Se7en (4K UHD Review)

• Reviewed by: Stephen Bjork
• Review Date: Jan 08, 2025
• Format: 4K Ultra HD
• 

Director

David Fincher

Release Date(s)

1995 (January 7, 2025)

Studio(s)

Arnold Kopelson Productions/New Line Cinema (Warner Bros. Discovery Home Entertainment/Studio Distribution Services)

• Film/Program Grade: A+
• Video Grade: A
• Audio Grade: A
• Extras Grade: A

Review

People’s lives can hinge on a simple turn of fate, and that’s no less true of filmmakers than it is of anyone else. David Fincher faced a crossroads after the travails of shooting his debut feature Alien 3 in 1991, with the studio, producers, and pretty much everyone else interfering with him every step of the way. The final cut that reached theatres in 1992 was anything but what he would have wanted if he’d been allowed any real creative freedom on the production, and the whole experience soured him on the film business in general. Fincher was already a successful music video and commercial director by that point, and he easily could have washed his hands of the whole affair and returned to the comfort of that milieu instead. That’s when fate intervened.

Fincher’s agent sent him the script for another project that was going through a minor development hell of its own; it had already passed through the hands of multiple directors, and it had been rewritten repeatedly during that process. Yet for whatever reason, Fincher ended up with an earlier draft, and its subject matter and dark tone appealed to him. That may be partly due to the cynicism that he had developed during the making of Alien 3, but it was also due to other personal factors. He had grown up in Marin County during the Sixties and Seventies, and like many other people who lived through that time in the Bay Area, he had become fascinated with the unsolved Zodiac killings. So, when he read a script about an anonymous serial killer who holds an unnamed city in the grip of fear, he was immediately hooked.

Yet Fincher was coming on board relatively late in the development process, so bringing this script to life still required navigating some occasionally troubled waters. Fortunately, he found far more amenable collaborators at New Line Cinema under Micheal De Luca than what he had dealt with at Brandywine Productions and 20th Century Fox, although even New Line was uncomfortable with some elements of the story, especially the unremittingly bleak ending. Ensuring that all of that reached the screen intact required intervention from another source, but more on that in a moment.

The script in question, of course, was Se7en by Andrew Kevin Walker. Walker had envisioned a corrupt city filled with the stench of moral decay, where rampant apathy allowed decadence and degeneracy to rule the day. Into that grim environment, he dropped two very different police officers who serve as yin and yang to each other. Detective Somerset (Morgan Freeman) is a jaded older cop just a week away from retirement. He’s experienced, but he’s seen it all during his time, and he no longer feels like he can make a difference. Detective Mills is a young officer hoping to make a name for himself in the homicide division, having just moved into the city with his wife Tracy (Gwyneth Paltrow). In some ways, he’s just as distanced from the harsh reality of city life, but in his case, it’s due to his lack of experience and brash personality. Not to put too fine a point on it, but he’s just plain too ignorant to know any better.

Somerset and Mills are forced into a reluctant partnership once they begin to suspect that a serial killer is responsible for a string of particularly gruesome murders. So far, so buddy cop movie. Yet the script’s real hook was that this anonymous killer, dubbed John Doe by the police, is one of the few people in the city who is genuinely disturbed by everyone’s apathy toward all of the flagrant sin and corruption on display. So, he decides to preach a sermon in order to rouse the city out of its indifference. The problem is that his murders are the sermon, with each of them based on one of the seven deadly sins of Roman Catholic theology. The concept of a serial killer using the seven deadly sins is an irresistible one, making it a high-concept story that would be easy for a studio to sell to audiences. Yet a hook is just that: a means to bait and draw people in, not an end unto itself. Andrew Kevin Walker’s real end was to preach a sermon of his own, and in order to do that, he had to lay a trap for his characters, the studio, and potential audiences as well.

One of the biggest clichés in the entire cop genre is to give one of the heroes a personal stake in using deadly force against the villain, usually as revenge for killing a family member, partner, or some other part of the hero’s inner circle. During the finale, the hero gets the opportunity to murder the villain in cold blood, only to stay his or her own hand at the last minute. At that exact moment, the villain pulls out a previously unseen weapon, and the hero gets to blow away the bad guy in self-defense instead. It’s an obvious cheat, but it’s a way of having your cake and eating it too: the hero ends up doing the right thing, but the audience still gets to experience the catharsis of seeing the villain die at the hero’s hands. (Let’s call this the hidden ankle holster cliché, although it can rely on any weapon hidden pretty much anywhere).

The genius of Se7en is that Andrew Kevin Walker spends the entire story setting up an ending that denies the audience any such catharsis—quite the opposite, as a matter of fact. John Doe’s sermon is a trap for Somerset and Mills, but it’s a trap for the audience as well. Instead of reserving a secret means of defending himself, John Doe openly offers himself as a sacrificial lamb. Mills is given the opportunity for a fleeting moment of catharsis, but if he takes it, he’ll end up providing Doe with the even greater catharsis of knowing that Mills helped the serial killer successfully complete his sermon. In winning the battle, Mills would lose the war. It’s the ultimate in no-win scenarios, and as a result, the ending of Se7en denies viewers any hope for catharsis of their own. If Doe’s sermon ends up being completed, then so is Walker’s.

That made the ending of Se7en a trap for the studio and producer Arnold Kopelson, too. They may have bought Walker’s script, but they wanted him to soften the ending. Yet doing so would have completely destroyed the whole point of the story. Se7en could only ever end one way; Walker had carefully established the character of Mills in order to make his final choice no real choice at all. While alternate endings were scripted and even storyboarded, Fincher had no intention of using them. That could have led to a fight, but the director gained an invaluable ally once Brad Pitt was cast as Mills (and needless to say, that was the beginning of a beautiful friendship). Pitt and Freeman both ran interference, but since Pitt only accepted the part on the condition that the original ending be preserved, his rising stardom gave him all the leverage that needed to make sure that happened.

Fincher’s adherence to the script as written means that Se7en is clearly an Andrew Kevin Walker story, but it’s just as unmistakably a David Fincher film. Fincher’s work has been defined by obsessiveness, and in making an obsessive film about an obsessive serial killer, he found a niche in his life that transcended his admittedly brilliant work on music videos. Se7en established his obsessive-compulsive need for control over every single millimeter of the film frame, something that he had been denied on Alien 3, and he’s never looked back since. While that film had demonstrated flashes of his brilliance, it’s nearly impossible to look at any randomly selected shot from Se7en and not immediately recognize it as being part of a David Fincher film. Thanks to a simple twist of fate, instead of giving up on the business, Fincher ended up reinventing the entire serial killer genre (although it wouldn’t be his last word on the subject, since it was inevitable that the Zodiac would come calling). To paraphrase the title of a book by Joseph Gelmis, if movie directors can be considered superstars, then thanks to Se7en, a star was born.

Cinematographer Darius Khondji shot Se7en on 35mm film (in Super 35 format) using Panavision Panaflex Gold, Panavision Panaflex Platinum, and Aaton 35-III cameras with spherical Panavision Primo lenses. He used a variety of different stocks—Kodak 5293 for interiors, 5295 for daylight exteriors, and 5287 for nighttime scenes and the car interiors. Khondji planned on using Deluxe Laboratory’s CCE (Color Contrast Enhancement) for some theatrical prints, so he pushed exposures and saturation levels to compensate for the desaturation inherent to the bleach bypass/silver retention process. He also flashed some of the negative using a Panaflasher in order to add detail back into the shadows that were eventually going to be deepened by CCE. Theatrical prints were anamorphic blowups of the cropped Super 35 negative, framed at 2.39:1. While a few hundred of those 2,500 prints were indeed processed with CCE, the majority were not, and that brings up an important point that needs to be addressed before digging into the quality of this 4K presentation.

Se7en has had a long journey over the last three decades to reach this point, and to put it bluntly, no two versions have been identical to each other, going all the way back to the original theatrical release. Every new home video release since then has subtly (and sometimes not so subtly) altered the color balance, contrast, and even the framing compared to previous versions. Some of that has been due to technical limitations, of course. The transfer that Fincher approved for the Criterion Collection LaserDisc release in 1996 was state-of-the-art for the time, but it was based on low-contrast 35mm print, and it suffered from the limitations of NTSC composite video. It wasn’t until later that the camera negative was used as a source element, but as the above paragraph should make clear, the image that’s contained on that negative is not what either David Fincher or Darius Khondji intended audiences to see in 1995. It’s not even close to it. The only way to replicate the signature CCE look of Se7en is to apply digital tools in order to replicate that look, and that’s just as true of the new 8K scans that were done for this version as it was for the original 2K scans that were done for earlier ones. That’s not revisionism; it’s reality.

In other words, no matter what anyone may try to tell you, there is no “definitive” or even a “most accurate” version of Se7en on home video. There’s nothing wrong with having preferences, and fans have been arguing about which version is best long before this new 4K release hit the market—some people still insist that the LaserDisc version is best, and there are even a few fan edits with their own adjustments to the color. Now, David Fincher has indeed done some significant revisions this time around, and we’ll get to those in a moment. But as far as colors, contrast, and black levels go, there’s no way to honestly debate what’s the most accurate. Hell, even the original theatrical prints of Se7en varied considerably depending on where you saw it. So rather than worrying about accuracy, we’re going to focus on how this new version looks when taken on its own merits.

This presentation of Se7en is based on a new 8K scan of the original camera negative, with all of the digital remastering work supposedly performed in full 8K as well at Warner Bros. Discovery’s Motion Picture Imaging (MPI) in a process supervised by Fincher. The results were downsampled to 4K and graded for High Dynamic Range (in HDR10) by Eric Weidt. (If a Dolby Vision grade was created as well, it hasn’t been included on this disc.) The first thing you’ll notice is that the film’s photochemical structure remains intact here, but that grain is light to light-moderate at all times. You’ll also notice that overall image detailing is subtle yet abundant, while textures are very well refined. That’s important, because it’s in that texture that so much of this image comes fully to life—fabrics, paper, skin, and other dingy surfaces. That’s true not only in the brightest areas of the frame, but in the shadows as well. Yet this is in no way intended to be a completely realistic image. For one thing, Khondji shot with wide open apertures, which limited the depth of field (though per Fincher, AI tools were employed to sharpen a couple of shots where he felt that the characters were a little too out of focus). And unlike many other titles on this format, the HDR grade here isn’t always meant to render truly black shadows (though often it does), nor are the highlights always fully life-like. Instead, the expanded dynamic range more fully delineates the various shades of gray and grunge apparent in this film—the atmospherics that are so critical to its stylized look. And the wider gamut is less about expanding the total palette of colors than enriching and enhancing the many subtle nuances in the colors that are present. For example, Khondji used cool green filters on daylight-balanced lights in interiors because he was going for a “moist, fungal look,” and it would be hard to find words more descriptive of the grading here. (Though “earthy” is another that well applies.) In any case, while this remastered 4K image lacks a little bit of the eye-candy pop of other catalog titles on this format—a certain HDR “wow” factor, if you will—it’s exactly what this film requires. And it’s been encoded on a 100GB disc, with consistently high video data rates. Bottom line: The more you watch, the more pleasing this image becomes.

Now, regarding Fincher’s penchant for revisionism: there are indeed some small but significant tweaks in this new master, ranging from simple framing adjustments to digital alterations. As far as the framing goes, like the colors, that already hasn’t been consistent from version to version. Super 35 always offered a larger image area than what would be used for the final anamorphic versions, which is one reason why directors like James Cameron preferred it during the full-frame home video era. Adjusting framing from a Super 35 negative is nothing new. What’s going to be far more controversial is that Fincher has also approved a variety of different digital fixes: faint CGI cityscapes have been added to windows that were originally completely blown out; the sky has been altered in the finale in order to try to match continuity better; gun muzzle flashes have been enhanced; camera pans have been added and subtracted; and there are other changes as well. (In one case, Fincher even added a new door to the background of one shot of Mills in his apartment). It’s all mostly seamless, but unlike debates regarding framing or color timing, these unquestionably qualify as alterations to the original material. Adjust your expectations accordingly.

Primary audio is offered in English 5.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. Se7en was released theatrically in 5.1, but much like the video, the audio mix(es) have had a long journey to get to this point. There have been multiple remixes including near-field, 6.1, and 7.1, with different tweaks each time. For this version, the original stems were remixed yet again by original sound designer Ren Klyce. Once again, rather than worrying about the differences, we’re going to focus on how this mix sounds on its own terms. The lossless soundstage here is medium wide across the front, with clean dialogue, a full tonal quality, and a strong sense of multi-channel immersion. Staging is precise, while movement remains smooth and effective. The overall dynamic range is pleasing, with a constant sense of quiet presence in the film’s environments, as well as moments of greater sonic muscularity—bass response is excellent in these instances. Howard Shore’s brooding score is well integrated with the other elements throughout, with occasional flourishes that command your attention. Irrespective of its differences, this new mix serves the film well indeed. Additional audio options include English Descriptive Audio, French (Dubbed in Quebec), Latin Spanish, and Czech all in 2.0 Dolby Digital, as well as French, German, and Castilian Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. Subtitles options include English (for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing), French, German for the Hearing Impaired, Castilian Spanish, Dutch, Chinese, Korean, Latin Spanish, Czech, Danish, Finnish, Norwegian, and Swedish.

The Warner Bros. 4K Ultra HD release of Se7en is UHD only—there’s no Blu-ray included in the package. The following extras are included:

• Commentaries
  • The Stars: David Fincher, Brad Pitt, and Morgan Freeman
  • The Story: Richard Dyer, Andrew Kevin Walker, Richard Francis-Bruce, Micheal De Luca, and David Fincher
  • The Picture: Darius Khondji, Arthur Max, Richard Francis-Bruce, Richard Dyer, and David Fincher
  • The Sound: Ren Klyce, Howard Shore, Richard Dyer, and David Fincher
• Deleted Scenes (with and without Commentary) (SD – 6 scenes – 10:11 in all)
  • Car Ride in from Gluttony (SD – 1:18)
  • Spare Some Change? (SD – :23)
  • My Future (SD – 2:20)
  • Tracy Wakes from Light Sleep (SD – :58)
  • Raid on Victor’s (SD – 3:56)
  • Pride (SD – 1:14)
• Alternate Ending (with and without Commentary) (SD – 2 segments – 12:57 in all)
  • Original “Test” Ending (SD – 5:28)
  • Animated Storyboards of Un-shot Ending (SD – 7:28)
• Production Design (SD – 8:56)
• Still Photographs (SD – 5 segments – 41:38 in all)
  • John Doe’s Photographs (SD – 14:26)
  • Victor’s Decomposition (SD – 2:28)
  • Police Crime Scene Photographs (SD – 5:38)
  • Production Photographs (SD – 10:47)
  • The Notebooks (SD – 8:17)
• Theatrical EPK – Promotional Materials (SD – 6:40)
• Mastering for Home Theater (SD – 23:18)
• Exploration of the Opening Title Sequence (3 versions with 3 audio options)
  • Early Storyboards (SD – 2:51)
  • Rough Version (SD – 2:51)
  • Final Edit (SD – 2:51)
    • English 5.1 DTS
    • Stereo Audio Commentary One: The Concept – Designer Kyle Cooper
    • Stereo Audio Commentary Two: The Sound – Brant Biles & Robert Margouleff

All of these extras were originally produced for New Line’s Platinum Series DVD release of Se7en in 2000. The video features have been upsampled from the original SD to HD. There are four different commentary tracks, each of them with a different focus (although there’s still some overlap between them). The Stars offers Fincher sitting down with Brad Pitt (Freeman was recorded separately), and it’s clear how simpatico that the two of them were. It’s reminiscent of the lively interactions between John Carpenter and Kurt Russell on some of their commentaries. The Story is a curated track, moderated by film professor Richard Dyer, with separately recorded contributions from Andrew Kevin Walker, editor Richard Francis-Bruce, Michael De Luca, and Fincher. It examines the structure of the story, how the images support it, and the nature of sin and serial killing. The Picture is also a curated track moderated by Dyer, featuring contributions from Khondji, production designer Arthur Max, Richard Francis-Bruce, and Fincher. It examines the look of the film, including the cinematography, camerawork, and production design. Finally, The Sound focuses on the sound design and music in the film, once again curated by Richard Dyer, with contributions from sound designer Ren Klyce, Howard Shore, and Fincher.

The various Deleted Scenes are mostly scene extensions, showing how everything was refined and streamlined for the final cut. (One of them does offer a cameo by Andrew Kevin Walker as a homeless person.) They can be played with or without optional commentary from Fincher. Unfortunately, for some reason, the Alternate Opening from previous releases hasn’t been included here. It showed a different opening, leading into the title sequence, and the following scenes leading up to Somerset meeting Mills. That was radically restructured in the final cut. There was also a set of storyboards for this opening, which aren’t included here, either.

The Alternate Ending includes an incomplete rough edit of the final sequence that was used in test screenings, as well as animated storyboards for the slightly softened version that New Line preferred (which would have completely undercut Andrew Kevin Walker’s themes). They also can be played with or without optional commentary from Fincher.

Production Design is a brief collection of Arthur Max’s artwork showing his designs for the key locations in the film. Max provides commentary explaining why he made the choices that he did (and the fights with the studio in order to get some of the sets built).

The various groups of Still Photographs can be played separately or as a group. John Doe’s Photographs features commentary from photographer Melodie McDaniel; Victor’s Decomposition is with David Fincher; Police Crime Scene Photographs is with unit photographer Peter Sorel; and Production Photographs is also with Sorel. It’s a fascinating glimpse of some of the harrowing imagery that remains largely in the backgrounds during Se7en.

Theatrical EPK – Promotional Features is the original theatrical electronic press kit, featuring interviews with Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Gwyneth Paltrow, Arnold Kopelson, and an unidentified police technical advisor. It’s just as shallow as you would expect it to be, but it’s still an important archival element from Se7en’s original release.

Mastering for Home Theater is understandably a bit dated at this point since it’s all about the processes that were used to create the master for the DVD release, not the new work that was done for the 4K restoration. It’s still a fascinating glimpse into an important step in Se7en’s journey on home video, and proof that the final results have always been a moving target. It’s divided into three sections: audio mastering, with Brant Biles and Robert Margouleff from Mi Casa Multimedia; video mastering with Stephen Nakamura and Evan Edelist from New Line Cinema; and color correction with Nakamura going solo (and yes, it’s a clear demonstration that the colors for Se7en have always been a moving target). Note that the multi-angle Telecine Gallery, comparing the DVD master to the previous LaserDisc master, has been omitted from this release.

Exploration of the Opening Title Sequence is a breakdown of the legendary titles for Se7en that compares the storyboards to a rough cut of the sequence and then the final version. It can be played with an optional commentary by credits designer Kyle Cooper, or another one with Biles and Margouleff. This was also originally a multi-angle featurette for DVD and Blu-ray, but it’s been separated out here (although there is a “play all” option). While the optional commentaries have been preserved, the audio options with different mixes have been omitted.

Aside from the Telecine gallery, the alternate opening, and some of the alternate audio options, the only other thing that appears to be missing here from previous New Line/Warner Bros. releases is the film’s trailer, oddly enough. Of course, many of the extras from the Criterion Collection LaserDisc haven’t been carried forward to any other releases, this one included. Criterion offered a different curated commentary track with David Fincher, Morgan Freeman, Brad Pitt, Andrew Kevin Walker, Arthur Max, and Rob Bottin, as well as outtakes/dailies and a visual essay on the makeup effects by Bottin. There was also a still-frame collection of the pages from John Doe’s diaries, which has always been one of the biggest losses from that set. Unless Warner Bros. decides to license Se7en to Criterion at some point in the future, they’ll probably never see the light of day again, either. Long is the way, and hard.

The lack of new extras may bother some people, but aside from perhaps an updated restoration featurette on this new 4K version, Se7en doesn’t really need anything else at this point. Fincher’s film speaks for itself, and Warner’s new Ultra HD presentation offers every bit of image detail and texturing that one could ask for, while its HDR grading is employed both effectively and with restraint. Frankly, it’s hard to imagine Se7en looking better than this… because then it wouldn’t be Se7en. While this title is in short supply at the moment with many retailers, your patience in tracking it down will be rewarded with a satisfying 4K image that’s an appreciable upgrade of the previous Blu-ray experience.

-Stephen Bjork

(You can follow Stephen on social media at these links: Twitter, Facebook, BlueSky, and Letterboxd).