Passes the Bechdel test

Dawn of the Dead

Name: Dawn of the Dead
Released: 2004

2004. Directed by Zack Snyder, written by George A. Romero and James Gunn.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
13 women characters. 15 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 150.
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

Nurse Ana Clark goes home to her peaceful suburban residence, but she is unpleasantly surprised the next morning when her husband is brutally attacked by her zombified neighbor. In the chaos of her once picturesque neighborhood, Ana flees and stumbles upon a police officer named Kenneth, along with more survivors who decide that their best chances of survival would be found in the deserted Crossroads Shopping Mall. When supplies begin running low and other trapped survivors need help, the group comes to the realization that they cannot stay put forever at the Shopping Mall and devise a plan to escape.

Released: 19 Mar 2004
Genres: Action, Horror
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.2 / 10
Metascore: 59 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 17 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Ana 146 lines, woman
Michael 141 lines, man
Cj 75 lines, man
Kenneth 62 lines, man
Andre 48 lines, man
Terry 44 lines, man
Nicole 33 lines, woman
Steve Markus 29 lines, man
Frank 18 lines, man
Norma 18 lines, woman

Full cast, 46 people

Sarah Polley as Ana
Ving Rhames as Kenneth
Jake Weber as Michael
Michael Kelly as C.J.
Mekhi Phifer as Andre
Inna Korobkina as Luda
Kevin Zegers as Terry
Ty Burrell as Steve
Lindy Booth as Nicole
Michael Barry as Bart
Jayne Eastwood as Norma
Boyd Banks as Tucker
R.D. Reid as Glen
Kim Poirier as Monica
Bruce Bohne as Andy
Matt Frewer as Frank
Scott H. Reiniger as The General
Tom Savini as The Sheriff
Ken Foree as The Televangelist
Louis Ferreira as Luis
Hannah Lochner as Vivian
Ermes Blarasin as Bloated Woman
Sanjay Talwar as Doctor Rosen
Kim Roberts as Cora
Tim Post as Reviving Doctor
Matt Sadowski-Austin as EMS Technician
Philip DeWilde as EMS Technician
Colm Magner as Armed Neighbor
Geoff Williams as Metro Bus Driver
Mike Realba as Maintenance Man
David Campbell as Squished Zombie
Phillip MacKenzie as Thrashing Zombie
Laura de Carteret as Washington Politician
Tino Monte as Istanbul Reporter
Chris Gillett as Older Anchorman
Dan Duran as Confused Reporter
Neville Edwards as CDC Spokesman
Sandy Jobin-Bevans as CDC Reporter
Natalie Brown as CDC Reporter
Liz West as CDC Reporter
Georgia Craig as Anchorwoman (uncredited)
Zack Snyder as Commando at White House (uncredited)
Kim Kerns as Girl on Steve's Boat in Video (uncredited)
Darren Marsman as Maintenance Man Zombie (uncredited)
Luigia Zucaro as Naked Woman (uncredited)
Derek Keurvorst as Scientist (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 5% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 150

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 4	23	6
5 to 8	16	6
9 to 12	3	19
13 to 16	1	12
17 to 20	4	21
21 to 24	5	15
25 to 28	4	14
29 to 32	15	37
33 to 36	8	38
37 to 40	0	1
41 to 44	1	1
45 to 48	15	43
49 to 52	26	36
53 to 56	6	5
57 to 60	2	10
61 to 64	23	26
65 to 68	12	15
69 to 72	1	22
73 to 76	0	16
77 to 80	5	6
81 to 84	4	5
85 to 88	7	20
89 to 92	11	4
93 to 96	23	42
97 to 100	1	10
101 to 104	1	10
105 to 108	2	0
109 to 112	0	1
113 to 116	3	8
117 to 120	1	1
121 to 124	0	0
125 to 128	1	1
129 to 132	4	5
133 to 136	2	1
137 to 140	3	9
141 to 144	1	3
145 to 148	0	3
149 to 150	6	10

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.

LUDA: Two weeks. ANA: Do you know what it is?

NORMA: Do you work for the Auto Club or something? ANA: I thou~ht you worked at Best Buy.

MONICA: Who's Rudy again? ANA: Rudy's the umpire.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 33 are women's.

240 lines from women, 482 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

13 women and 33 men in the cast. 15 women and 17 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 5 of 764. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 39 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 33% of the words (3,766), men 67% (7,749).

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

2 of the 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 20% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Zack Snyder (man)
Written by: James Gunn (man)
Produced by: Marc Abraham (man), Eric Newman (man), Richard P. Rubinstein (man)
Shot by: Matthew F. Leonetti (man)
Edited by: Niven Howie (man)
Music by: Tyler Bates (man)
Production design by: Andrew Neskoromny (man)
Costumes by: Denise Cronenberg (woman)
Cast by: Joseph Middleton (man), Robin D. Cook (woman)