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The Silence of the Lambs vs. Seven


John

The Silence of the Lambs (1991) vs. Seven (1995)  

34 members have voted

  1. 1. Which film do you prefer?

    • The Silence of the Lambs (directed by Jonathan Demme)
    • Seven (directed by David Fincher)
  2. 2. Which score do you prefer?

    • The Silence of the Lambs (composed by Howard Shore)
    • Seven (composed by Howard Shore)


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Yes, it’s another movie/score poll!

 

Which 90s serial-killer thriller and score do you prefer; Demme/Shore’s The Silence of the Lambs or Fincher/Shore’s Seven?

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Se7en's an excellent film.

 

But, I mean, come on. Its Silence of the Lambs. There's really not much more to be said on the matter.

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27 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Se7en's an excellent film.

 

I guess, though I always felt it overdid things a bit. The murders, the point John Doe tries to make, the urban decay, it's all pumped up for maximum effect. Silence feels...more natural. There's real sadness in it. It's less grotesque.

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26 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

I always felt it overdid things a bit. The murders, the point John Doe tries to make, the urban decay, it's all pumped up for maximum effect. Silence feels...more natural. There's real sadness in it. It's less grotesque.

 

I can understand that.

 

Both films do a lot to conceal some of the atrocities of the subject matter. In Silence of the Lambs, the autospy is photographed in such a way that the body is out-of-shot, and its mostly the performances (god, Jodie Foster is transcendant in this film) that sell the horror of the visual. Se7en also does this to some extent: Gluttany is almost completely obscured in shadow, lust is blocked such that the leads stand over the victim. But than there's sloth...

 

I think, at the end of the day, The Silence of the Lambs ends triumphantly (sorta; Chilton is such an arse that we kind of want Hannibal to devour him, anyway), whereas at the end of Se7en I need a shower.

 

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Se7en kinda does too with Somerset...sticking around. But yeah. 

 

Silence Of The Lambs feel quite current in that it's main character has to deal with a lot of unsolicited male attention, from Chilton to her boss to a guy checking her out at the airport.

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2 minutes ago, Glóin the Dark said:

chilton_portrait.jpg

 

Yeah, the looking into the lens of the camera is conducive to that theme.

 

Its a cooky idea, though. What illegal substance were Demme and Fujimoto on when they came up with that? As with all great films, it great because it should have turned out terrible, but didn't.

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I love both films!  They are so different from one another, and therefore great in totally different ways.  But I find both immensely rewatchable.  I went with SOTL for the poll.

 

For the scores, I honestly have not listened to Silence of the Lambs outside the film, for some reason.  But I like the Seven score on CD, so I picked that.  It's effective in the film as well.

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The score to The Silence of the Lambs is very sparse and understated (appropriately so), but it is quite haunting at times, I think.

 

I can't recall much about Se7en other than some brass writing for sloth.

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Se7en is quite good, but as Steef points out, it's a little too "obvious". Se7en pales in comaprison to the more timeless Silence of the Lambs. There's something about its operatic elegance that makes it all the more terrifying.

 

Shore's Se7en is thrilling in film, but nothing is ever as chilling as when those eerie glocks kick in on that final phone call...

 

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55 minutes ago, Fabulin said:

The score to the Lembas is quite nice.

Any post including the word "lembas" should automatically be deferred to Tolkien Central.

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One is a masterpiece the other has the number 7 where a V belongs. One is a masterpiece the other is a low rent version of that masterpiece that barely rises above schlock. One is a masterpiece and one of the great films of all time and the other is a precursor to torture horror films like Saw and Hostel. Needless to say Silence is simply unmatched in its genre and Se7en is always in the mirror far behind. 

6 hours ago, Chen G. said:

Se7en's an excellent film.

 

 

No it is not. Its mediocre and a wannabe. 

4 hours ago, Lewya said:

Lambs for film.

 

For score, it is more even, I made a mistake and voted for Seven, it should have been Lambs.

Then fix it.

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10 hours ago, JoeinAR said:

One is a masterpiece the other has the number 7 where a V belongs. One is a masterpiece the other is a low rent version of that masterpiece that barely rises above schlock. One is a masterpiece and one of the great films of all time and the other is a precursor to torture horror films like Saw and Hostel. Needless to say Silence is simply unmatched in its genre and Se7en is always in the mirror far behind.

I fully agree with you on Silence of the Lambs. Seven is overrated and you kinda called the right reason, but as a conclusion the film is still quite decent and not a pile of shit.

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48 minutes ago, Stefancos said:

its gorgeous, more stylized than Silence.

 

More stylized than the film in which the people stare into the friggin' camera?!

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Understated?! It feels like 90% of the film traffics between close-up and extreme close-up. Some of the dolly-in movements could not be more in the audience's face: the pen that Hannibal eyes, its tip in his hand, the fingernails in Bill's well, the moth, etcetra...

 

Its an astonishing film, but it has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and its all the better for it.

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Kinda, until Sloth comes around. That moment (you know the one) absolutely terrifed me.

 

What was it that William Wyler would say? "If you want to shock an audience, get them almos to the point of boredom before doing so."

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53 minutes ago, Chen G. said:

Understated?! It feels like 90% of the film traffics between close-up and extreme close-up. Some of the dolly-in movements could not be more in the audience's face: the pen that Hannibal eyes, its edge in his hand, the fingernails in Bill's well, the moth, etcetra...

 

Its an astonishing film, but it has all the subtlety of a sledgehammer, and its all the better for it.

You need to rewatch the film. 

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I wouldn’t say the film has zero subtlety, but there is definitely a lot of on-the-nose symbolism throughout. 

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In terms of score, I prefer Silence of The Lambs, but neither are scores that I exactly revisit over and over again. They're effectively in the film, but less so on CD for me.

 

I'm a fan of both films, and think they're excellent serial killer thrillers, but there's something terrific about the way The Silence of The Lambs handles its characters, and even the violence. It all feels so fleshed out, and the dialogue is quite rich. Makes the film even more rewarding to revisit. Speaking of which, Ted Levine doesn't get enough love as Buffalo Bill, he plays such a great psycho.

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  • 2 weeks later...

For film, The Silence of the Lambs, easily.  It's simply a phenomenal, iconic film.  Se7en was also very good, but it was frankly too brutal for my tastes.  For score, it's a tougher decision.  I actually listen to Silence pretty frequently, and the new complete release is done really well.  Clarice's theme is just one of those elemental melodies you can't forget.  The one drawback for me is the middle section of the cellar cue.  The synths are really out-of-place with the otherwise organic sound of the score.  I wonder how Shore would have approached that scene a little later in his career after developing his aleatoric manifesto.  Se7en, though, damn...  It's Shore at his absolute darkest (well, along with Panic Room).  "Wrath" is a nightmare expressed in five minutes.  It's musically more interesting than Silence, but I definitely get more out of the earlier score.

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Hmm, perhaps I need to watch Silence of the Lambs again, I didn't find it that amazing. Se7en on the other hand is one of my favourite films, and IMO contains Shore's best work.

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  • 3 months later...

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