Back in 1993, James Patterson’s “Alex Cross” series of detective novels started with Along Came a Spider. However, when the books leapt to the big screen, Patterson’s second text made it there first.

Patterson published Kiss the Girls in 1995. 1997 brought that tale to theaters.

In Washington DC, Alex Cross (Morgan Freeman) works as a police forensic psychologist. A mix of personal and professional concerns sends him to North Carolina when his niece Naomi (Gina Ravera) goes missing.

Local authorities believe a serial kidnapper/murderer referred to as “Casanova” took Naomi. Along with the assistance of escaped abduction victim Kate McTiernan (Ashley Judd), Cross works to solve the case.

Should we consider the 1990s to act as the “Golden Age” of serial killer movies? I don’t know, but given that it included Silence of the Lambs and Se7en - arguably the genre’s two finest films ever – this topic became more dominant in that decade than before or since then.

Because Freeman stars in both, the connections to Se7en become apparent, but otherwise, Kiss much more closely resembles Lambs. Both involve villains who kidnap/imprison their victims for specific purposes and who get known by nicknames with historical connections.

This doesn’t make Kiss a Lambs clone, but the similarities don’t seem coincidental. Despite its twists, we can feel like we find ourselves in a Lambs semi-remake more than an original project.

Kiss finds it difficult to overcome its derivative nature. Whether due to the source text from Patterson, the screenplay from David Klass or the direction from Gary Fleder, the movie never finds much of a stimulating path.

Even without the direct comparisons to Se7en and Lambs, Kiss simply comes with a major “been there, done that” factor. As noted, we got a lot of serial killer movies in the 1990s, and this one can’t find the creativity to rise above the pack.

Given the cast, this becomes a bigger disappointment. In addition to Freeman and Judd, we find solid talents like Cary Elwes, Brian Cox, Jay O. Sanders, Bill Nunn, Jeremy Piven and Tony Goldwyn.

None of them seem especially invested in the material, perhaps because they realize they got stuck in a mediocre thriller. Despite ample room for tension and drama, Kiss winds up as a wholly lackluster flick.

Kiss the Girls appears in an aspect ratio of 2.35:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. Though more than watchable, some inconsistencies damaged the presentation.

Most of these related to various forms of tampering. Noise reduction eliminated much – but not all – of the grain and could give the image a fairly plastic appearance at times.

In addition, artificial sharpening impacted the presentation, which meant light edge haloes at times. As a result, the film always appeared “sharp” but it didn’t offer as much fine detail as one might expect.

Still, a lot of the movie looked pretty good, as these techniques became most evident during darker shots. Daylight or better-lit scenes came across as more natural and pleasing.

Some light jaggies appeared once or twice, but I saw no shimmering. Print flaws were limited to a couple small specks.

Colors went stylized, with an emphasis on greens, blues and ambers. The tones lacked a lot of vivacity but they felt adequate.

Blacks seemed reasonably dark, and outside of the processing I mentioned, low-light shots felt fairly smooth. All of this seemed good enough for a “C+”.

Expect superior work from the movie’s active DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack – although I might find it to be too active. The soundfield could go a little nuts at times and overuse the surround channels.

Still, that became a minor complaint, as the soundscape usually provided a pretty engaging spectrum. All five channels produced a good sense of setting, and sequences that boasted action allowed for some involving material.

Audio quality worked well, with speech that remained natural and concise. Music seemed lively and full.

Effects showed solid reproduction, with clean highs and tight lows. Though I thought it went a bit wild at times, the mix still seemed satisfying.

No extras appear on the Blu-ray.

A wholly uninspired thriller, Kiss the Girls brings nothing fresh to the serial killer genre. Despite a strong cast, the movie feels flat and uninvolving. The Blu-ray comes with good audio but visuals seem inconsistent and the disc lacks bonus materials. Expect a forgettable movie.