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Passes the Bechdel test

Sinister

2012. Directed by Scott Derrickson, written by Scott Derrickson and C. Robert Cargill.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

  1. Yes 1. At least two women
    5 women characters. 3 of them speak.
  2. Yes 2. Who talk to each other
    In 2 scenes out of 94.
  3. Yes 3. About something besides a man
    In those scenes, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.

Second opinion

Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.

Poster for Sinister

The film

Crime writer Ellison Oswalt moves his family into a house where a horrific crime took place earlier, but his family doesn't know. He begins researching the crime in hopes of writing a book about it. Oswalt examines video footage that he finds in the house to help him in his research, but he soon discovers more than he bargained for.

Released
12 Oct 2012
Genres
Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rated
R
IMDb
6.8 / 10
Metascore
53 / 100
Awards
3 wins & 14 nominations total
Elsewhere
View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

  • Women
  • Men
  • Not in the cast list
  • Bigger name, more lines
  1. Ellison 317 lines, man
  2. Tracy 132 lines, woman
  3. Deputy 76 lines, man
  4. Ashley 38 lines, woman
  5. Sheriff 29 lines, man
  6. Fran 24 lines
  7. Trevor 21 lines, man
  8. On Screen 19 lines
  9. Professor Jonas 19 lines, man
  10. Anchor 4 lines, man
Full cast, 16 people
  • Ethan Hawke as Ellison Oswalt
  • Juliet Rylance as Tracy Oswalt
  • Vincent D'Onofrio as Professor Jonas
  • James Ransone as Deputy
  • Fred Thompson as Sheriff
  • Clare Foley as Ashley Oswalt
  • Michael Hall D'Addario as Trevor Oswalt
  • Victoria Leigh as Stephanie Stevenson
  • Blake Mizrahi as Christopher Miller
  • Cameron Ocasio as BBQ Son / Killer
  • Danielle Kotch as Lawn Girl
  • Ethan Haberfield as Pool Party Boy
  • Nicholas King as Bughuul / Mr. Boogie
  • Tavis Smiley as Anchor
  • Rachel Konstantin as Mrs. Stevenson (uncredited)
  • Chester the Chihuahua as Barking Dog (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 8% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 94

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 200
3 to 436
5 to 62255
7 to 803
9 to 101314
11 to 121415
13 to 1400
15 to 1611
17 to 1844
19 to 2018
21 to 221721
23 to 24210
25 to 26017
27 to 281218
29 to 3034
31 to 3204
33 to 34036
35 to 36414
37 to 3840
39 to 40115
41 to 4200
43 to 4400
45 to 4625
47 to 481718
49 to 50013
51 to 52036
53 to 5401
55 to 5600
57 to 5800
59 to 6010
61 to 6200
63 to 6402
65 to 66154
67 to 683427
69 to 7060
71 to 7201
73 to 7400
75 to 7679
77 to 7801
79 to 80221
81 to 8200
83 to 8412
85 to 8600
87 to 88017
89 to 90118
91 to 9210
93 to 9400

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.
TRACY: Enjoy, kids. We’re not likely to be able to eat out much this time. ASHLEY: Awww.
TRACY: You know why. ASHLEY: I don’t.
TRACY: I’m sorry, honey. I thought that’s what you were talking about. ASHLEY: Did Trevor try to pee in the dryer again?

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 27 are women's.

174 lines from women, 470 from men.

  • Women
  • Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

5 women and 10 men in the cast. 3 women and 8 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 56 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

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

Words spoken

Women speak 24% of the words (1,566), men 76% (5,072). Women have 27% of the lines, so their lines run shorter 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

Exhibit F: behind the camera

1 of the 12 people in these jobs is a woman. Across the whole crew, 22% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by
Scott Derrickson (man)
Written by
C. Robert Cargill (man), Scott Derrickson (man)
Produced by
Brian Kavanaugh-Jones (man), Jason Blum (man)
Shot by
Christopher Norr (man)
Edited by
Frédéric Thoraval (man)
Music by
Christopher Young (man)
Production design by
David Brisbin (man)
Costumes by
Abby O'Sullivan (gender not listed)
Cast by
Sheila Jaffe (woman), Ruth Salen (gender not listed)

The crew, department by department

  • Other crew

    7 women, 21 men, 32 not listed

  • Production

    3 women, 4 men, 14 not listed

  • Sound

    0 women, 16 men, 2 not listed

  • Art

    1 women, 5 men, 11 not listed

  • Costume & Make-Up

    4 women, 1 men, 12 not listed

  • Camera

    0 women, 8 men, 7 not listed

  • Editing

    1 women, 2 men, 5 not listed

  • Directing

    2 women, 2 men, 2 not listed

  • Women
  • Men
  • Gender not listed on TMDB

Exhibit G: how old the stars were

Women: 18 on average. Men: 38 on average. The top-billed cast, at the film's release.

Women

Clare Foley 11, Victoria Leigh 11, Juliet Rylance 33

Men

Cameron Ocasio 13, Michael Hall D'Addario 15, James Ransone 33, Ethan Hawke 41, Vincent D'Onofrio 53, Fred Thompson 70

Exhibit H: the money

It made 29.2 times what it cost.

Budget
$3 million
Box office
$87.7 million

From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.

About this analysis

Our parser read the script: 94 scenes and 701 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works

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