Comparison of Se7en and Red Dragon

Introduction

For the past few days I have been studying the genre of horror/thriller and I have been mostly watching to films that are quite famous in this drama, the crime thriller’s Red Dragon and Se7en. Se7en was released in 1995 to high critical acclaim from critics for its portrayal of Morgan Freeman’s and Brad Pitt’s characters, a tired old cop and a headstrong rookie. It was also noted for its portrayal of a serial murder mystery since another highly praised film called “Manhunter”. Manhunter was reimagined into a prequel to the critically acclaimed “The Silence of the Lambs” and was called by its original book title “Red Dragon” which was the other film that I watched for my study. While watching these films I began to see some similarities but let me first evaluate each film on its own.

Plot

Se7en’s plot consists of a ageing cop and recently appointed cop tracking down a serial killer who basis’s his murders on the seven deadly sins like Greed, Gluttony and Sloth. This movie immerses the viewer in its plot by using the sum of its parts to tell a graphic but a believable story for example in crime scenes like the gluttony victim scene, it uses both subjective point-of-view and handheld camera (simulate a documentary feel), a heavily detailed set with close attention to the mise en scene (to immerse us in this heavily detailed world) and even some horror techniques to disturb and immerse the audience (the minimal lighting and the reveal of the man’s face is a staple of the horror genre). It is greater because of the sum of its parts.

 

 

Red Dragon's plot consist's of a retired CIA agent, Will Graham, being called back to to do some investigation work for a recent set of killings because of his "unique" talents. To catch the alleged "Tooth Fairy" killer he needs to visit on old friend,Hannibal Lecter, who is a incredibly intelligent psychiatric doctor but there is one problem, he is also a psychopathic cannibal and Will was the one who detained him. The plot focuses on these three main characters, Will Graham, Hannibal Lecter, and "The Tooth Fairy" and their interactions between each other and other people. This is shown through the use of camera work (constant use of extreme close ups on characters faces to show reactions and emotions) and the switch of focus between these three main characters and their effects on the story plot wise.

Camera Angles/Editing
 

Se7en’s use of camera work was innovative at the time for it revolutionary camerawork and inspired the use of the film in the late 1990’s because of the inspired, clever trick of adding a chemical to the raw footage that makes the contrast of light and shadow more obvious to the viewer. This was effective since it made the dark scenes even darker and light scenes even lighter, symbolizing a black and white view of crime and punishment and creating a unique and original style to the film.

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Red Dragon's use of camera angles are more creative then most action thrillers since it not only focuses on the police's investigation work on the serial killer but the serial killer as well to establish him as living human mind that has been twisted and disturbed by his past instead of just a generic disturbing villain and we are actually helped in the investigation by another serial killer. The killer has his past presented as visuals (an example being a picture of a elderly woman spanking a child in his scrapbook, representing his abusive grandmother) and a heavy use of mirrors in shots represent reflection and illusion.

Sound

A lot of the atmosphere in Se7en depends heavily on it's use of sound and music to achieve the level of immersion that is prominent in this film. Take for example in this scene where we see Morgan Freeman's character and the character of Gwen who are talking about her pregnancy. If you listen closely in the background, you don't just hear other people talking, you hear restaurant music, a passing train and even some cars which are very faint but are still there. This level and thought of detail for sound in this one scene is remarkable and shows the commitment the sound technicians have to create a immersive sound-scape.

 

The soundtrack of Red Dragon is compiled together to reflect the minds and emotions of our killers and characters so that we can get into the mindset of our characters and get the mood of the scene or moment. An example of this is in the opening of the movie where we just witnessed the take down of Hannibal by Will Graham who are both seriously injured. The music changes (from near silence to a full orchestra) to reflect the sudden shocking turn of pace and the great amount of speed that the events have unfolded in. This tense orchestra played through the credits to show how scandalous this event was and the impact it had on Will and then starts to quiet down when we learned he has retired.

 

Mise en Scene

If there is one thing that Se7en does so brilliantly at then in other movies that are like it is the impeccable amount of detail that goes into every single set piece of the movie. If you just look at this one scene of the Sloth victim you can see so much attention that went into the mise en scene from the photographs, the air fresheners hanging off the wall and even the victim itself had so much detail that it is disturbingly realistic in its presentation of this twisted Neo-Noir film.

 
Red Dragon uses it mise en scene to imply things more then show it directly since this technique can be considered to be scarier then directly show any grievous or gruesome body imagery since the viewer can imagine more horrible things then the director can. This is shown by use of blood splatter on the walls and on the bed in crime scenes to imply the violence that took place in these crime scenes and broken mirrors to tell us the psychological profile of our character in subtle ways but not too subtle that the audience can't tell if its symbolism or just traditional scares.

Characters

There are many memorable actors and performances in this movie, including the serial killer, John Doe, who is chilling in his performance but the actor who steals the show is Morgan Freeman who portrays a hardened, intelligent cop who has seen it all. Taking a example from the diner scene that I used as a sound example, we can see the tragic side of his character who decided to have his wife abort their child because of the appalling nature of this city and Freeman plays so we see that he has conflicting thoughts on his decision but also a persistence to move on and in the end feels that he did the right thing and yet he tells it with just his expressions showing the level of excellence of the performance that Morgan gives.

 

I could talk about all of the performances in this movie since all of them are pretty memorable and well-played but I think I should focus on the character of Francis Dolarhyde or as he is known by his treatment of murder victims "The Tooth Fairy" since he is the most memorable in this movie and is basically the focus of. Francis kills because of his domination by a alternate personality which he calls "The Great Red Dragon" and each victim he "changes"  he becomes more of a "Dragon". Ralph Fiennes shows Francis' two personalities by being shy and repressed in one scene when he is with his love interest, and when interacts with a reporter who insulted him he is more confident but unforgiving in nature.

Atmosphere and Mood

The atmosphere and mood of Se7en is a dark, brooding and corrupt world where the streets are ruled by misery and death. We get this sense mostly through the movies lighting which if you look at is really dark and most of the lighter scenes are seen at the end where we get our revelation. Rain is also featured a lot in this movie to show the mood of constant misery and that a storm is coming which is actually build up to its dramatic climax.

 

The atmosphere and mood of Red Dragon is a calm, peaceful but repressed society upturned by the psychotic nature of its inhabitants, Hannibal and Francis being the two who upturn this socially repressed society. This shown by the use of sophisticated execution by both the actors and the director to show a stable world being flipped on its head. For example, Hannibal is a serial killer who eats off of the bodies of his victims but he is portrayed as being a sophisticated and intelligent man that is into fine cooking (how he eats his victims). The viewer doesn't believe that a man of such high etiquette and class can be a brutal killer and a cannibal which is how the movie portrays a society which has dark undertones. 

Similarities and Differences

One of the most obvious similarities between Se7en and Red Dragon is its opening intro which consists of imposing on the serial killer's journals with credits over the top of the imagery. Se7en was the first to use this kind of opening in its movie which was creative at the time and then Red Dragon did something very similiar with its opening. The way that is used in Se7en is to show how gritty and dark this movie is going to be with disturbing, gruesome imagery and even some foreshadowing to some later events in the film. In Red Dragon it is used to tell the viewers of what happened after the opening, like the arrest of Hannibal and the retirement. and also some symbolism of our main killer's past to foreshadow later events.

A major difference between these two movies is their atmosphere and tone since Se7en is gritty, realistic and dark while Red Dragon is more sophisticated, slowly paced and well-lit. Take these two scenes for example of murder victims killed in each movie. In Se7en our pacing is drawn out to give a illusion of real-time, the lighting is mostly dark with streaks of light emerging, there is so much detail in every corner of this scene that it immerses the viewer, the body is shown in all of its grimness and the colours are dark grey and depressing with no contrast. This scene from Red Dragon is the complete opposite, there is normal daylight and it is a outside location, it is very short scene, the style is simple yet effective, the body is obscured by the flames and is unrecognisible and the colours of the red and orange of the fire contrasts with the mainly blue background. In many ways the scene from Red Dragon is more disturbing because of its subtlity and spontanity of the moment.

Conclusion

In conclusion, I believe that both movies succeed in what they intended to do but my personal preference between these two movies is Red Dragon. The reason I enjoy Red Dragon more then Se7en because of my preferred sense of horror, which simple and subtle. Just like I was describing the difference between these films in the paragraph above you get the sense that Se7en is trying too hard to show everything at once, like the Sloth scene where is so much going on that it actually gets dizzying. There is nothing wrong in showing off but it doesn't leave much to the imagination and literally shows all the horrible imagery and detailed environments. I believe the most horrific imagery a director can conjure is to ignite the viewers imagination and let him make the connections since what you don't see scares you the most. It uses classic tricks like blood splatters and quick imagery to disturb the viewer and then shows our characters reactions to horrific events to let our imagination create what we think we saw. This is why I like Red Dragon more because of its olf-fashoined but effective scare tactics.

So here to finish off, Hannibals most famous quote...

Classic :D