Passes the Bechdel test
Critters
1986. Directed by Stephen Herek, written by Domonic Muir and Stephen Herek and Don Keith Opper.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 5 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 3 scenes out of 178. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
A massive ball of furry creatures from another world eat their way through a small mid-western town followed by intergalactic bounty hunters opposed only by militant townspeople.
- Released
- 11 Apr 1986
- Genres
- Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 52 / 100
- Awards
- 3 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Brad 96 lines, man
- Jay 96 lines, man
- Helen 57 lines, woman
- April 52 lines, woman
- Charlie 42 lines, man
- Harv 37 lines, man
- Sally 17 lines, woman
- Zanti 17 lines, man
- Steve 15 lines, man
- Ug/Punk Rocker 12 lines, man
Full cast, 20 people
- Dee Wallace as Helen Brown
- M. Emmet Walsh as Harv
- Billy Green Bush as Jay Brown
- Scott Grimes as Brad Brown
- Nadine Van der Velde as April Brown
- Don Keith Opper as Charlie McFadden
- Lin Shaye as Sally
- Billy Zane as Steve Elliot
- Ethan Phillips as Jeff Barnes
- Terrence Mann as Johnny Steele
- Jeremy Lawrence as Preacher
- Michael Lee Gogin as Zanti
- Art Frankel as Ed
- Douglas Koth as Bowler #1
- Montrose Hagins as Organist
- Roger Hampton as Jake
- Chuck Lindsley as Pool Player #1
- David Stenstrom as Pool Player #2
- Adele Malis-Morey as Woman #1
- Corey Burton as (critter voices)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 6% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 178
Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.
Show the numbers
| Scenes | Women's lines | Men's lines |
|---|---|---|
| 1 to 4 | 0 | 1 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 6 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 13 |
| 13 to 16 | 5 | 0 |
| 17 to 20 | 22 | 22 |
| 21 to 24 | 0 | 26 |
| 25 to 28 | 0 | 0 |
| 29 to 32 | 2 | 31 |
| 33 to 36 | 0 | 3 |
| 37 to 40 | 8 | 11 |
| 41 to 44 | 12 | 34 |
| 45 to 48 | 2 | 5 |
| 49 to 52 | 3 | 2 |
| 53 to 56 | 1 | 11 |
| 57 to 60 | 2 | 13 |
| 61 to 64 | 0 | 4 |
| 65 to 68 | 5 | 8 |
| 69 to 72 | 4 | 6 |
| 73 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 80 | 4 | 7 |
| 81 to 84 | 4 | 6 |
| 85 to 88 | 6 | 8 |
| 89 to 92 | 4 | 9 |
| 93 to 96 | 7 | 7 |
| 97 to 100 | 2 | 1 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 1 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 15 |
| 109 to 112 | 8 | 13 |
| 113 to 116 | 1 | 1 |
| 117 to 120 | 6 | 10 |
| 121 to 124 | 8 | 15 |
| 125 to 128 | 0 | 0 |
| 129 to 132 | 1 | 1 |
| 133 to 136 | 4 | 2 |
| 137 to 140 | 0 | 17 |
| 141 to 144 | 2 | 8 |
| 145 to 148 | 3 | 8 |
| 149 to 152 | 1 | 6 |
| 153 to 156 | 2 | 3 |
| 157 to 160 | 0 | 9 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 4 |
| 165 to 168 | 1 | 1 |
| 169 to 172 | 0 | 1 |
| 173 to 176 | 1 | 0 |
| 177 to 178 | 0 | 8 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scenes
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
HELEN: Bradley! APRIL: Maybe, you'll do as well as you did on the last test.
APRIL: Maybe we'll come by later. HELEN: How 'bout a little desert before you leave? APRIL: No thanks, Mom.
APRIL: Shoot, Mom!!! HELEN: It's empty...
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 27 are women's.
131 lines from women, 357 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
5 women and 14 men in the cast. 5 women and 16 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 26 of 517.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 58 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 23% of the words (946), men 77% (3,258). Women have 27% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Two named men talk to each other about something besides a woman. It passes the reverse test.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
14
Two men
43
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 10 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 21% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Stephen Herek (man)
- Written by
- Stephen Herek (man), Domonic Muir (gender not listed)
- Story by
- Domonic Muir (gender not listed)
- Produced by
- Rupert Harvey (man)
- Shot by
- Tim Suhrstedt (man)
- Edited by
- Larry Bock (man)
- Music by
- David Newman (man)
- Production design by
- Gregg Fonseca (man)
- Cast by
- Elisabeth Leustig (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Costume & Make-Up
4 women, 4 men, 17 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 11 men, 8 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 11 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
3 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 5 men, 6 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 3 men, 8 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 34 on average. Men: 34 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Nadine Van der Velde 23, Dee Wallace 37, Lin Shaye 42
Men
Scott Grimes 14, Billy Zane 20, Ethan Phillips 31, Terrence Mann 34, Don Keith Opper 36, Billy Green Bush 50, M. Emmet Walsh 51
Exhibit H: the money
It made 6.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $2 million
- Box office
- $13.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 178 scenes and 517 lines of dialogue. How the test works
