Genuinely inept in every way, “Scream 7” is far and away the worst of the franchise, a shallow rendering of things that worked better in other films. While director Kevin Williamson and co-writer Guy Busick think they’re appealing to fans by “playing the hits,” it’s all done in such an ugly, boring manner that those who love this series most of all are likely to be the most disappointed.

Every one of the “hits,” especially the opening murder(s) and the final reveal of the killer(s), plays like a cover so lame that you wonder why you even liked the song in the first place. And every time the film threatens to do something new, including some themes that could have been developed into an interesting new telling of this tale, it reverses course and goes through the stabby motions as half-heartedly as possible. Even the kills are boring and truly vicious in ways that Wes Craven’s film rarely were. Some critics felt like the last two movies didn’t quite capture the spirit of the four Craven originals. We didn’t know how good we had it.

“Scream 7” opens with a “Stab” fan named Scott (Jimmy Tatro) bringing his girlfriend Madison (Michelle Randolph) to the famous Macher house, where the action of the first and fifth films ended. Of course, everyone knows they’re going to die, but even this opening sequence hints at problems to come in the film, including an uninspired, brutal demise for Madison, and almost no connection to the rest of the action of the movie. It’s the first of many signs that this script has gone through numerous rewrites, all of them aimed at profit over creativity.

If you’re completely unaware of how this movie got so messy, Melissa Barrera, who played Sam in the last two movies and was clearly set up as the new Sidney Prescott of the series, was fired in November 2023 when she spoke out against the genocide in Gaza. The next day, Jenna Ortega left the production, either out of loyalty, scheduling conflicts, or the fact that directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett weren’t returning, depending on which report you believe. With Barrera and Ortega gone, the producers panicked, calling not just Williamson but Neve Campbell, hoping that her return to the series would give it enough spark to overcome the production shift.

Bluntly, it does not. Campbell doesn’t do anything specifically wrong, but one can feel the troubled production process in every aspect of this film. It’s a film that’s constantly feigning to ideas like the prevalence of A.I. and how overprotectiveness can pass along generational trauma, but it steadfastly refuses to do anything with them.

Campbell isn’t the only familiar face, as Sidney gets a video call from none other than Stu Macher (Matthew Lillard) early in the film, as he threatens to kill Sid’s daughter Tatum (Isabel May). Before you know it, Tatum’s friends are being hunted by Ghostface, but is it really Stu? Or could one of Tatum’s friends be deepfaking the legendary killer? Suspects and victims include Tatum’s boyfriend Ben (Sam Rechner), her friend Chloe (Celeste O’Connor), another pal named Hannah (McKenna Grace), and movie lover Lucas (Asa Germann). It’s clear that Williamson wants this crew to feel like the original cast of “Scream” but none of them have anything approaching a personality. May is notably bland, never holding the camera the way Campbell did in the early films, although it’s likely because Williamson never gives her enough to do to prove that she could.

When Courteney Cox’s Gale Weathers and the twins from the last two movies, Mindy (Jasmin Savoy Brown) and Chad (Mason Gooding), pop up around halfway through, “Scream 7” finally comes to life a bit, but it actually serves to show just how much spark has been missing up to this point. And Williamson doesn’t give the trio nearly enough to do to properly rescue the movie, returning to his truly inane plot as it hurtles toward the dumbest killer reveal in a slasher movie in a very long time.

Every aspect of “Scream 7” feels rushed and shallow, including the filmmaking. It’s visually atrocious, suffering from the low-lighting choice that afflicts so many modern movies, and it’s cut together with halting, stilted rhythms. The awkward pauses between the dialogue in the first act are so odd and the way this movie tries to weave tech/AI into its narrative truly feels like old men yelling at clouds. In the end, the worst thing about “Scream 7” may be how utterly forgettable the entire film turned out to be.