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Book Review
DOWSE Guide to the
Movies
by Tony Lee editor of
Pigasus
Press
BFI Modern Classics: Seven
Richard Dyer
BFI Publishing chapbook, 88 pages £7.99
review by Steven Hampton
Among intriguing points in this study, Richard Dyer, Professor of Film
Studies at the University of Warwick, compares the sinful crimes of Seven
to a pseudo-'snuff movie', in which the killer delivers deadly sermons.
This recalls the style of Wings Hauser's imaginative shocker The Art Of
Dying (1991).
This film's shocking denouement caught most cinemagoers by surprise -
reports suggest even the hardened fans of film noir and intellectuals familiar
with the sources of Andrew Kevin Walker's literate script were stunned - and
it cleverly subverts almost every convention of the serial killer drama.
Homages to popular SF thrillers like Blade Runner are thrown into
Seven's eclectic mix of genre references.
Finally, on a non-genre note, we find ourselves wanting the wrathful Mills
to hold fire on wicked 'John Doe', thus overturning the American cliche of
righteously vengeful cop. Having confessed his sins, we know the villain is
guilty and we should feel eager to see him punished - capitally, if possible.
But not in this case. In Seven, the slaying of the villain also brings
destruction upon the hero.
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