The Bechdel-Wallace Test

Well, this was a weird movie. It's primarily set in an asylum that treats the criminally insane (and has terrible security). There's a particular serial killer connected with the hero, who is not very interesting and can't really atc.

There are four named female characters; the female lead, who is a psychiatrist, a nurse/attendent, her granddaughter, and Mabel the cannibal, who is probably the most memorable character in the film. The film passes the Bechdel test with conversations about, um, cannibalism, butchery of human beings, and other such delights between Mabel and her doctor. There's also some conversation between the doctor and nurse about the granddaughter.

It's not a great movie by any means, but there are some hilarious dark scenes, the female lead is decently acted, competent and brave, and the Wolf serial killer has some sweet armour.

This movie only gets a technical pass for some micro exchanges, but that's partly because of the mockumentary format. The movie is a 'documentary' about the events following a teenage girl's death by drowning. There's a combination of 'found footage' and people being interviewed. (The interviewer is male.)

But I think it's worth noting that Alice, the drowned girl, is a real and vivid presence, and the whole movie is characters talking about her and who she was, in particular her mother, who talks about her relationship with her own mother. There are plenty of women in this movie talking about women, and how they interact.

The movie as a whole is twisty and fascinating, very atmospheric and with a really well-done ending. I found the first ten minutes or so dragged a little, but then I was sucked in. I highly recommend this movie, and don't switch off as soon as the credits start!

This movie scrapes a pass. The three main characters are Carmen, the driver of the plot, her intern Sara, and Carmen's boyfriend. Carmen's a journalist who wants to investigate a series of missing persons in Poland; her boss wants her to investigate missing bees. Carmen takes her boyfriend and intern off to Poland.

Carmen and Sara talk a fair bit; most of the characters they discuss are men, but they have some generic chat about their work. They interview a missing man's mother, and they talk with a little Polish girl, primarily about the missing man. Carmen and Sara also discuss certain spoilery plot elements, albeit briefly.

The movie starts slow and clichéd, but picks up a lot about halfway through, putting an interesting new spin on some of the stuff we've seen; sadly, that's also when the plot shifts to being driven more by the male characters than the female.

This is a horror movie, and I found it pretty creepy. It's not particularly exploitative of the female characters; at one point some of them are stripped of their clothes, but not in a sexualised fashion, and I wouldn't say the violence was sexualised. Gore is fairly sparing and used to good and squicky effect.

I'd recommend this as a horror movie, but it's not particularly good for female characters.