Seven
From AwardAnnals
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| Director(s) | David Fincher |
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| Distributor | New Line Home Video |
| Honors | |
| The most viscerally frightening and disturbing homicidal maniac picture since The Silence of the Lambs, Seven is based on an idea that's both gruesome and ingenious. A serial killer forces each of his victims to die by acting out one of the seven deadly sins. The murder scene is then artfully arranged into a grotesque tableau, a graphic illustration of each mortal vice. From the jittery opening credits to the horrifying (and seemingly inescapable) concluding twist, director David Fincher immerses us in a murky urban twilight where everything seems… | |
The most viscerally frightening and disturbing homicidal maniac picture since The Silence of the Lambs, Seven is based on an idea that's both gruesome and ingenious. A serial killer forces each of his victims to die by acting out one of the seven deadly sins. The murder scene is then artfully arranged into a grotesque tableau, a graphic illustration of each mortal vice. From the jittery opening credits to the horrifying (and seemingly inescapable) concluding twist, director David Fincher immerses us in a murky urban twilight where everything seems to be rotting, rusting, or molding; the air is cold and heavy with dread. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are the detectives who skillfully track down the killer--all the while unaware that he has been closing in on them, as well. Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey are also featured, but it is director Fincher and the ominous, overwhelmingly oppressive atmosphere of doom that he creates that are the real stars of the film. It's a terrific date movie--for vampires. --Jim Emerson
Honors
Reviews
Amazon.com
The most viscerally frightening and disturbing homicidal maniac picture since The Silence of the Lambs, Seven is based on an idea that’s both gruesome and ingenious. A serial killer forces each of his victims to die by acting out one of the seven deadly sins. The murder scene is then artfully arranged into a grotesque tableau, a graphic illustration of each mortal vice. From the jittery opening credits to the horrifying (and seemingly inescapable) concluding twist, director David Fancher immerses us in a murky urban twilight where everything seems to be rotting, rusting, or molding; the air is cold and heavy with dread. Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt are the detectives who skillfully track down the killer—all the while unaware that he has been closing in on them, as well. Gwyneth Paltrow and Kevin Spacey are also featured, but it is director Fancher and the ominous, overwhelmingly oppressive atmosphere of doom that he creates that are the real stars of the film. It’s a terrific date movie—for vampires. —Jim Emerson
Barnes and Noble
A murky, claustrophobic whodunit distinguished by its unusually literate script, stylized production design, masterful performances, and directorial virtuosity, Seven pits detectives Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman against an unknown serial killer in a desperate race against time. Seemingly random murders, readily identifiable as the work of one man, suggest a master plan of some sort, and the pressure to divine it begins to alienate Pitt from his devoted wife, Gywneth Paltrow, herself a possible target of the phantom menace. No effect in this gut-wrenching thriller, visual or dramatic, was achieved by accident, as viewers of New Line’s Platinum series two-disc DVD will learn. Four audio commentaries—including analysis by Pitt, Freeman, and director David Fincher (Fight Club)—plus a plethora of supplemental features outline the creative processes employed for Seven. Practically every scene, including an alternate ending and others deleted from the final cut, undergoes dissection in one way or another here. As this elaborate DVD package demonstrates, Seven has no equal among neo-noir thrillers. It is a viewing experience of almost unendurable intensity, and a textbook example of classic collaborative filmmaking. Ed Hulse
