Seven

This week I got to watch another old favorite movie that I think is one of the great psychopath movies out there. It’s a movie called Seven from back in 1995. Seven is based on a book written by Andrew Kevin Walker, and the movie was directed by David Fincher. The cast included Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, and Gwyneth Paltrow.
The psychopath in the movie Seven is playing games with law enforcement. His killings are based on the seven mortal sins of the Bible. And each killing represents one of the mortal sins leading the detectives to the end for the final sin. The final sin has a direct effect on one of the detectives, played by Brad Pitt.
At the beginning of the story, we’re not sure what or how these killings are taking place. All we know is that they are very bizarre and dark. As we see the first few victims discovered in their crime scenes we see the puzzle pieces starting to move and fall into place. Very quickly we discover that these killings are based on the seven mortal sins of the Bible, a discovery made by Morgan Freeman’s character.
This way of storytelling had a unique effect and helped us insert ourselves into the main characters as if we were part of the investigation team. We were part of the process of discovering the clues and analyzing them to find out what was going on and possibly what the next killing would be.
And after they capture the killer the killer continues to play games with them. Right up until the end the killer is engaged in a cat and mouse game with the detectives. The killer looks at his killings as an art form a way for him to be remembered by the world.
His final victim is the wife of one of the detectives. This is an attempt at suicide by a cop. The killer wants the detective to kill him thereby immortalizing him into the annals of crime history.
I’ve seen this movie easily a dozen times over the years. I love this movie I find it entertaining and thrilling every time I see it. There are so many gold nuggets in the story that can be adapted or retold in other stories that I might write. A brilliant masterpiece in horror fiction.