Fails the Bechdel test
Fright Night
1985. Directed by Tom Holland, written by Tom Holland.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
2 / 3
Fails
-
Yes
1. At least two women
5 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
Women do talk to each other. -
No
3. About something besides a man
Every conversation between women that our parser found mentions a man.
Second opinion
Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
For young Charley Brewster, nothing could be better than an old horror movie late at night. Two men move in next door, and for Charley with his horror movie experience, there can be no doubt that they are a vampire and his day guardian. The only one who can help him hunt them down is a washed-up actor, Peter Vincent, who hosts Charley's favorite TV show, Fright Night. But Vincent doesn't really believe that vampires exist.
- Released
- 02 Aug 1985
- Genres
- Horror
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 62 / 100
- Awards
- 5 wins & 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Charley 187 lines, man
- Peter 94 lines, man
- Amy 67 lines, woman
- Evil Ed 54 lines, man
- Jerry 54 lines, man
- Judy 29 lines, woman
- Billy 15 lines, man
- I 7 lines
- Amy -- 4 lines, woman
- Bouncer 4 lines, man
Full cast, 17 people
- Chris Sarandon as Jerry Dandrige
- William Ragsdale as Charley Brewster
- Amanda Bearse as Amy Peterson
- Roddy McDowall as Peter Vincent
- Stephen Geoffreys as Evil Ed
- Jonathan Stark as Billy Cole
- Dorothy Fielding as Judy Brewster
- Art Evans as Detective Lennox
- Stewart Stern as Cook
- Nick Savage as Bouncer #1
- Ernie Holmes as Bouncer #2
- Heidi Sorenson as Hooker
- Irina Irvine as Teenage Girl
- Bob Corff as Jonathan
- Pamela Brown as Miss Nina
- Chris Hendrie as Newscaster
- Prince Hughes as Bouncer #3
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 143
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 3 | 0 | 0 |
| 4 to 6 | 9 | 8 |
| 7 to 9 | 10 | 10 |
| 10 to 12 | 5 | 3 |
| 13 to 15 | 4 | 5 |
| 16 to 18 | 2 | 2 |
| 19 to 21 | 8 | 7 |
| 22 to 24 | 0 | 14 |
| 25 to 27 | 0 | 19 |
| 28 to 30 | 7 | 9 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 5 |
| 34 to 36 | 0 | 0 |
| 37 to 39 | 0 | 0 |
| 40 to 42 | 0 | 0 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 3 |
| 46 to 48 | 4 | 3 |
| 49 to 51 | 2 | 26 |
| 52 to 54 | 15 | 11 |
| 55 to 57 | 7 | 16 |
| 58 to 60 | 2 | 5 |
| 61 to 63 | 2 | 24 |
| 64 to 66 | 3 | 34 |
| 67 to 69 | 2 | 22 |
| 70 to 72 | 1 | 10 |
| 73 to 75 | 4 | 12 |
| 76 to 78 | 1 | 7 |
| 79 to 81 | 1 | 1 |
| 82 to 84 | 3 | 20 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 3 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 3 |
| 91 to 93 | 1 | 13 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 19 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 15 |
| 100 to 102 | 0 | 1 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 15 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 7 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 0 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 4 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 6 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 14 |
| 121 to 123 | 0 | 3 |
| 124 to 126 | 0 | 4 |
| 127 to 129 | 0 | 3 |
| 130 to 132 | 0 | 4 |
| 133 to 135 | 0 | 8 |
| 136 to 138 | 0 | 3 |
| 139 to 141 | 5 | 21 |
| 142 to 143 | 1 | 1 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 20 are women's.
103 lines from women, 423 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit B: who's in it
5 women and 12 men in the cast. 4 women and 17 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 4 of 604.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 82 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 17% of the words (1,733), men 83% (8,657). Women have 20% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit D: 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
2
Two men
57
Exhibit E: behind the camera
1 of the 8 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 15% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Tom Holland (man)
- Written by
- Tom Holland (man)
- Produced by
- Herb Jaffe (man)
- Shot by
- Jan Kiesser (man)
- Edited by
- Kent Beyda (man)
- Music by
- Brad Fiedel (man)
- Production design by
- John DeCuir Jr. (man)
- Cast by
- Jackie Burch (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 14 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 4 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 1 men, 4 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 2 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men, 3 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit F: how old the stars were
Women: 26 on average. Men: 40 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Amanda Bearse 26
Men
Stephen Geoffreys 20, William Ragsdale 24, Jonathan Stark 33, Chris Sarandon 43, Art Evans 43, Roddy McDowall 56, Stewart Stern 63
Exhibit G: the money
It made 2.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $9 million
- Box office
- $24.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 143 scenes and 604 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
