ugh. The movie was both horrifying and predictable. Have to say it was Sloth that gave me nightmares though. My boyfriend didn’t speak to me for the rest of the night when I hollered “head in a box, Brad!” shortly before the “surprising” Envy/Wrath ending. (my reasoning: what is the very worst thing that could happen to his character right now?) On the other hand I didn’t speak to him because he tried to prevent me from covering my eyes during certain scenes.
The pound of flesh for greed was pretty ickky. To have to cut off a pound of ass just seems pretty bad.
Sloth wasn’t exactly fun either. It’s a toss up between the two for me.
Zoggie, about the greed/pound of flesh thing. It’s from Shakespeare’s Merchant of Venice. “This bond doth give thee here no jot of blood; the words expressly are ‘a pound of flesh:’ Take then thy bond, take thou thy pound of
flesh; But, in the cutting it, if thou dost shed one drop of Christian blood, thy lands and goods are, by the laws of Venice, confiscate unto the state of Venice.”
Antonio borrowed a lot of money from Shylock, who held a pound of Antonio’s flesh as collateral. Antonio couldn’t repay the loan and Shylock demanded his collateral and intended to take out his heart. But his woman saved him by warning Shylock that he must take exactly one pound, no more no less, or else he would forfeit all his money to Venice.
Demanding a “pound of flesh” means holding to your rights to what is owed to the point of terrible cruelty. In other words, you would cut a pound of flesh from someone for money owed, regardless of amount. The guy had to cut a pound of flesh from his own body because of his greed for money. Get it?
Thank you, thank you, thank you. Back when I saw the movie with my best friend, I was also sure that the fetus would be in the box. Whenever I discussed it with people afterward, everyone said that they just knew it was the wife’s head. And when I would mention my fetus theory, they would all stare at me as though I had just told them that I was a space alien. So now at least if it comes up ever again, I can say that I know other people who think like me.
Anyway, about the OP: You could make an argument for any of the murders. But “Sloth” freaked me right the hell out. When he moved, I screamed right there in the movie theatre. I think I scared the crap out of anyone who wasn’t already shocked by the movie.
Hell, not only did we suspect it, but we were disappointed when it wasn’t. I think that would have been a much better ending. But of course, no, they had to go for the head.
I’ll vote with the Sloth crowd, but not quite for the same reason. Gore, gross and just plain sick don’t bother me. Psychos scares hell out of me, however. Is there anyone else besides me who STILL can’t stand the thought of putting those darn tree air fresheners in their car because of that scene??
Yes, what the guy had done to him was just mind-bogglingly repellent…but what squicked the heck out of me was the mind in the person who created the situation. It wasn’t what Doe made that poor guy into as much as the fact that he could single-mindedly work on that, completely disregarding the guy’s suffering, for as long as that process took… <cringe> I guess have a harder time believing that someone could actually accomplish that without getting caught than I do that someone could actually do it, given the opportunity.
My husband, however, votes for Envy. Hands down.
Thank ye, Turbo Dog. Now I finally understand.
Wait what do tree freshners have to do with sloth?
I guess the fetus would have been more effective. Particularly if they had shown it. And when you think about it, Brad Pitt’s character is always getting angry about something. I didn’t really think of John Doe as the type of guy would would be envious of Brad and Gwyneth, though, too critical of everything. But you really don’t know what’s in the mind of the average serial killer (or in our case, NOT so average), do you?
The room was filled with them, hanging from the ceiling, etc., to hide the stench that must have been created by the guy’s rotting body.
I also think sloth was the freakiest, and I, too, thought it was going to be the fetus rather than the head. Or both, to bring home the point that she was pregnant (IIRC, Pitt didn’t know yet. Wouldn’t showing BOTH be scarier and more anger-inducing?).
SE7EN is definitely one of he scariest movies I’ve ever seen - maybe I should watch it again sometime… 
SLOTH of course, with LUST coming in a VERY close second. I also perceived that penis/blade contraption to be 14/16" long.
Mind blowing concept----the horrors that one human brain can conceive to do to another human being.
I’m sure that ANY big-city homicide detective could blow us all away with stories of what we do to each other. I forget where it was—they found some kid with 12/15 6" NAILS pounded into his head.
Ever read the COMPLETE description of what, exactly, JACK THE RIPPER did to Mary Kelly? Grizzley—FOR REAL!
Heh . . . the other day, when we were on our way home from work, my wife and I stopped at a light next to someone who had about 15 pine air fresheners hanging from his rearview mirror. I said, “Well, either he’s got terrible B.O. or is a big fan of Se7en,” sending my wife into paroxysms of laughter.