Passes the Bechdel test
Shivers
1975. Directed by David Cronenberg, written by David Cronenberg.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
9 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 86. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Roger St. Luc investigates a brutal murder suicide in a luxury apartment complex, uncovering a secret medical experiment gone wrong. The culprit, Dr. Emil Hobbes, created a parasite designed to act as a sexually transmitted aphrodisiac. The organism has already infected multiple residents, including Nicholas Tudor, who begins exhibiting violent physical symptoms. As the parasites multiply and spread through the building's closed environment, Roger and his partner Rollo Linsky realize the outbreak is turning the residents into hyper-sexual, violent carriers. The infection jumps from person to person in the hallways and common areas, overwhelming the isolated community.
- Released
- 06 Jul 1976
- Genres
- Horror, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 58 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- St. Luc 65 lines, man
- Rollo 40 lines, man
- Tudor 26 lines
- Janine 25 lines, woman
- Forsythe 23 lines, woman
- Betts 12 lines, woman
- Detective 11 lines
- Parkins 11 lines
- Merrick 10 lines, man
- Mrs. Wheatley 10 lines, woman
Full cast, 32 people
- Paul Hampton as Roger St. Luc
- Joe Silver as Rollo Linsky
- Lynn Lowry as Nurse Forsythe
- Allan Kolman as Nicholas Tudor
- Susan Petrie as Janine Tudor
- Barbara Steele as Betts
- Ronald Mlodzik as Merrick
- Barry Baldaro as Detective Heller
- Camil Ducharme as Mr. Guilbault
- Hanna Poznanska as Mrs. Guilbault
- Wally Martin as Doorman
- Vlasta Vrana as Kresimer Sviben
- Silvie Debois as Benda Sviben
- Charles Perley as Delivery Boy
- Al Rochman as Parkins
- Julie Wildman as Miss Lewis
- Arthur Grosser as Mr. Wolfe
- Edith Johnson as Olive
- Dorothy Davis as Vi
- Joy Coghill as Mona Wheatley
- Joan Blackman as Elevator Mother
- Kirsten Bishop as Elevator Daughter
- Fred Döderlein as Emil Hobbes
- Sonny Forbes as Garbage Room Man
- Nora Johnson as Laundry Woman
- Cathy Graham as Annabelle Brown
- Robert Brennen as Boy
- Felicia Shulman as Girl
- Roy Wittan as Bearded Man
- Denis Payne as First Elevator Man
- Kevin Fenlow as Second Elevator Man
- David Cronenberg as Infected Crowd Member (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 21% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 86
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 5 to 6 | 0 | 3 |
| 7 to 8 | 3 | 1 |
| 9 to 10 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 to 12 | 0 | 0 |
| 13 to 14 | 0 | 41 |
| 15 to 16 | 8 | 0 |
| 17 to 18 | 11 | 0 |
| 19 to 20 | 0 | 1 |
| 21 to 22 | 3 | 3 |
| 23 to 24 | 3 | 0 |
| 25 to 26 | 0 | 0 |
| 27 to 28 | 2 | 8 |
| 29 to 30 | 0 | 0 |
| 31 to 32 | 6 | 0 |
| 33 to 34 | 7 | 4 |
| 35 to 36 | 5 | 10 |
| 37 to 38 | 0 | 4 |
| 39 to 40 | 0 | 3 |
| 41 to 42 | 0 | 5 |
| 43 to 44 | 5 | 10 |
| 45 to 46 | 0 | 0 |
| 47 to 48 | 3 | 0 |
| 49 to 50 | 1 | 1 |
| 51 to 52 | 2 | 0 |
| 53 to 54 | 3 | 4 |
| 55 to 56 | 1 | 13 |
| 57 to 58 | 3 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 3 | 0 |
| 61 to 62 | 1 | 0 |
| 63 to 64 | 0 | 0 |
| 65 to 66 | 0 | 0 |
| 67 to 68 | 1 | 0 |
| 69 to 70 | 6 | 1 |
| 71 to 72 | 2 | 8 |
| 73 to 74 | 0 | 0 |
| 75 to 76 | 0 | 0 |
| 77 to 78 | 0 | 1 |
| 79 to 80 | 0 | 0 |
| 81 to 82 | 2 | 8 |
| 83 to 84 | 1 | 2 |
| 85 to 86 | 0 | 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.
JANINE: That's great, Doctor. Thanks. FORSYTHE: Mrs. Ementhal's ready and waiting, Doctor.
JANINE: Oh, Betts, Betts, everything is so hideous. Everything dies and rots and disappears. I'm going to die, and you're going to die, and Nick... BETTS: There, there, there. It all gets sorted out in the genes and chromosomes. It's not for us to think about at all. It's not our problem at all… JANINE: Oh, you feel very good, Betts. You have such a cosy body. I'm jealous, I'm so skinny. BETTS: Make love to me, 'Nine? I want you to make love to me. Please, please make love to me.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 37 are women's.
82 lines from women, 138 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
9 women and 12 men in the cast. 4 women and 5 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 12 of 279.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 57 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 34% of the words (1,326), men 66% (2,582). Women have 37% of the lines, so their lines run shorter than men's.
Exhibit E: the test the other way
Run the other way, for men, the film scores 2 out of 3.
Conversations between two named characters
Two women
4
Two men
1
Exhibit F: behind the camera
None of the 5 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 18% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- David Cronenberg (man)
- Written by
- David Cronenberg (man)
- Produced by
- Ivan Reitman (man)
- Shot by
- Robert Saad (gender not listed)
- Edited by
- Patrick Dodd (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Production
2 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 2 men, 3 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 0 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Other crew
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 45 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lynn Lowry 27, Barbara Steele 37
Men
Paul Hampton 37, Joe Silver 52
Exhibit H: the money
It made 5.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $179,000
- Box office
- $1 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 86 scenes and 279 lines of dialogue. How the test works
