History Film / Se7en

* 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 calls his victims "innocent people," he's very quick to break down the sin he sees in each of them.

* BodilyFluidBlacklightReveal: John Doe leaves a message on a wall with [[spoiler:the Sloth victims]] fingerprints which the detectives are able to read using a blacklight.

* CityNoir: Detectives solve a grizzly case in a bustling, constantly raining city.

* ChekhovsSkill: Somerset is repeatedly seen practising his knife-throwing skills (to the point that he seems to be using it as a sort of meditation as the case gets worse), and by the end of the film [[spoiler: [[SubvertedTrope it never gets used]], since in real life there really aren't that many times when a man licensed to carry a gun would need to throw a knife]].
* ChristianityIsCatholic: Pointedly averted. John Doe's crimes are influenced by a plurality of different religious sources, and he is never stated to belong to any particular denomination (although he is definitely Christian). Part of what leads the police to suspect that the Sloth victim may be the killer is that he had an extremely strict Southern Baptist upbringing.
%%* CityNoir: The nameless, constantly-rainy city.

* RedHerring: [[spoiler: Somerset's knife-throwing practice. It's seen several times in the movie, but never given practical application.]]
** Though it should be noted that in the actual movie script, [[spoiler: Somerset did use his knife-throwing skill to try to stop Mills from shooting John Doe.]]

* BeautyEqualsGoodness: A good part of John Doe's self-justification for the Gluttony murder. [[{{Hypocrite}} And yet he goes the opposite route with the Pride murder]].

* TheCameo:
** Charles S. Dutton as a cop.
** Subverted in one instance. When [[spoiler: the photographer]] shows up at one of the crime scenes, one might be forgiven for thinking it's just a quick, funny cameo by [[spoiler:Creator/KevinSpacey]] (assuming one even recognized him). [[spoiler:Turns out he's the villain.]]

* ArtisticLicenseGunSafety: Mills is seen failing to observe proper trigger discipline in several instances, such as the chase scene with John Doe. Justified in this instance, as it's used to establish that he is an impulsive and hotheaded CowboyCop in contrast to the more restrained Somerset (see also their conversation about firing their guns on their way to the Sloth victim).

** See CreatorCameo below.

** The name of the Pride victim is written on the label for the bottle of sleeping pills glued to her hand (see NoNameGiven for more information).

* NoWarrantNoProblem: A point of dispute between Mills and Somerset after they find John Doe's apartment. Hot-headed Mills claims that the fact that Doe shot at them should be reason enough to force themselves into his apartment while the latter reminds him that they still needed a warrant first and entering without one would risk Doe getting OffOnATechnicality. Mills wins out by [[OpenSaysMe kicking the door open with his boot]].

* PinballProtagonist: An unusual example for the PoliceProcedural genre. See VillainsActHeroesReact.

* UnbuiltTrope: The film helped to popularize the archetypal 90s and 2000s PsychologicalThriller/serial killer movie (see FollowTheLeader on Trivia), 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]].

* 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, but that's about it.
** Now, normally, that'd probably be enough to seal the deal... except that not too far from this rainy city is, apparently, an ''arid desert''. This would make some sense for California, but makes absolutely zero sense for any city in temperate New England or the Mid-Atlantic.
** In the novelization, Mills and his wife lived in a town named ''Springfield'' (probably Springfield, New York) before they moved to the city.
*** Springfield, Oregon is within simple moving distance of Portland, Oregon (a skyscraper-filled, very rainy city) which is not far from Eastern Oregon - a desert area.
*** Except there is no real "upstate Oregon", as the largest and most important cities are all in the northwest corner of the state.
*** However, the fact that John Doe's prison jumpsuit has the words "Bardach County Jail"[[note]]Elinor Bardach was the film's costume supervisor.[[/note]] written on it indicates that the city is entirely fictional.

* SuddenlyShouting: A bone-chilling version of this occurs when [[spoiler: John Doe walks into the police station to turn himself in with his self-mutilated hands. Doubles as RuleOfThree, as it is on Doe's third (and yelled) utterance of "detective" that Mills & Somerset notice him.]]

* ShownTheirWork: The Wrath victim. [[spoiler:In Dante's time killing a man's wife and children was considered equal to taking his life and was sometimes used on men condemned to death.]] John Doe refers to this when he [[spoiler:tells Mills "whatever life I will allow you to have". Thus David Mills ''is'' the wrath victim even though he wasn't the one killed.]]

* {{Autocannibalism}}:
** The Sloth victim bit off and ate [[TongueTrauma his own tongue]].
** In the Zenescope GraphicNovel, John Doe cuts off his "{{Semper Fi}}delis" tattoo with a knife and then eats it.

* ArcNumber: Take a wild guess. 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.

** Somewhat averted, as is Somerset's ChekhovsSkill as a knife-thrower, in that the knife only gets used in a completely mundane and undramatic way rather than in a confrontation.

%%* ColdBloodedTorture: Several of Doe's victims (Gluttony and Sloth specifically).

%%* DetectiveDrama

* GambitRoulette: John Doe's plan hinges upon: the police finding the Gluttony message behind the fridge, the Sloth victim not being discovered ahead of time, the police finding the message hidden behind the painting in Gould's office, the police being able to connect the fingerprints behind the painting to the Sloth victim, the police finding the Sloth victim on the appropriate day, the package containing [[spoiler: Tracy's head arriving at the scene at the right time, somebody actually opening said package and seeing its contents (one of the cops in the helicopter, upon seeing the package, radios for the bomb squad to be brought in - why would this not be Somerset's first assumption?), and convincing Mills to kill John Doe]], without anyone intervening. Additionally, practically every murder takes place in a location where someone could have easily interrupted John Doe before completing the murder in question (Somerset notes that John Doe left the scene of the Gluttony murder twice in order to buy more spaghetti sauce, and hand waves no one interrupting the Greed murder with the BystanderSyndrome) - he was extraordinarily lucky that no one did so. Finally, when Somerset and Mills arrive at John Doe's apartment he fires upon them from a distance, and again when they give chase - Somerset and Mills form an integral part of his plan, so he must have been missing on purpose, but he was still lucky that he didn't accidentally hit one of them.
** It is possible that he ''made'' Somerset and Mills a part of his plan ''after'' they almost caught him. Though possibly Mills became a target for Wrath after he [[spoiler:accosted Doe pretending to be a press photographer]].
** John Doe specifically states to Mills and Somerset that [[spoiler: his plans changed after they found his apartment]]. The implication in the scene is that he did not intend to directly involve them until that point.

* UnrevealAngle: We never get to see the content of the box.

** A literally [[SubliminalSeduction subliminal]] example takes place near the end: Tracy's face flashes onscreen [[spoiler:just before Mills shoots John Doe.]]

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Near the end of the film, Mills makes an offhand comment that his wife doesn't have cable TV. Believe it or not, there was a time when even basic cable was considered a luxury.

* UnbuiltTrope: The film helped to popularize the archetypal 90s and 2000s PsychologicalThriller/serial killer movie (see FollowTheLeader on Trivia), 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, there is little blood and gore, the killer is not given a FreudianExcuse or much characterization, [[spoiler:PoliceAreUseless, and TheBadGuyWins]].

* ManipulativeBastard: John Doe. Even with [[GenreSavvy Summerset]] having worked in homicide in the city for a long time, and being farmiliar with Doe's inspirations ([[Creator/DanteAlighieri Dante]], [[Creator/JohnMilton Milton]]), AND knowing that Mills is a hothead, Doe is able [[spoiler: to change his plan on the fly, after the detectives find his apartment, and twist both of them, and the rest of the police department around his finger to complete his plan.]]

* 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 [[BatemanGambit hitch]].]]

* 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 hitch.]]

* BodilyFluidBlacklightReveal: John Doe leaves a message on a wall with his fingerprints which the detectives are able to read using a blacklight.

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.

* BodilyFluidBlacklightReveal: John Doe leaves a message on a wall with his fingerprints which the detectives are able to read using a backlight.

* 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”]].

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}}-based films that [[FollowTheLeader try and emulate it]].

* NeverGiveTheCaptainAStraightAnswer: The police officer at the Lust crime scene invites the detectives in with the line "You better see this."

* BadassBookworm: John Doe is a sinister example of this - he's extremely intelligent and well-read, manages to pull off elaborate torture and murder sessions for his victims, and more than holds his own in a gun fight with two police officers.
** Somerset is a benevolent example of this - he's a highly effective police detective who is as intelligent and well-read as the killer he's hunting. He's also handy with a switchblade.

* 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.]]

A comic book series called ''[=Se7en=]'' published by Zenescope Entertainment tells the events of the movie from the viewpoint of the killer.