History Film / Se7en

A comic book series also titled ''[=Se7en=]'' and published by Zenescope Entertainment tells the events of the movie from the viewpoint of the killer, and also explores the backstories of the killer's victims.

* TheLostLenore: [[spoiler: Tracy becomes this at the end]].

!!'''WHAT'S IN THE TROPES ?''':

-->'''Somerset:''' It's dismissive to call him a lunatic. Don't make that mistake.... This guy's methodical, exacting, and worst of all, patient.

!!This film provides examples of:

----

* LockAndLoadMontage: Mills and Somerset getting ready for the final trip is shown in a couple of key shots of them getting wired up, putting on a BulletProofVest and loading their guns.

* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Somerset is usually aversive in using violence. The only time he hits somebody in the movie is when [[spoiler: Doe casually reveals Tracy's pregnancy, contributing to Mills' DespairEventHorizon.]]

* RageBreakingPoint: Mills is always rash and impulsive, but he absolutely loses his shit when [[spoiler:he sees his wife's severed head]].

* RelativeButton: John Doe pushes Mills's ''hard'' [[spoiler: in order to cement Mills crossing the DespairEventHorizon, and fulfill Doe's own ThanatosGambit.]]
* {{Retirony}}: Played with, and did indeed come true in one version of the story, where [[spoiler: Somerset killed Doe to stop Mills from doing it because he ''is'' retiring.]] The opposite is true but [[spoiler: Somerset decides not to retire because of his experiences]].

* SleepCute: A shot of Mills and Somerset sleeping cuddled in on a couch in front of the fingerprint lab.

* StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred: [[spoiler:Doe's manipulation of Mills to kill him, which would avenge his wife's murder but also fulfill the last of Doe's plan by making Mills and Doe the Wrath and Envy "punishments", respectively.]]

A comic book series called ''[=Se7en=]'' published by Zenescope Entertainment tells the events of the movie from the viewpoint of the killer. The comic also explores the backstories of the killer's victims.

* BigNo: [[spoiler: Mills lets out several as the truth that his wife is dead begins to seep in]].

** Somerset's Milton quote -- "Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to the light" -- is at the beginning of the movie's descent into the bowels of the city/hell. Bright daylight is not seen again until the climax of the movie, which fits firmly under DaylightHorror.

* BuddyCopShow: According to WordOfGod, Fincher was initially turned off by the screenplay because it sounded too much like a generic buddy cop movie. Despite the superficial trappings (down to the SaltAndPepper pairing), it doesn't really have a huge amount in common with the trope as it usually stands, however.

Released to great success, the film effectively resurrected Fincher's interest in filmmaking after the TroubledProduction of [[Film/Alien3 his previous film]], and is often ranked with ''Literature/TheSilenceOfTheLambs'' and ''Film/{{Psycho}}'' as the pinnacle of serial killer fiction, with its distinctive dark atmosphere and skillful balance of {{Gory Discretion Shot}}s creating a far more disturbing product than the {{Gorn}} films that [[FollowTheLeader try and emulate it]].

'''Doe:''' ''A WOMAN! So ugly on the inside''...

** After John Doe surrenders, the tech mentions "...three blood types..." found on John Doe. [[spoiler: For John Doe himself, the Pride victim, and Tracy Mills.]]
** Somerset straight-up tells Mills, [[spoiler: "[[LeaningOnTheFourthWall This isn't gonna have a happy ending]]."]]

** As Somerset drives to the desert, John Doe distinctly tells Mills "You won't miss a thing", referring to the culmination of his plan Mills will witness and [[spoiler: the family he was distant from that has already been murdered.]]
** On their way to apprehend Victor, Mills, and Somerset have a conversation in which Somerset admits that he has never fired his gun in the line of duty, while Mills has fired his. This foreshadows the ending, in which [[spoiler: Somerset draws his gun and fires a warning shot to stop the courier and Mills shoots John Doe.]]
** The Milton Quote by Summerset: 'Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to the light' is at the beginning of the movie's descent into the bowels of the city/hell. The audience doesn't see bright daylight again until the climax of the movie which takes place in DaylightHorror.

** Pausing the film when the photographer shows up at the Sloth victim's apartment reveals [[spoiler: him to be John Doe.]]
** We never see [[spoiler: Mills's wife's head]] in the box, but some viewers would swear they did because there's a brief glimpse of [[spoiler: her face]] in the middle of the sequence.

* HannibalLecture: John Doe offers one to Mills and Somerset towards the end, namely positing his plan as his disgusted reaction to the sins plaguing modern life and how thoroughly they are tolerated by society. When Mills describes what he does as "[killing] innocent people," he's very quick to break down the sin he sees in each of his victims.

''Seven'' (stylized as ''[=Se7en=]'') is a 1995 American neo-noir psychological crime thriller film, directed by Creator/DavidFincher and starring Creator/MorganFreeman and Creator/BradPitt as homicide detectives William Somerset and David Mills.

-->'''Somerset:''' It's dismissive to call him a lunatic. Don't make that mistake.... This guy's methodical, exacting and worst of all, patient.
* ArcNumber: Seven. In addition to the seven deadly sins, the main plot of the film takes place over seven days (with the days appearing as titles onscreen), Somerset arrives for supper at Mills's flat at seven o'clock, and the box [[spoiler:containing Tracy's head]] is delivered at seven o'clock. The Criterion Laserdisc has a total of seven sides.

* BaitAndSwitch: When Mills gets home, he asks Tracy about "the kids." He then goes into another room and greets his dogs, which are what he was actually talking about.
* BigNo: [[spoiler:Mills lets out several as the truth that his wife is dead begins to seep in]].

* BreakTheBadass: Part of John Doe's plan for [[spoiler:Mills.]]

* CantKillYouStillNeedYou: John Doe doesn't kill Detective Mills when he has the chance, because Mills hasn't seen [[spoiler:or played his intended part in]] Doe's grand finale.

* ChekhovsGun: Somerset's knife that he picks up in the opening scene comes in handy when opening the backside of the painting at the lawyer's office and [[spoiler:opening the box that Doe has sent to the desert at the climax]].
* ChekhovsSkill: Somerset has a dart board in both his office and at home. He's established to carry a switchblade and is seen practicing his aim by throwing the knife at a dart board. In spite of all this set up, his throwing skill never comes into play. In the script, he was supposed to throw his knife at John Doe to stop him from shooting Mills, but this was cut.

* ClickHello: [[spoiler:John Doe does this to Mills after the chase.]]

* ConvenientPhotograph: The lawyer's wife noticed a flipped painting in the photograph taken at her husband's crime scene. There was no clear reason for the painting to have been photographed specifically, since its importance to the case was only due to the wife recognizing it was upside-down.
* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: After the third victim is found, a photographer shows up at the crime scene, takes photos of Mills and Somerset, then leaves after Mills yells at him and shoves him. When Mills and Somerset locate John Doe's apartment the next day, [[spoiler:they find the photos from the crime scene being developed in his dark room, and realize that the photographer was Doe himself. If they had arrested him for trespassing, in theory they could have prevented the last four murders in the film. Mills is even foolish and impulsive enough to tell the photographer his surname, which allows him to track down Tracy.]]
-->[[spoiler:"We had him. The photographer on the fucking stairs. We had him and we let him go."]]
* CrapsackWorld: Detective Somerset and the villain seem to share this perspective on the world. At the end, Somerset states that the world is [[AWorldHalfFull still worth fighting for, even if it is a shithole]].

%%* CriminalMindGames: [[spoiler:Although that was all part of a ThanatosGambit.]]
* CruelMercy: John Doe has already proven himself to be a monumentally depraved piece of work with the sheer methodical cruelty of his various killings. When he corners Detective Mills during a downtown chase in the rain, he leaves him alive in what appears to be a random moment of mercy. [[spoiler:It turns out that he had already been stalking the detectives who were pursuing him for some time. He had far greater plans for Mills in mind; decapitating his wife Tracy out of Envy and making him the final piece in his murder set by letting Mills kill him out of Wrath.]]

* DecapitationPresentation: [[spoiler:Tracy's unfortunate fate, when Doe delivers Mills her severed head in a box in the middle of the desert; however, [[NothingIsScarier viewers never actually see the head]].]]

** [[spoiler:The man forced to rape and kill the Lust victim is deeply, ''deeply'' traumatized both at the scene and at a later questioning, shaking violently, hyperventilating, and verging on an emotional breakdown.]]
** [[spoiler:Mills crosses it immediately after John Doe tells him that Tracy was pregnant when he killed her; it was the first time he had heard about it.]]

* DingyTrainsideApartment: Mills and his wife live in an apartment foisted on them by a dodgy real estate agent who kept hustling them through on inspection so they wouldn't notice the trains passing by like clockwork throughout the night and day. Somerset can't help finding this ActuallyPrettyFunny. [[spoiler:And the noise of the trains gives John Doe cover to murder Mills's wife.]]

** It's briefly mentioned that it's easy for reporters to bribe cops to get information on crimes. [[spoiler:Which is how John Doe finds out where Mills lives.]]

* DontCelebrateJustYet: Doe ends up in prison in the third act, unable to kill anyone else. [[spoiler:However, he already finished his plan, and the worst is yet to come for Mills and Somerset.]]
* DownerEnding: [[spoiler:Tracy (and her and Mills's unborn child) is senselessly murdered by John Doe, and Mills in turn kills Doe -- with both him and Somerset knowing [[ThanatosGambit that's exactly]] [[TheBadGuyWins what Doe wanted]], since his murder of Tracy symbolized Envy (as he claimed to covet Mills's "family man" life), and Mills killing him would in turn symbolize Wrath, completing his plan. Mills is then arrested, a [[DespairEventHorizon hollow, traumatized husk of a man]]. While the film tries to end on a [[KnightInSourArmor relatively optimistic]] note with Somerset's (studio-mandated) Hemingway coda, it seems awfully futile in the face of what's occurred.]]

* EvidenceDungeon: John Doe's apartment is connected with all his crimes. It has photos of Gluttony, the severed hand of Sloth, 2000 handwritten diaries detailing his thoughts and a gob-smacking amount of materials connected to his crimes. But [[spoiler:no fingerprints, meaning it was all part of John Doe's "work"]].

* FaceDeathWithDignity: [[spoiler:As being killed was a part of his plan, John Doe merely closes his eyes gently when Mills approaches with his gun, unable to surmount his wrath.]]
* FailedASpotCheck: [[spoiler:Almost nobody seems to notice John Doe walking into the police station, literally red-handed, shirt splattered with blood, until he shouts "''Detective!''". A cop even walks past him at arm's length. You can see a single black guy stop and stare at Doe right before he shouts, but by that point Doe's already in the middle of the hall.]]
* FingerInTheMail: [[spoiler:A package is received from the captured SerialKiller containing the head of his latest victim — Mills's wife.]]

** The very [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-k2gsEI34CE&ab_channel=RyanMayer opening scene]] itself packs alot of this, like [[spoiler: John Doe shaving to avoid leaving fingerprints, the various victims & their apparent sins and the pregnancy article.]]
** On the way to the Gluttony crime scene, Mills wonders whether anyone has confirmed that the victim is dead. Later, [[spoiler:everyone assumes that Sloth is dead, but it turns out that he's alive]].
** After John Doe surrenders, the tech mentions "...three blood types..." found on John Doe. [[spoiler:For John Doe himself, the Pride victim, and Tracy Mills.]]
** Somerset straight up tells Mills, [[spoiler:"[[LeaningOnTheFourthWall This isn't gonna have a happy ending]]."]]
** During his research, Somerset encounters two images of [[OffWithHisHead decapitation.]] In this scene, [[spoiler: Tracy]] is framed in an extremely tight close-up which only shows [[spoiler: her]] head.
** As Somerset drives to the desert, John Doe distinctly tells Mills "You won't miss a thing", referring to the culmination of his plan Mills will witness and [[spoiler:the family he was distant from that has already been murdered.]]
** On their way to apprehend Victor, Mills and Somerset have a conversation in which Somerset admits that he has never fired his gun in the line of duty, while Mills has fired his. This foreshadows the ending, in which [[spoiler:Somerset draw his gun and fires a warning shot to stop the courier, and Mills shooting John Doe.]]

** Pausing the film when the photographer shows up at the Sloth victim's apartment reveals [[spoiler:him to be John Doe.]]
** We never see [[spoiler: Mills' wife's head]] in the box, but some viewers would swear they did because there's a brief glimpse of [[spoiler: her face]] in the middle of the sequence.

** When they're waiting for Somerset's FBI contact, Mills asks why they couldn't sit opposite each other because sitting next to each other makes it look like they're dating, and near the end there's a scene where they're both shaving their chests, and Mills jokingly comments that if he keeps coming home late, his wife is going to get suspicious.

* IfYouKillHimYouWillBeJustLikeHim: A variant. In the climax, Somerset reminds Mills that if he killed John Doe he'd prove the villain right by letting himself become Wrath.
* ImpliedAnswer: [[spoiler:How Mills finds out his wife's head is in the box.]]

-->'''Somerset:''' [[spoiler:...if you murder a suspect, David-]]
-->'''Mills:''' [[spoiler:[[BigNo Noooo!]]]]

* ImperiledInPregnancy: [[spoiler:Tracy.]] While Doe didn't intentionally target a pregnant woman, only learning of the pregnancy in the course of the murder, he's only too happy to use this fact to taunt [[spoiler:Mills]] at the climax.

* InternalReveal: At one point in the film, [[spoiler:Somerset and Tracy meet up, and he's the first and (as far as we know) only person to hear that she's pregnant (albeit unsure as to whether she wants the baby).]] It comes back when [[spoiler:John Doe is explaining to Mills how he killed Tracy, and goes out of his way to state that "[Tracy] begged for her life...she begged for her life, ''and for the life of the baby inside of her.''" While Mills is merely in anger and denial upon Doe's initial confession, it's this bombshell that [[DespairEventHorizon sends him into a state of shock, despair]]...[[ThanatosGambit and wrath]]. Then, just to twist the knife further, Doe casually tells Somerset:]]

* ISurrenderSuckers: [[spoiler:A variation occurs at the climax. John Doe turns himself in, but only to ensure that his master plan of completing his "work" goes off without a [[BatmanGambit hitch]].]]
* JitterCam: What with Fincher's predilection to controlled, locked-down tripod shots, this film stands out as the one with his highest use of handheld camerawork. It's only used in a handful of scenes, such as when Mills chases Doe through his apartment complex, or when [[spoiler:Somerset opens the box, realizes what Doe's plan is and immediately runs over to him and Mills in an effort to prevent his plan from being completed.]]
* JumpScare: [[spoiler:The presumed-dead Sloth victim [[SpringLoadedCorpse suddenly coughing]]]] is one of the most famously effective examples in modern film, mainly because [[spoiler:his [[BodyHorror horrifically emaciated state]], his initial lack of movement, and the audience's belief that he's just another murder victim make it so they think [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat there's no possible way he could still be alive]]. [[FauxDeath But alas...]]]]

* LetMeAtHim: [[spoiler:When Somerset tries to stop Mills from killing Doe. It doesn't work.]]

* OneDrinkWillKillTheBaby: Seemingly [[spoiler:averted, as Tracey is shown drinking wine during the dinner with Somerset. She must have known, or at least strongly suspected, that she was with child]].

* PoliceAreUseless: [[spoiler:Ultimately, the police are entirely unsuccessful in stopping John Doe's plan or even hindering it.]] Lampshaded by Somerset.

* PosthumousVillainVictory: John Doe, after murdering five people to become five of the Seven Deadly Sins, completes his design when he himself has become Envy by [[spoiler:murdering Detective Mills' wife and the unborn child he didn't know about]]; using this to goad Mills into shooting him dead and becoming the last remaining sin, Wrath.
* PutOnAPrisonBus: The movie ends with [[spoiler:Mills]] being driven off in a police car.
* RedOniBlueOni: Somerset is wise, cautious and jaded, while Mills is callow, impulsive and idealistic.
* RelativeButton: John Doe pushes Mills's ''hard'' [[spoiler:in order to cement Mills crossing the DespairEventHorizon, and fulfill Doe's own ThanatosGambit.]]
* {{Retirony}}: Played with, and did indeed come true in one version of the story, where [[spoiler:Somerset killed Doe to stop Mills from doing it, because he ''is'' retiring.]] The opposite is true, but [[spoiler:Somerset decides not to retire because of his experiences]].

* SceneryCensor: Mills's head blocks the audience from seeing [[spoiler:the Lust victim's groin, just after it was mutilated by a bladed codpiece.]]
* ShameIfSomethingHappened: A variant with John Doe talking about [[spoiler:Mills's wife]]; he's not actually threatening him, but describing the things he's already done.

* SuicideByCop: [[spoiler:John Doe's death.]]
* SuicideByPills: John Doe cuts off the Pride victim's nose and glues a phone to one hand and sleeping pills to the other, offering her the SuicidalSadisticChoice of calling for help but having to live with her disfigurement, or killing herself by overdosing. As proof of her vanity, she chooses the latter.

* ThatLiarLies: [[spoiler:As John Doe reveals Tracy's fate to him, Mills angrily jams his gun into Doe's head and yells at him.]]

* ThousandYardStare: [[spoiler:After killing John Doe, the expression of the [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness normally animated Mills]] is frozen into one of these for the remainder of his runtime.]]

* TomatoInTheMirror: Of a sort. It turns out that Wrath is [[spoiler: Mills himself]]. When John Doe promises to take him to the field, we've already seen Gluttony, Greed, Sloth, Pride and Lust, and we know that Envy and Wrath have to be on the way. Envy is [[spoiler: John Doe, who beheaded Mills's wife in a fit of jealousy]]. When Mills finds out, he [[spoiler:kills John Doe in a fit of rage, ultimately obeying Doe's command to "Become Wrath"]].

* UnbuiltTrope: The film helped to popularize the archetypal 90s and 2000s PsychologicalThriller/serial killer movie but goes out of its way to avert or subvert many of the tropes the genre would become associated with: the murders are not shown in detail and given very little screen time, the victims are not depicted as being given karmic punishment despite the killer's delusions, but instead being ordinary if flawed people who were brutally murdered by an unhinged sadist for little provocation, there is little blood and gore, the killer is not given a FreudianExcuse or much characterization, [[spoiler:PoliceAreUseless, and TheBadGuyWins]].

* VillainRevealsTheSecret: A particularly gut-wrenching one in the climax when the villain [[spoiler:murders Detective Mills's wife Tracy, then reveals that she was pregnant. She had confided this to Detective Somerset, but hadn't told her husband yet. When John Doe realizes this, he even gloats about it, incensing Mills to the point where he executes him on the spot, which is exactly [[ThanatosGambit what Doe wanted]].]]

** John Doe [[spoiler:is shackled and in police custody, and he, Mills, and Somerset are in the open, where Doe can't possibly stage an ambush.]] Furthermore, there's a helicopter nearby with California and the SWAT team. But Doe [[spoiler: has a box delivered to the area, and Somerset opens it and looks in....]]
-->'''[[spoiler:Somerset:]]''' [[spoiler:California, stay away from here. Stay from here now. Don't-- don't-- don't come in here. Whatever you hear, stay away! ''John Doe has the upper hand!'']]
** Shortly after, [[spoiler:John opts to break the news before Somerset can and tells Mills about how he entered his home, met Tracy, and then when things went sour...]]
-->'''[[spoiler:Doe:]]''' [[spoiler:I took a souvenir: '''her pretty head.''']]

* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The name of the city is never specified. Tracy at one point mentions that she and David used to live "upstate," presumably referring to upstate New York, and screenwriter Andrew Kevin Walker said that the screenplay was heavily inspired by his time spent in New York City, except that the movie's location is apparently an hour's car ride from arid desert, which is not true of NYC.
* WorkingTheSameCase: Happens very early on when Somerset has been assigned to the Gluttony murder and Mills to the Greed. The discovery of the word "Gluttony" written in grease behind the Gluttony victim's fridge identifies the two murders as the work of the same killer.
* WouldYouLikeToHearHowTheyDied: Doe describes to Mills [[spoiler:how his wife begged for her and her baby's life]].

* ChekhovsGun: Somerset's knife that he picks up in the opening scene comes in handy when opening the backside of the painting at the lawyer's office [[spoiler: and opening the box that Doe has sent to the desert at the climax.]].

* ThemeSerialKiller: John Doe's "theme" is, memorably, the seven deadly sins.

* SuicideByPills: John Doe cuts off The Pride victim's nose and glues a phone to one hand and sleeping pills to the other, offering her the SuicidalSadisticChoice of calling for help (but having to live with her disfigurement) or killing herself by overdosing. As proof of her vanity, she chooses the latter.

* ThatLiarLies: [[spoiler:As John Doe reveals Tracy's fate to Mills, he angrily jams his gun into Doe's head in the midst of his denial and yells at him.]]

* ArcNumber: Seven. In addition to the seven deadly sins, the main plot of the film takes place over seven days (with the days appearing as titles onscreen), Somerset arrives for supper at Mills's flat at seven o'clock, and the box [[spoiler:containing Tracy's head]] is delivered at seven o'clock.

** The Milton Quote by Summerset: 'Long is the way and hard, that out of Hell leads up to the light' is at the beginning of the movie's descent into the bowels of the city/hell. The audience doesn't see bright daylight again until the climax of the movie that takes place in DaylightHorror.

* LeaningOnTheFourthWall: Several remarks to the plot throughout could very easily be used to apply to the film itself.

* UnbuiltTrope: The film helped to popularize the archetypal 90s and 2000s PsychologicalThriller/serial killer movie but goes out of its way to avert or subvert many of the tropes the genre would become associated with: the murders are not shown in detail and given very little screen time, the victims are not depicted as being given karmic punishment despite the killer's delusions, but instead being ordinary if flawed people who were brutally murdered by an unhinged sadist for little provaction, there is little blood and gore, the killer is not given a FreudianExcuse or much characterization, [[spoiler:PoliceAreUseless, and TheBadGuyWins]].

* ThemeSerialKiller: John Doe's "theme" is, memorably, the seven deadly sins.