• Genre: Thriller
• MPAA Rating: R
• AMG Rating:
• Regional Coding: 1
  USA and territories, Canada

Director David Fincher's dark, stylish thriller ranks as one of the decade's most influential box-office successes. Set in a hellish vision of a New York-like city, where it is always raining and the air crackles with impending death, the film concerns Det. William Somerset (Morgan Freeman), a homicide specialist just one week from a well-deserved retirement. Every minute of his 32 years on the job is evident in Somerset's worn, exhausted face, and his soul aches with the pain that can only come from having seen and felt far too much. But Somerset's retirement must wait for one last case, for which he is teamed with young hotshot David Mills (Brad Pitt), the fiery detective set to replace him at the end of the week. Mills has talked his reluctant wife, Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow), into moving to the big city so that he can tackle important cases, but his first and Somerset's last are more than either man has bargained for. A diabolical serial killer is staging grisly murders, choosing victims representing the seven deadly sins. First, an obese man is forced to eat until his stomach ruptures to represent gluttony, then a wealthy defense lawyer is made to cut off a pound of his own flesh as penance for greed. Somerset initially refuses to take the case, realizing that there will be five more murders, ghastly sermons about lust, sloth, pride, wrath, and envy presented by a madman to a sinful world. Somerset is correct, and something within him cannot let the case go, forcing the weary detective to team with Mills and see the case to its almost unspeakably horrible conclusion. The moody photography is by Darius Khondji; the nauseatingly vivid special effects are by makeup artist Rob Bottin, best known for more fantasy-oriented work in films like The Howling (1981). ~ Robert Firsching, Rovi

Bonus Features

• Four feature-length audio commentaries featuring director David Fincher, actors Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman, and other collaborators on the film
• DVD-ROM content: Printable original screenplay with links to the feature film
• Deleted scenes and extended takes
• Alternate endings with animated storyboard exploration
• Exploration of the opening title sequence from multiple video angles with various audio mixes and two commentary tracks
• Multiple animated galleries featuring production designs and stills, crime scene photos used in the film, "John Doe's" notebooks, photos, and more
• Original theatrical trailer and electronic press kit
• DVD-ROM exclusive: A comprehensive "John Doe" website penetrating the killer's mind with links to his photo gallery, several of his "fan sites," reading list, and exploration of the seven deadly sins

Actors

Brad Pitt, Morgan Freeman, Gwyneth Paltrow, Kevin Spacey, R. Lee Ermey, Richard Roundtree

Director

David Fincher

Producer

William C. Gerrity, Arnold Kopelson, Phyllis Carlyle

Graphic Violence, Not For Children, Profanity

• Sound : DD-EX/DTS-ESD/DDS
• Language : Eng
• Subtitles : Eng/Fre

• Screen : WSE
• Dar : 2.40:1

Review

With its old cop/young cop pair trailing a brilliant psycho, Seven (1995) could have been just another serial killer movie. Director David Fincher's prodigious visual talent for choreographing an atmosphere of grim tension and evocative, partially hidden horrors, however, made it a disturbing foray into human darkness. From the jittery, unsettling credits sequence on, Seven reveals just enough of the grisly murders signifying the Bible's deadly sins, and the extremity of killer John Doe's devotion to his project, to allude to unspeakable terrors without actually showing a lot of violence. Circumspect old-timer Morgan Freeman's dedication and tyro Brad Pitt's fury both mirror the telling responses of their characters, and reveal signs of how tenuous the line is between cop and killer. Enhancing the aura of universal, unfathomable mystery shrouding Seven's unnamed city, Darius Khondji's cinematography creates a neo-noir urban murk of permanently rain-swept streets and deep interior shadows wanly pierced by flashlights that allow Doe to literally hide in plain sight from the audience before he turns himself in. Though the film divided some critics over whether it was stylishly rote depravity or tour de force filmmaking, Seven became a surprise smash, redeeming Fincher after his ill-fated debut feature, Alien 3 (1992). ~ Lucia Bozzola, Rovi

• Release Date : December 19, 2000
• Length : 127 Minutes
• Dvdsides : 2
• Dvddiscs : 2
• Upc : 794043499722