1:52
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Vicious Theme (Something You Need) 1:30
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What Do You Fear? 1:07
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Tara’s Theme (Something You Want) 1:02

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The Box Theme (It Wants You) 1:50
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Closet 0:54
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Tara’s Theme (She Lies) 1:39
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Polly’s Theme (A Lot to Offer) 1:11
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Logo 0:31
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ALBUM CREDITS

Music by Tom Schraeder
Album Produced by Tom Schraeder
Executive Album Producer: Bryan Bertino
Album Mastered by Patricia Sullivan

Music Editor: Bruno Roussel, MPSE
Score Producer: Allison Wright Clark

Orchestrations by Max Mueller
Copyist: Alex Williams
Score Recorded & Mixed by Michael Gossard
Assistant To Mixer: Walter Kang

Score Technician & Composer’s Assistant: Joe Stockton

Score Conducted by Max Mueller
Score Recorded at The Village Studios, Larrabee Studios
Recording Studio Staff: Ananda Dhar-James, Nick Hodges, Liam Weiland
Score Production Assistant: Georgia Makely

Music Consultant: Stephanie Lee
Music Contractors: Gina Zimmiti & Whitney Martin for Zimmiti Music Group
Vocal Contractors: Fletcher Sheridan & Jarrett Johnson, Concord Vocal Services

Executive in Charge of Music for Paramount Pictures: Randy Spendlove
Soundtrack Album Coordinator: Michael Murphy

Terror Box, Violin, Synths, Guitars: Tom Schraeder

Percussion: Clive Deamer

Woodwinds: Stanley Harrison

Violins: Aiko Jimena Richter, Mizuki Takagi

Viola: Thomas Le

Piano & Cello: Max Mueller

Vocalists: Tom Schraeder, Sarah Holtschlag

“His score is not an accompaniment but a pulse - an open wound, a window into her pain, a world she carries within her.” (Bryan Bertino, Director)

BEHIND THE SCORE