Passes the Bechdel test
Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark
2019. Directed by André Øvredal, written by Dan Hageman and Kevin Hageman and Guillermo del Toro.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
13 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 107. -
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
It's 1968 in America. Change is blowing in the wind...but seemingly far removed from the unrest in the cities is the small town of Mill Valley where for generations, the shadow of the Bellows family has loomed large. It is in their mansion on the edge of town that Sarah, a young girl with horrible secrets, turned her tortured life into a series of scary stories, written in a book that has transcended time-stories that have a way of becoming all too real for a group of teenagers who discover Sarah's terrifying tomb.
- Released
- 09 Aug 2019
- Genres
- Adventure, Horror, Mystery
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 6.2 / 10
- Metascore
- 61 / 100
- Awards
- 5 wins & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Stella 186 lines, woman
- Auggie 126 lines, man
- Chuck 59 lines, man
- Alice 39 lines, woman
- Kurt 22 lines, man
- Deputy Hobbs 21 lines, man
- Disk Jockey 21 lines
- Sheriff Milner 19 lines, man
- Mrs. Milner 11 lines, woman
- Oren 9 lines, man
Full cast, 38 people
- Zoe Colletti as Stella Nicholls
- Dean Norris as Roy Nicholls
- Michael Garza as Ramón Morales
- Gabriel Rush as Auggie Hilderbrandt
- Gil Bellows as Chief Turner
- Natalie Ganzhorn as Ruth Steinberg
- Austin Abrams as Tommy Milner
- Austin Zajur as Chuck Steinberg
- Kathleen Pollard as Sarah Bellows
- Lorraine Toussaint as Lou Lou
- Deborah Pollitt as Mrs. Steinberg
- Victoria Fodor as Mrs. Milner
- Marie Ward as Mrs. Hilderbrandt
- Mark Steger as Harold the Scarecrow / Pale Lady
- Javier Botet as Big Toe Corpse
- Troy James as Jangly Man
- Will Corno as Mechanic
- Kyle Labine as Deputy Hobbs
- David Tompa as Doctor
- Karen Glave as Claire Baptiste
- Stephanie Belding as Reception Nurse
- Hume Baugh as Deodat Bellows
- Jane Moffat as Delanie Bellows
- Will Carr as Ephraim Bellows
- Amanda Smith as Gertrude Bellows
- Brandon Knox as Harold Bellows
- Rodrigo Fernandez-Stoll as Drive-in Manager
- Anna Fraser as Actress
- Alex Spencer as Orderly #1
- Matthew Smith as Mr. Steinberg
- Daniel Gravelle as Letterman #1
- Colton Gobbo as Letterman #2
- Ajanae Stephenson as Lou Lou (8 Yrs.)
- Jimmy Moneta as Drive-in Employee (uncredited)
- Vanzie Meyer as Student (uncredited)
- Lyndon B. Johnson as Self (archive footage)
- Richard Nixon as Self (archive footage)
- Walter Cronkite as Self (archive footage)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 107
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 | 12 | 43 |
| 4 to 6 | 11 | 34 |
| 7 to 9 | 4 | 2 |
| 10 to 12 | 4 | 7 |
| 13 to 15 | 14 | 19 |
| 16 to 18 | 1 | 3 |
| 19 to 21 | 3 | 7 |
| 22 to 24 | 7 | 11 |
| 25 to 27 | 10 | 4 |
| 28 to 30 | 14 | 7 |
| 31 to 33 | 5 | 4 |
| 34 to 36 | 18 | 12 |
| 37 to 39 | 21 | 10 |
| 40 to 42 | 17 | 14 |
| 43 to 45 | 13 | 8 |
| 46 to 48 | 4 | 2 |
| 49 to 51 | 1 | 1 |
| 52 to 54 | 2 | 1 |
| 55 to 57 | 4 | 3 |
| 58 to 60 | 7 | 10 |
| 61 to 63 | 18 | 11 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 5 |
| 67 to 69 | 8 | 3 |
| 70 to 72 | 2 | 5 |
| 73 to 75 | 6 | 6 |
| 76 to 78 | 9 | 3 |
| 79 to 81 | 3 | 2 |
| 82 to 84 | 2 | 5 |
| 85 to 87 | 0 | 1 |
| 88 to 90 | 0 | 7 |
| 91 to 93 | 13 | 16 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 1 |
| 97 to 99 | 10 | 7 |
| 100 to 102 | 17 | 0 |
| 103 to 105 | 3 | 3 |
| 106 to 107 | 1 | 0 |
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.
ALICE: I was on a date. They’ll think I had something to do with it. STELLA: It wasn’t us. It was the book. And it’s all over.
ALICE: Then why is she torturing us? What did we ever do to her-- STELLA: We have her book. And she’s still writing stories. Why?
LIBRARIAN ASSISTANT: Afternoon, may I help you - Oh honey, you need to get that cherry checked out. ALICE: It’s stress. Where’s your nearest washroom? LIBRARIAN ASSISTANT: Here, let me show you.
STELLA: CALL AN AMBULANCE!!! ALICE: ... They’re all over me. Get them off. Get them off...
STELLA: “... Her family locked her away in Riverwell, where they made her forget the truth, so that she would believe her family’s lies...” STELLA: “And when she tried to fix what was broken, they murdered her -- with their bare hands... Sarah hated her family for their betrayal... So sh… STELLA: No, no, no. Come on. Please -- DINAH MICHAELS: Don’t you want to know how the story ends?... I’ll help you.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 49 are women's.
264 lines from women, 277 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
13 women and 24 men in the cast. 8 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 9 of 592.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 15 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 53% of the words (2,772), men 47% (2,462). Women have 49% 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
16
Two men
30
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 15 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- André Øvredal (man)
- Written by
- Dan Hageman (man), Kevin Hageman (man)
- Produced by
- Sean Daniel (man), Guillermo del Toro (man), Elizabeth Grave (woman), Jason F. Brown (man), J. Miles Dale (man)
- Shot by
- Roman Osin (man)
- Edited by
- Patrick Larsgaard (man)
- Music by
- Marco Beltrami (man), Anna Drubich (woman)
- Production design by
- David Brisbin (man)
- Costumes by
- Ruth Myers (woman)
- Cast by
- Rich Delia (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Art
3 women, 5 men, 20 not listed
-
Sound
3 women, 11 men, 10 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 13 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
1 women, 4 men, 9 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
5 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 1 men, 9 not listed
-
Visual Effects
0 women, 1 men, 9 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 5 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 32 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Zoe Colletti 17, Natalie Ganzhorn 21, Lorraine Toussaint 59
Men
Michael Garza 19, Gabriel Rush 21, Austin Abrams 22, Austin Zajur 23, Gil Bellows 52, Dean Norris 56
Exhibit H: the money
It made 4.2 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $25 million
- Box office
- $105 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 107 scenes and 592 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
