John Doe isnt his real name of course, but no ones ever going to know who he was before he began to put his lifes work into action. Its a work of staggering genius, looked at one way: the strategy and planning involved to gradually enact intricately detailed murders inspired and dedicated to each of the seven deadly sins requires a mind like a steel trap. Looked at another way, John Doe is one of the most horrifying serial killers in cinema history, and that steel trap has to be holding tight the rotted corpse of some favourite childhood pet. Each of his crimes finds a way to incorporate some of the worst suffering that one human being can inflict upon another, the victims supposedly selected because theyre guilty of that selfsame sin. Fans of Seven have debated for twenty years which of the seven killings is the worst, with the popular vote swinging between Sloths appalling, year long agony or the visceral horror of Lust. Detectives Somerset and Mills think the worst is over when Doe turns himself in after only five of the killings, bloody razored fingertips evidence of the lengths hed gone to not to leave prints at any of the crime scenes. Those of us whove seen the film more than once know that the worst is actually yet to come. You dont want to know whats in the box, Mills. You really dont.
Professional writer, punk werewolf and nesting place for starfish. Obsessed with squid, spirals and story. I publish short weird fiction online at desincarne.com, and tweet nonsense under the name Jack The Bodiless. You can follow me all you like, just don't touch my stuff.