‘Se7en’ Mistakes You’ll Never Be Able to Unsee

Even a meticulously crafted thriller like ‘Se7en’ has a few slipups hiding in plain sight. Small continuity gaps and prop resets creep in amid the rain, neon, and chilling crime scene work. Most viewers never notice them on a first watch because the story moves with relentless focus. Look closer and you will spot a handful of details that do not stay put from one cut to the next.

Rain Levels Shift During the Foot Chase

The alley pursuit shows rain intensity changing noticeably across cuts. In one angle the downpour is heavy and bouncing off the pavement, then the next shot softens to a lighter sprinkle. Mills’ jacket and hair switch from soaked to merely damp between quick edits. The ground sheen also varies, which affects the reflections under streetlights.

Switching Air Fresheners in the Sloth Apartment

The air fresheners dangling around the sloth victim are not consistent from shot to shot. Some cuts show more hanging bundles than others, and a few move spots between doorways and pipes. Their string lengths also appear different when the camera changes sides of the room. The layout of the nearest cluster shifts again when the detectives sweep their flashlights past the bed.

Notebook Piles That Rearrange Themselves

When Somerset examines John Doe’s journals, the stacks do not keep the same heights. A shorter pile becomes taller after a cut as if more volumes were added. A notebook that lies open on the edge of the table appears closed and closer to the center a beat later. The bookmark ribbons trade positions when the closeup flips to a wider view.

Bloodstains That Move in the Greed Scene

On the greed apartment walls, a few smears change location between the wide master and tight inserts. A streak near the molding looks longer in one shot and shorter in the next. The pattern beside a light switch appears closer to the plate when the camera crosses the room. A drip line under a framed print vanishes during the reverse angle.

A Cut on Mills That Jumps Around

Right after the chase, the small abrasion on Mills’ face does not stay perfectly matched between shots. It reads darker and larger in the closeup, then lighter and thinner when the angle switches. A few moments later the swelling seems to increase before shrinking again in the car. Makeup continuity resets are especially visible during the interrogation beats.

Flashlight Beams That Do Not Match

During several searches, the direction of the flashlight beams and the on-screen pools of light do not always align. A detective points a light down and left while the brightness lands higher on the wall. In the reverse angle, the hotspot shifts without a corresponding hand movement. The spread of the beam widens and narrows between cuts with the same flashlight.

A Door Chain That Resets

At one apartment entry, the security chain looks broken when the door first cracks open. In the next angle the chain slides as if intact and then hangs loose again after a brief exchange. The mounting plate also appears at a slightly different height relative to the peephole. The sequence reads as a quick continuity reset across coverage.

Desert Shadows That Do Not Line Up

Out in the delivery field, the shadows under the characters change length and angle between shots. A closeup shows shorter shadows that suggest a higher sun, while the wide cut shows longer lines reaching away. The position of the delivery truck’s shadow also shifts relative to a dirt rut. These changes point to time passing between setups even though the scene plays in real time.

A Gun That Reholsters Itself

In the climax, a sidearm that is drawn and held at the ready is visible back in its holster for a single angle. The following shot returns it to the character’s hand without any on-screen movement. The retention strap also appears snapped closed for a moment and then open again. The quick cut introduces a clear continuity hiccup at a tense moment.

A Newspaper Layout That Changes

When characters read a front-page story, the headline and column blocks are not identical across inserts. The serif style of a subhead looks slightly different in the next shot. A photo shifts a column over and the caption line spacing changes. The paper folds move too, which makes the masthead ride higher between angles.

Share the goofs you have spotted in ‘Se7en’ in the comments so everyone can compare notes.