Passes the Bechdel test
Day of the Dead
1985. Directed by George A. Romero, written by George A. Romero.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 1 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 170. -
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 0 out of 3.
The film
Zombies rule the world, except for a small group of scientists and military personnel who reside in an underground bunker in Florida. The scientists are using the undead in gruesome experiments; much to the chagrin of the military. Finally the military finds that their men have been used in the scientists' experiments, and banish the scientists to the caves that house the Living Dead. Unfortunately, the zombies from above ground have made their way into the bunker.
- Released
- 19 Jul 1985
- Genres
- Horror, Thriller
- Rated
- Not Rated
- IMDb
- 7.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 60 / 100
- Awards
- 2 wins total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Rhodes 87 lines, man
- Mary 86 lines, woman
- Sarah 81 lines, woman
- Toby 78 lines, man
- John 77 lines, man
- Logan 40 lines, man
- Gasparilla 39 lines, man
- Chico 38 lines, man
- Miguel 30 lines, man
- Julie 22 lines, woman
Full cast, 46 people
- Lori Cardille as Sarah
- Terry Alexander as John
- Joseph Pilato as Rhodes
- Jarlath Conroy as McDermott
- Anthony DiLeo Jr. as Miguel
- Richard Liberty as Logan
- Sherman Howard as Bub
- Gary Klar as Steel
- Ralph Marrero as Rickles
- John Amplas as Fisher
- Phillip G. Kellams as Miller
- Taso N. Stavrakis as Torrez
- Greg Nicotero as Johnson
- Don Brockett as Featured Zombie
- William Cameron as Featured Zombie
- Deborah Carter as Featured Zombie
- Winnie Flynn as Featured Zombie
- Debra Gordon as Featured Zombie
- Jeff Hogan as Featured Zombie
- Barbara Holmes as Featured Zombie
- David Kindlon as Featured Zombie
- Bruce Kirkpatrick as Featured Zombie
- 'Wild Bill' Laczko as Featured Zombie
- Susan Martinelli as Featured Zombie
- Kim Maxwell as Featured Zombie
- Barbara Russell as Featured Zombie
- Gene A. Saraceni as Featured Zombie
- John D. Schwartz as Featured Zombie
- Mark Tierno as Featured Zombie
- Mike Trcic as Featured Zombie
- John Vulich as Featured Zombie
- Terry Adams as 2nd Dirty Pink Collared Shirted Zombie chasing Steel (uncredited)
- Howard Berger as Spinaround Cave Zombie Shot by John (uncredited)
- Joe Abeln as Mustachioed Zombie biting Rickles' fingers off (uncredited)
- Tom Ardolino as Mine Zombie Chasing Steel (uncredited)
- Al Anderson as Mine Zombie Chasing Steel (uncredited)
- Everett Burrell as Surgeon Zombie in Cave (uncredited)
- Vini Bancalari as Zombie Feasting on Fisher's Dead Body (uncredited)
- Michael Deak as Rhodes' Tallest Zombie Attacker (uncredited)
- George A. Romero as Zombie with Scarf (uncredited)
- Geoff Burkman as Pink Collared Zombie / Umpire Masked Zombie (Uncredited)
- Tom Savini as Zombie with Scarf (uncredited)
- Peter Iasillo Jr. as Elevator Zombie (uncredited)
- Al Magliochetti as Bathrobe Zombie / Sunglasses Zombie (uncredited)
- Gabriel Bartalos as Camouflage Hat Zombie (uncredited)
- Peter Keefer as Curly Haired Mustachioed Denim Shirt Zombie (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 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 170
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 | 0 | 0 |
| 5 to 8 | 0 | 0 |
| 9 to 12 | 0 | 5 |
| 13 to 16 | 1 | 1 |
| 17 to 20 | 2 | 0 |
| 21 to 24 | 4 | 4 |
| 25 to 28 | 5 | 11 |
| 29 to 32 | 14 | 10 |
| 33 to 36 | 3 | 9 |
| 37 to 40 | 2 | 6 |
| 41 to 44 | 4 | 3 |
| 45 to 48 | 2 | 1 |
| 49 to 52 | 3 | 3 |
| 53 to 56 | 1 | 6 |
| 57 to 60 | 1 | 11 |
| 61 to 64 | 2 | 12 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 27 |
| 69 to 72 | 0 | 1 |
| 73 to 76 | 3 | 18 |
| 77 to 80 | 22 | 19 |
| 81 to 84 | 20 | 17 |
| 85 to 88 | 26 | 23 |
| 89 to 92 | 2 | 7 |
| 93 to 96 | 6 | 34 |
| 97 to 100 | 20 | 3 |
| 101 to 104 | 14 | 36 |
| 105 to 108 | 3 | 34 |
| 109 to 112 | 5 | 34 |
| 113 to 116 | 0 | 20 |
| 117 to 120 | 5 | 16 |
| 121 to 124 | 0 | 10 |
| 125 to 128 | 2 | 18 |
| 129 to 132 | 3 | 2 |
| 133 to 136 | 5 | 3 |
| 137 to 140 | 5 | 5 |
| 141 to 144 | 0 | 7 |
| 145 to 148 | 1 | 4 |
| 149 to 152 | 3 | 1 |
| 153 to 156 | 4 | 5 |
| 157 to 160 | 5 | 11 |
| 161 to 164 | 0 | 4 |
| 165 to 168 | 2 | 3 |
| 169 to 170 | 2 | 4 |
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.
JULIE: has calmed herself down. Now she feels angry, betrayed. She looks at MARY accusingly. JULIE: Did you know? About the de-caps? MARY: I'd never seen it before. JULIE: But you knew.
MARY: HENRIED enters the room, spots JULIE, and rushes towards her. MARY: Where the hell have you been? JULIE: doesn't respond. She buttons her coat never looking up. MARY: Julie. Are you alright? You were missed this morning. I need you. I don't want you getting your ass in hot water. I won't be able to help yo…
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 31 are women's.
202 lines from women, 448 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
4 women and 26 men in the cast. 1 women and 6 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 14 of 710.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 54 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 29% of the words (3,326), men 71% (8,341). Women have 31% 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
7
Two men
37
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 6 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 17% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- George A. Romero (man)
- Written by
- George A. Romero (man)
- Produced by
- Richard P. Rubinstein (man)
- Shot by
- Michael Gornick (man)
- Edited by
- Pasquale Buba (man)
- Cast by
- Christine Forrest (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
1 women, 2 men
-
Production
1 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
-
Sound
0 women, 1 men
-
Writing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Lori Cardille 30
Men
Ralph Marrero 25, Anthony DiLeo Jr. 29, Joseph Pilato 36, Sherman Howard 36, John Amplas 36, Gary Klar 38, Jarlath Conroy 40, Terry Alexander 42, Richard Liberty 53
Exhibit H: the money
It made 9.1 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3.8 million
- Box office
- $34 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 170 scenes and 710 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
