10 Best Scenes In David Fincher's Filmography

After a disappointing debut with Alien 3, David Fincher truly burst out of the gate with this inventive, nihilistic thriller. Seven follows detectives William Somerset and David Mills as they track down a serial killer who leaves behind a series of ghastly murder scenes inspired by the seven deadly sins. As the grisly bodies pile up, the two detectives seem to hit a dead-end in the case, but they're left stunned when a bloody John Doe walks right into the police precinct and turns himself in as the killer.

In this infamous, climactic scene, Doe leads the detectives to a deserted location where he claims they'll find his final two victims. But things take a gut-wrenching turn when a delivery van arrives with a package containing Mills' worst nightmare: his pregnant wife Tracy’s severed head. In the chaos of this shocking twist, John Doe reveals that he was envious of Mills’ ordinary life, so he murdered Tracy and took her head as a souvenir. Despite Somerset's pleas and protestations, a grief-stricken Mills shoots John Doe to death, becoming the embodiment of wrath and completing Doe's plan.

The twisted key to this scene's staying power is that we never see Tracy's head. By leaving her horrific murder to our imaginations, Fincher proved himself capable of immense restraint and subtlety. Even though he's gone on to accomplish many great things since Seven, this bold, bleak ending made David Fincher the filmmaker he is today.