Question: Why didn't Victor scream for help? He was held captive in a populated apartment. If he had screamed for help while John Doe was away, eventually someone would have called the police. None of the photos show him with a gag in his mouth, either - not even the first one, which was shown in the film.
Answer: Victor chewed off his own tongue, and the doctor states that they found a wide variety of drugs in his system. Perhaps before his tongue was gone, he was not coherent enough to cry out because of all the drugs in his system.
Question: Where in the world does Se7en take place? I have literally spent hours in front of the TV trying to find this out. It's never mentioned, they never show a clear licence plate or a road sign with a specific name (not something like 10th St.), not even a police badge. I know it has to be a big city where it's raining constantly, with a desert right outside of town and near a lot of mountains. Is it meant to be a location, or is it deliberately vague?
Answer: It is meant to be vague. It was filmed mainly in Los Angeles though.
At the end Somerset radios the chopper and says "California stay outta here".
"California" is just a call sign. It's also said when they're in Victor's apartment. The location is just a generic, crime-infested cesspool.
California is the cop's name. I believe the city is supposed to be New York.
Answer: The name of the city is never revealed and this is done on purpose. It's all filmed in and around LA but my impression is that it's intended to be New York. There are a few clues that lead me to believe this. First and foremost is Somerset's continually making statements like "this place" and "why here?" NYC has battled the impression that it is rotting, unsafe, etc for many years maybe not so much recently but this was definitely an issue throughout the 70's, 80's and 1990's. Next, Tracy says in her conversation with William that they come from "upstate." I don't know anywhere else in America that refers to an area as upstate other than New York. Lastly, you can find high tension wires similar to those shown in the final scene, just a short drive from NYC in New Jersey. There are surprisingly desolate and isolated areas in NJ just over the river from NYC. Also, California is the squad team leader's name (or nickname) and from what I can tell, has no reference to the film's setting.
Question: When Mills and Somerset are investigating John Doe's apartment Somerset comes across the hand of the Sloth victim in a jar. I'm wondering how exactly John Doe was able to use that hand to place fingerprints on the wall behind the painting. He either cut it off recently, or cut it off a year ago and kept it until he needed it. The second is highly unlikely, but even if the first case is true, is that hand capable of giving clean, traceable fingerprints? Because the hand is decayed pretty badly.
Answer: We don't know that John Doe left the fingerprints at the same time as he murdered the Greed victim. He's put a lot of work into each killing, and has meticulously planned each victim and detail, so it's possible he left the fingerprints behind the painting long ago, when the Sloth victim's hand was still, for lack of a better word, fresh.
But long before he killed the greed guy? That doesn't make sense.
Answer: It's reasonable to assume John kept him gagged until he was too weak to call out. He would've removed the gag for the pictures.
Yeah, the pictures we see obviously mean we're seeing Victor when John Doe is there.