Passes the Bechdel test

Halloween

Name: Halloween
Released: 1978

1978. Directed by John Carpenter, written by John Carpenter and Debra Hill.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
7 women characters. 9 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 61.
Yes 3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Agree bechdeltest.com readers give it 3 out of 3, though someone marked that rating as dubious.

The film

The year is 1963, the night: Halloween. Police are called to 43 Lampkin Ln. only to discover that 15-year-old Judith Myers has been stabbed to death by her 6-year-old brother, Michael. After being institutionalized for 15 years, Myers breaks out on the night before Halloween. No one knows, nor wants to find out, what will happen on October 31st 1978, besides Myers' psychiatrist, Dr. Loomis. He knows Michael is coming back to Haddonfield, but by the time the town realizes it, it'll be too late for many people.

Released: 27 Oct 1978
Genres: Horror, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.7 / 10
Metascore: 91 / 100
Awards: 9 wins & 3 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Laurie 109 lines, woman
Annie 51 lines, woman
Loomis 49 lines, man
Tommy 40 lines, man
Lynda 38 lines, woman
Brackett 21 lines, man
Lindsey 17 lines, woman
Bob 16 lines, man
Marion 11 lines, woman
House 9 lines, woman

Full cast, 26 people

Donald Pleasence as Loomis
Jamie Lee Curtis as Laurie
Nancy Kyes as Annie
P. J. Soles as Lynda
Charles Cyphers as Brackett
Kyle Richards as Lindsey
Brian Andrews as Tommy
John Michael Graham as Bob
Nancy Stephens as Marion
Arthur Malet as Graveyard Keeper
Mickey Yablans as Richie
Brent Le Page as Lonnie
Adam Hollander as Keith
Robert Phalen as Dr. Wynn
Tony Moran as Michael Myers age 23
Will Sandin as Michael Myers age 6
Sandy Johnson as Judith Myers
David Kyle as Boyfriend
Peter Griffith as Laurie's Father
Nick Castle as The Shape
Barry Bernardi as Dead Mechanic (uncredited)
Joseph Cornelius as Classmate (uncredited)
George O'Hanlon, Jr. as Mr. Peter Myers (uncredited)
Darla Rae as Student (uncredited)
John Carpenter as Paul (voice) / Michael Myers (uncredited)
Tommy Lee Wallace as Michael Myers (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 61

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 2	6	5
3 to 4	8	9
5 to 6	3	4
7 to 8	9	9
9 to 10	3	18
11 to 12	25	0
13 to 14	32	2
15 to 16	16	21
17 to 18	3	19
19 to 20	12	2
21 to 22	2	0
23 to 24	12	11
25 to 26	9	2
27 to 28	21	1
29 to 30	4	0
31 to 32	0	0
33 to 34	5	5
35 to 36	5	19
37 to 38	26	12
39 to 40	7	3
41 to 42	1	0
43 to 44	3	0
45 to 46	5	0
47 to 48	1	0
49 to 50	0	0
51 to 52	6	0
53 to 54	4	1
55 to 56	6	3
57 to 58	7	8
59 to 60	5	1
61 to 61	1	1

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.

LAURIE: Hello. LAURIE: ~ Who is this? LAURIE: Annie, was that you? . ANNIE: Of course.

LINDSEY: I'm scared! LAURIE: There's nothing to be scared of now. Gee changed.

LAURIE: Lock the door! Lock the door! ON LAURIE: Holding the hanger with both hands she thr~sts it forward with all her might: .

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 61 are women's.

247 lines from women, 156 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

7 women and 16 men in the cast. 9 women and 9 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 451. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 25 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 62% of the words (3,029), men 38% (1,828). Women have 61% of the lines, so their lines run longer 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 11 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 14% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: John Carpenter (man)
Written by: John Carpenter (man), Debra Hill (woman)
Produced by: Debra Hill (woman), Moustapha Akkad (man), John Carpenter (man)
Shot by: Dean Cundey (man)
Edited by: Tommy Lee Wallace (man), Charles Bornstein (man)
Music by: John Carpenter (man)
Production design by: Tommy Lee Wallace (man)