After 2000’s Scream 3, the franchise took an 11-year break before it returned with 2011’s Scream 4. That one underperformed so the series went on another 11-year hiatus.

2022’s Scream acted as a form of sequel and reboot, one that found a pretty good audience. Even though 2023’s Scream VI made even more money, audiences needed to wait three years for 2026’s Scream 7.

After years of terror at the hands of the murderous “Ghostface”, Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) appears to find peace in small town Indiana. There she lives a quiet life with police chief husband Mark Evans (Joel McHale) and teen daughter Tatum (Isabel May).

Alas, Sidney’s old life comes back to haunt here when yet another Ghostface pops up and pursues another violent killing spree. Sidney deals with this new threat and related complications.

As noted above, the series barely waited a year between the 2022 Scream and Scream VI, which makes the nearly three-year-gap between VI and 7 a surprise. It appears this occurred because of some conflicts between the producers and Scream/Scream VI actors who didn’t come back for 7.

Scream 7 does mark the return of Kevin Williamson, the writer of the 1996 movie. Though he and original director Wes Craven reprised their roles for 1997’s Scream 2 and Scream 4, this brought the first involvement of Williamson since 2011.

Williamson also directs Scream 7, his first theatrical effort in that position since 1999’s box office flop Teaching Mrs. Tingle. Perhaps 7 needed new blood, as Williamson can’t do anything fresh with it.

7 delivers a dull mishmash that stakes all its drama and hopes on the return of Neve Campbell and others as well. I won't name them to avoid spoilers but we find a few “surprise” participants.

The plot barely exists beyond a regurgitation of prior threads. The story goes nowhere past the usual cliches.

As a result, we find no real tension. The ultimate reveal of the responsible party comes as a flop.

7 also seems gorier than prior Scream films. I don't mind gore in general but this series works best without extreme grotesque violence.

Maybe the last few were just as gory. If so, I didn't notice it like I did this time.

Scream 7 essentially offers a series of plot contrivances and series cliches in search of tension and scares that it never finds. I hope the inevitable Scream 8 kicks back to life.

Footnote: a tag scene pops up about two minutes into the end credits.

Scream 7 appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. As expected, the movie presented strong visuals.

Overall definition seemed good. A few interiors showed a smidgen of softness, but those elements remained modest, as the film usually appeared accurate and concise.

Jagged edges and moiré effects didn’t mar the presentation, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws also failed to appear.

In terms of palette, Scream 7 went with a standard amber/orange and blue/teal orientation. Within stylistic choices, the hues seemed well-depicted.

Blacks were dark and dense, and low-light shots gave us good clarity. I felt pleased with this transfer.

Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, the film’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack tended toward a pretty standard horror soundscape, one that tended to favor atmosphere above all else. This meant a mix with a creepy vibe that added to the material.

Occasional action scenes brought more life to the soundfield, though, and those made the track engaging. Don’t expect these to crop up on a frequent basis, but they occurred often enough to give a boost to the mix and make it involving and impactful.

Audio quality worked fine, with speech that appeared natural and concise. Music came across as bold and dynamic as well.

Effects showed nice clarity and reproduction. Those elements felt accurate and bold, and they contributed deep low-end when necessary. All in all, the soundtrack worked well for the film.

Three featurettes ensue, and Scar Tissue runs 21 minutes, 49 seconds. It involves writer/director Kevin Williamson, writer Guy Busick, makeup department head Amber Crowe, and actors Neve Campbell, Anna Camp, Asa Germann, Joel McHale, Sam Rechner, Jasmin Savoy Brown, Isabel May, Mason Gooding, Ethan Embry, and Matthew Lillard.

With “Tissue”, we look at story/characters and franchise elements, Williamson’s impact on the shoot, cast and performances, effects and violence. Although we find a few insights, way too much of “Tissue” just ladles out praise.

Building Tension goes for eight minutes, 13 seconds. Here we locate remarks from Williamson and production designer John Collins.

The featurette digs into sets and locations. Expect a pretty solid overview of these choices.

Next comes Dance of Death. It spans six minutes, 27 seconds with info from Williamson, McHale, stunt coordinator Jennifer Badger and actor Mckenna Grace.

Unsurprisingly, “Dance” looks at the movie’s stunts and action. It mixes useful notes with happy talk.

Six Deleted Scenes occupy a total of five minutes, nine seconds. These offer minor character tidbits and nothin

We end with a music video for Ice Nine Kills’ “Twisting the Knife” that involves actor Mckenna Grace. Both song and video seem to overwrought that they veer into camp.

Though Scream VI became the series’ best entry in years, Scream 7 fails to continue that winning streak. Despite the return of original screenwriter Kevin Williamson, Scream 7 seems unimaginative and tedious. The Blu-ray comes with positive picture and audio as well as a smattering of supplements. Scream 7 becomes a blah horror flick.

Note that this Blu-ray only comes paired with the movie’s 4K UHD version. Paramount chose not to release a solo Blu-ray for Scream 7.

This means Blu-ray fans without 4K UHD players will need to buy this package to get the movie’s BD. At least Scream 7’s MSRP of $31.99 seems comparable to what Paramount would’ve charged for a Blu-ray on its own.