While the moment has now taken on its own life as a meme, it was originally a heart wrenching moment in which Se7en shocked its audience with a horrifying twist.
The iconic David Fincher thriller is most well-known for this moment, but is an amazing film outside of this, and now it is finally on Netflix in the UK and Ireland.
Though viewers are able to figure out what is ‘in the box’, the film never shows this.
The movie centres around William Somerset (Morgan Freeman) and David Mills (Brad Pitt) as a pair of detectives investigating the crimes of a serial killer.
By the end of the film, they think they have caught the suspect, with Kevin Spacey’s John Doe handing himself in.
Somehow though, Doe is able to lure the pair away, giving them a box which has Mills’ pregnant wife’s head in it, who is played in the film by Gwyneth Paltrow.
Despite the fact that it is not shown on screen, fans of the film actually saw what was in the box, just 16 years on and in a completely different film.
It was revealed by a TikTok film expert Glittering Ghostwriter that they had actually made a prop of her head in case they changed their mind and wanted to show it and so that Pitt could act appropriately.
This prop was later used in Contagion, a 2011 film about a pandemic breaking out and the attempts of those working at the CDC to find a cure.
Glittering Ghostwriter said in a video: “I mean, obviously in Se7en we technically know what is in the box. We just never physically see what’s in the box.
‘What’s in the box’ may now be a meme, but it is an absolutely heartbreaking scene (New Line Cinema)
“But that’s not because the box was empty. The creators of Se7en actually did intend to show us Gwyneth Paltrow’s severed head, but in the end, they decided it would build up more tension and mystery if we just never saw it.
“I have to agree with the creators on this, but like I also am, personally, curious to see the prop that they created. And if you are too you can, as long as you watch the movie Contagion. Because the prop from Se7en was actually used in Contagion.
“In the scene where Gwyneth Paltrow’s character has an autopsy done on her, they have to like cut into her head.
A body double was made of Gwyneth Paltrow’s head (Warner Brothers)
“Since they already had a perfectly good unused prop of Gwyneth Paltrow’s severed head they just use that for the scene in Contagion.”
There you have it, if you were ever dying to find out what was really in the box in Se7en you can head to your local DVD shop and pick up Contagion, cause it doesn’t stream anywhere online (but you can probably just watch the scene on YouTube).
If you want to watch Se7en though, the iconic thriller is now thankfully easily watched on the biggest streamer in the world.
