‘Se7en’ Remains a Shocking and Supremely Sophisticated High Watermark for Horror [We Love ’90s Horror]

The ‘90s often get a bad rap with horror fans. After the numerous successful slashers and creature effects films of the ’80s, the ‘90s offered a different variety of horror fare. Though there were plenty of hits, hidden gems, and misunderstood classics, the ‘90s usually don’t get the kind of love that other decades get when it comes to horror. It’s time to change that.

Se7en is something of a magic trick movie. What it starts as will have you thinking you know what’s in store, but the end will leave you speechless.

The story of two cops chasing down a mastermind criminal is beyond well-worn. It’s a framework that lulls you into a sense of familiarity while sowing the seeds of something much more surprising and twisted. Detectives Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and Mills (Brad Pitt) find themselves on the trail of an elaborate serial killer, but their investigation ends up leading to a place that challenges the very ideas of morality and justice. It’s this descent that makes Se7en a supremely sophisticated and shocking horror film.

And yes, Se7en is a horror film. This is one of those movies that will get batted around as a “thriller” but that’s only in an attempt to distance it from some perceived idea of “lesserness.” Besides the obvious violence and desire to horrify the audience, there’s a very unique bit of horror world-building going on in Se7en. The unnamed city where the film takes place feels like something out of a comic book; a decaying, noirish hellscape that represents the moral atrophy that the film is exploring. This could easily be the kind of dark and gruesome story that takes place in a horror-influenced version of Gotham City.

It’s not like director David Fincher is a stranger to horror. On the contrary, he’s a filmmaker that cut his teeth on the genre with Alien³ and has explored the horrors of true monsters in projects like Zodiac and Mindhunter. His approach to the film is appropriately operatic, mirroring the thematic inspirations behind the killer’s intricate murders. Se7en is a film that oozes with a particular vision, and that vision is expertly executed thanks to cinematographer Darius Khondji.

Of course, having prestige actors in a movie often makes people label a film as “not horror” because, once again, horror is often seen as lesser. That’s a shame because the entire cast of Se7en is putting in top-notch work and the characters they play should join the pantheon of beloved horror icons. Somerset is a fascinating character on his own, and Freeman imbues him with wisdom, tenacity, intelligence, and an ongoing internal war between cynicism and hope. It wouldn’t be out of place to see a detective like Somerset matching wits with a sadistic mastermind like Jigsaw.

Now, we do have to mention the elephant in the room: the film’s villain, John Doe, is played by Kevin Spacey. I know people who are hesitant or outright unable to revisit Se7en due to the allegations and accusations surrounding him. That’s a completely understandable reaction and I’m not here to dismiss anyone’s feelings about Spacey’s alleged behavior. And with Se7en in particular, I sympathize wholeheartedly with anyone finding it difficult to watch a story where Spacey plays a monstrous human being.

And if Spacey has engaged in the intolerable behavior he’s accused of – I’m of the belief that he has – it adds a new level of malice and horror to the character of John Doe. This is a murderer that stands in judgment of humanity, and it’s clear that the script by Andrew Kevin Walker wants us to somewhat agree with certain observations that John Doe espouses. Like all great villains, he has to make sense at some point so we can examine the darker elements within ourselves. Spacey’s performance nails that chilly, logical detachment from his evil deeds and it’s doubly frightening to consider that when you’re thinking about his real-life misconduct.

To be totally honest, I’m someone who can divorce certain real-world information from my brain when watching a movie, so I can still see the effectiveness in Spacey’s portrayal of John Doe. However, if someone looks at John Doe or any other Kevin Spacey role and can’t get past the man himself, that is a valid response that I don’t want to devalue.

What I want to highlight is how Se7en managed to take something as common as a police procedural and morph it into an existential meditation on the natures of evil and justice. Making the whole affair a macabre murder showcase is what tips the film over into full-on horror territory. The tableau of victims feels like they could have popped out of Clive Barker’s imagination. It’s a cavalcade of ghoulishness that still stands as a landmark in horror history.

That’s also how I feel about Se7en in general: it’s a high watermark for the genre. It’s beyond unfortunate that one cast member has tainted such a masterful film. This is as important to the genre and the decade as The Silence of the Lambs, and in some ways, its highly stylized approach to the material makes it even more fascinating and entrancing. It might be impossible for some to watch nowadays, but if you are able to, it’s still as powerful and morally complex as it was twenty-five years ago.