Passes the Bechdel test

The Grudge

Name: The Grudge
Released: 2004

2004. Directed by Takashi Shimizu, written by Stephen Susco and Takashi Shimizu.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 8 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 117.
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

Karen Davis, an American Nurse, moves to Tokyo and encounters a supernatural spirit who is vengeful and often possesses its victims. A series of horrifying and mysterious deaths start to occur, with the spirit passing its curse onto each victim. Karen must now find a way to break this spell, before she becomes its next victim.

Released: 22 Oct 2004
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rated: PG-13
IMDb: 5.9 / 10
Metascore: 49 / 100
Awards: 2 wins & 10 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

Women
Men
Not in the cast list
Bigger name, more lines

Karen 103 lines, woman
Matthew 47 lines, man
Susan 39 lines, woman
Doug 37 lines, man
Nakagawa 35 lines, man
Maria 27 lines, woman
Alex 20 lines, man
Jennifer 18 lines, woman
Peter 13 lines, man
Igarashi 12 lines, man

Full cast, 25 people

Sarah Michelle Gellar as Karen Davis
Jason Behr as Doug McCarthy
Takako Fuji as Kayako Saeki
Yuya Ozeki as Toshio Saeki
William Mapother as Matthew Williams
Clea DuVall as Jennifer Williams
KaDee Strickland as Susan Williams
Grace Zabriskie as Emma Williams
Bill Pullman as Peter Kirk
Rosa Blasi as Maria Kirk
Ted Raimi as Alex Jones
Ryo Ishibashi as Det. Hideto Nakagawa
Yoko Maki as Yoko Sekine
Takashi Matsuyama as Takeo Saeki
Hiroshi Matsunaga as Igarashi
Hajime Okayama as Suzuki
Yoshiyuki Morishita as Guard
Kazuyuki Tsumura as Peter's Co-worker
Taigi Kobayashi as Policeman
Junko Koizumi as Mother
Nana Koizumi as Daughter
Yôichi Okamura as Restaurant Manager
Eiji Ôki as Morgue Detective
Katsuhiro Oyama as Morgue Doctor
Anna Nakagawa as Taeko Mori

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 117

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	14	9
4 to 6	3	9
7 to 9	3	0
10 to 12	3	0
13 to 15	0	0
16 to 18	2	0
19 to 21	2	0
22 to 24	10	1
25 to 27	9	11
28 to 30	6	5
31 to 33	1	2
34 to 36	0	9
37 to 39	0	4
40 to 42	17	7
43 to 45	7	6
46 to 48	4	2
49 to 51	3	1
52 to 54	5	1
55 to 57	0	0
58 to 60	4	2
61 to 63	1	0
64 to 66	0	1
67 to 69	0	16
70 to 72	0	3
73 to 75	0	11
76 to 78	6	0
79 to 81	0	0
82 to 84	21	22
85 to 87	1	9
88 to 90	2	16
91 to 93	9	12
94 to 96	0	0
97 to 99	11	5
100 to 102	44	4
103 to 105	0	6
106 to 108	7	3
109 to 111	2	3
112 to 114	3	1
115 to 117	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.

KAREN: Emma, who were you talking to? EMMA: I just want her to leave me alone. KAREN: You should get some rest, Emma.

JENNIFER: Even in our own house? SUSAN: Even in your own house.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 52 are women's.

200 lines from women, 181 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 15 men in the cast. 8 women and 12 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 32 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 50% of the words (1,613), men 50% (1,628). Women have 52% 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

Two women

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

3 of the 14 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 24% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Takashi Shimizu (man)
Written by: Takashi Shimizu (man), Stephen Susco (man)
Produced by: Robert Tapert (man), Sam Raimi (man), Takashige Ichise (man)
Shot by: Hideo Yamamoto (man)
Edited by: Jeff Betancourt (man)
Music by: Christopher Young (man)
Production design by: Iwao Saitô (man)
Costumes by: Miyuki Taniguchi (gender not listed), Shawn-Holly Cookson (woman)
Cast by: Nancy Nayor (woman), Kelly Wagner (woman)