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Passes the Bechdel test

Scream 4

2011. Directed by Wes Craven, written by Kevin Williamson.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    17 women characters. 19 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 26 scenes out of 131.
  3. 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.

Poster for Scream 4

The film

Sidney Prescott, now the author of a self-help book, returns home to Woodsboro on the last stop of her book tour. There she reconnects with Sheriff Dewey and Gale, who are now married, as well as her cousin Jill and her Aunt Kate. Unfortunately, Sidney's appearance also brings about the return of Ghostface, putting Sidney, Gale, and Dewey, along with Jill, her friends, and the whole town of Woodsboro in danger.

Released
15 Apr 2011
Genres
Horror, Mystery
Rated
R
IMDb
6.3 / 10
Metascore
52 / 100
Awards
1 win & 6 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Kirby 110 lines, woman
  2. Sidney 103 lines, woman
  3. Jill 95 lines, woman
  4. Charlie 64 lines, man
  5. Dewey 58 lines, man
  6. Gale 48 lines, woman
  7. Man 38 lines, man
  8. Deputy Hicks 31 lines, woman
  9. Robbie 31 lines, man
  10. Jenny 29 lines, woman
Full cast, 35 people
  • Neve Campbell as Sidney Prescott
  • David Arquette as Dewey Riley
  • Courteney Cox as Gale Weathers-Riley
  • Emma Roberts as Jill Roberts
  • Hayden Panettiere as Kirby Reed
  • Erik Knudsen as Robbie Mercer
  • Rory Culkin as Charlie Walker
  • Marley Shelton as Deputy Judy Hicks
  • Anthony Anderson as Deputy Perkins
  • Adam Brody as Deputy Hoss
  • Mary McDonnell as Kate Roberts
  • Alison Brie as Rebecca Walters
  • Marielle Jaffe as Olivia Morris
  • Nico Tortorella as Trevor Sheldon
  • Anna Paquin as Rachel
  • Kristen Bell as Chloe
  • Lucy Hale as Sherrie
  • Shenae Grimes-Beech as Trudie
  • Britt Robertson as Marnie Cooper
  • Aimee Teegarden as Jenny Randall
  • Roger L. Jackson as 'The Voice' (voice)
  • Nancy O'Dell as TV Host
  • Justin Michael Brandt as Film Geek
  • Dane Farwell as Ghostface
  • Gordon Michaels as Deputy Jenkins
  • John Lepard as Mr. Baker
  • Kim Adams as Reporter #2
  • Devin Scillian as Reporter #3
  • Mark Aaron Buerkle as Dr. Orth
  • Julia Ho as Reporter #1
  • Alexander Punch as Cocky Student
  • Glenda Lewis as Reporter #4
  • William Spencer as Reporter #5
  • Tim Doty as Reporter #6
  • Peter Carey as Reporter #7

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 131

Hover, tap or tab to a bar to see those scenes: where they happen and who's talking.

Show the numbers
ScenesWomen's linesMen's lines
1 to 3408
4 to 6510
7 to 9142
10 to 12150
13 to 1525
16 to 18273
19 to 21133
22 to 2426
25 to 2779
28 to 30154
31 to 33167
34 to 363015
37 to 3900
40 to 42132
43 to 4598
46 to 48200
49 to 514610
52 to 5484
55 to 57257
58 to 6099
61 to 63144
64 to 66180
67 to 69627
70 to 72103
73 to 75198
76 to 7862
79 to 8101
82 to 84125
85 to 8740
88 to 9010
91 to 93410
94 to 9652
97 to 992121
100 to 102115
103 to 10578
106 to 10885
109 to 11132
112 to 11465
115 to 11784
118 to 12022
121 to 123286
124 to 12600
127 to 1292310
130 to 13152

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.
TRUDIE: Who is it? SHERRIE: It's for you. TRUDIE: Hello?
TRUDIE: Don't answer it. SHERRIE: It's a joke, Trudie. Someone made a dummy profile and now they're trying to scare you. TRUDIE: Who is it? I said -- who is it? Let's call the cops. TRUDIE: "I dare you to open the door."
JENNY: Oh God, I love it. I've seen this movie five times. It gets me every time. MARNIE: You're kidding? I don't get it. JENNY: It's like a TWILIGHT ZONE movie within a movie. MARNIE: I get that. But it's illogical. It begs the question. If the beginning of STAB 7 is STAB 6? What's at the beginning of STAB 6? STAB 5? And, …
MARNIE: What is it? JENNY: I left a window open. MARNIE: That was stupid. JENNY: I'm just gonna check it out.
MARNIE: So lame. JENNY: I'm sorry. I had to. MARNIE: You bitch. So not funny. JENNY: Somebody falls for it every year.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 71 are women's.

583 lines from women, 234 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

17 women and 14 men in the cast. 19 women and 11 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

A woman speaks the first line. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 12 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

  • First line by a woman
  • Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 71% of the words (5,135), men 29% (2,138).

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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

4 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 35% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Wes Craven (man)
Written by
Kevin Williamson (man)
Produced by
Kevin Williamson (man), Wes Craven (man), Iya Labunka (woman)
Shot by
Peter Deming (man)
Edited by
Peter McNulty (man)
Music by
Marco Beltrami (man)
Production design by
Adam Stockhausen (man)
Costumes by
Debra McGuire (woman)
Cast by
Avy Kaufman (woman), Nancy Nayor (woman)

The crew, department by department

  • Sound

    3 women, 17 men, 12 not listed

  • Other crew

    9 women, 12 men, 5 not listed

  • Production

    8 women, 10 men, 7 not listed

  • Art

    2 women, 4 men, 8 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 4 men, 9 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    4 women, 2 men, 6 not listed

  • Visual Effects

    0 women, 0 men, 8 not listed

  • Editing

    0 women, 2 men, 4 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 32 on average. Men: 31 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Emma Roberts 20, Hayden Panettiere 21, Neve Campbell 37, Marley Shelton 37, Courteney Cox 46

Men

Rory Culkin 21, Erik Knudsen 23, Adam Brody 31, David Arquette 39, Anthony Anderson 40

Exhibit H: the money

It made 2.4 times what it cost.

Budget
$40 million
Box office
$97.2 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 131 scenes and 873 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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