Passes the Bechdel test
Lights Out
2016. Directed by David F. Sandberg, written by Eric Heisserer and David F. Sandberg.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
10 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 11 scenes out of 111. -
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.
The film
A man called Paul is working after hours and is murdered by a supernatural entity in the shadow. When his son, the boy Martin, is frightened by the same creature, he sees his mother Sophie talking to an imaginary friend called Diana in the shadow of her room. Martin does not sleep anymore during the night. His older step sister Rebecca who lives alone is summoned by the social assistant. She brings Martin home and recalls her own experience with Diana years ago when she was young. Rebecca and her boyfriend Bret investigate the connection of Sophie with Diana and come up to a scary revelation about their past.
- Released
- 22 Jul 2016
- Genres
- Horror, Mystery
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 58 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 9 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Rebecca 257 lines, woman
- Martin 105 lines, man
- Bret 77 lines, man
- Sophie 70 lines, woman
- Emma 24 lines, woman
- Paul 18 lines, man
- Diana 17 lines, woman
- Louis 10 lines, man
- Doctor 8 lines
- Officer Form 7 lines
Full cast, 14 people
- Teresa Palmer as Rebecca
- Maria Bello as Sophie
- Gabriel Bateman as Martin
- Alexander DiPersia as Bret
- Alicia Vela-Bailey as Diana
- Billy Burke as Paul
- Andi Osho as Emma
- Maria Russell as Gomez
- Rolando Boyce as Brian Andrews
- Lotta Losten as Esther
- Amiah Miller as Young Rebecca
- Elizabeth Pan as Nurse
- Emily Alyn Lind as Teen Sophie
- Ava Cantrell as Teen Diana
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 4% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 111
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 | 15 |
| 4 to 6 | 2 | 6 |
| 7 to 9 | 9 | 8 |
| 10 to 12 | 5 | 5 |
| 13 to 15 | 0 | 0 |
| 16 to 18 | 6 | 5 |
| 19 to 21 | 0 | 3 |
| 22 to 24 | 29 | 5 |
| 25 to 27 | 8 | 10 |
| 28 to 30 | 18 | 2 |
| 31 to 33 | 15 | 4 |
| 34 to 36 | 8 | 6 |
| 37 to 39 | 14 | 4 |
| 40 to 42 | 4 | 0 |
| 43 to 45 | 17 | 2 |
| 46 to 48 | 11 | 1 |
| 49 to 51 | 2 | 0 |
| 52 to 54 | 10 | 7 |
| 55 to 57 | 6 | 13 |
| 58 to 60 | 6 | 6 |
| 61 to 63 | 27 | 15 |
| 64 to 66 | 19 | 15 |
| 67 to 69 | 25 | 2 |
| 70 to 72 | 11 | 9 |
| 73 to 75 | 14 | 6 |
| 76 to 78 | 7 | 4 |
| 79 to 81 | 12 | 6 |
| 82 to 84 | 1 | 3 |
| 85 to 87 | 6 | 2 |
| 88 to 90 | 8 | 3 |
| 91 to 93 | 22 | 17 |
| 94 to 96 | 9 | 3 |
| 97 to 99 | 1 | 0 |
| 100 to 102 | 18 | 5 |
| 103 to 105 | 6 | 5 |
| 106 to 108 | 8 | 4 |
| 109 to 111 | 22 | 14 |
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.
SOPHIE: --and once again, I am here by myself, trying to do it all on my own without any help-- REBECCA: Help? Is that your code word for making someone listen to you complain about your life all day? SOPHIE: Listen here, Rebecca Ann--
REBECCA: Answer the question! SOPHIE: You’re not my doctor, you’re my daughter, why can’t you just be on my side for once-- REBECCA: How about you be on Martin’s side, have you thought about that?
SOPHIE: Martin. Honey. Come on now. REBECCA: Let’s go. SOPHIE: You two planned this! Didn’t you! REBECCA: Nobody planned anything, mom.
REBECCA: Hey. EMMA: Did you take Martin? REBECCA: What?
REBECCA: I found the obituary! All right? SOPHIE: Like those can’t be faked, listen to yourself, you sound crazy--
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 64 are women's.
386 lines from women, 215 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
10 women and 4 men in the cast. 7 women and 3 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 22 of 626.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 21 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 69% of the words (3,099), men 31% (1,380). Women have 64% 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
26
Two men
7
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David F. Sandberg (man)
- Written by
- Eric Heisserer (man)
- Produced by
- James Wan (man), Lawrence Grey (man), Eric Heisserer (man)
- Shot by
- Marc Spicer (man)
- Edited by
- Michel Aller (woman), Kirk M. Morri (man)
- Music by
- Benjamin Wallfisch (man)
- Production design by
- Jennifer Spence (woman)
- Costumes by
- Kristin M. Burke (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 8 men, 1 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
3 women, 1 men, 5 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 6 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 8 men
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 3 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 2 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 2 men
-
Directing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 38 on average. Men: 31 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Teresa Palmer 30, Alicia Vela-Bailey 34, Lotta Losten 34, Andi Osho 43, Maria Bello 49
Men
Gabriel Bateman 11, Alexander DiPersia 34, Billy Burke 49
Exhibit H: the money
It made 30.5 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $4.9 million
- Box office
- $149 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 111 scenes and 626 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
