Passes the Bechdel test
Evil Dead II
1987. Directed by Sam Raimi, written by Sam Raimi and Scott Spiegel.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
4 women characters. 4 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 221. -
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, though someone marked that rating as dubious.
The film
Ashley Williams travels to a secluded cabin in the woods with his girlfriend Linda where they find a tape recording of a professor and a book of evil. This unleashes a bunch of evil spirits that constantly terrorize Ash. Meanwhile a journalist comes to the area to study the book of evil. Ash and her end up having to survive this swarm of evil until morning comes.
- Released
- 13 Mar 1987
- Genres
- Comedy, Horror
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 72 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 5 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Ash 50 lines, man
- Annie 48 lines, woman
- Jake 39 lines, man
- Ed 15 lines, man
- Narrator 15 lines
- Henrietta 13 lines, woman
- Bobby Joe 10 lines, woman
- Linda 7 lines, woman
- Professor Knowby 7 lines, man
- Raymond 6 lines, man
Full cast, 25 people
- Bruce Campbell as Ash
- Sarah Berry as Annie
- Dan Hicks as Jake
- Kassie DePaiva as Bobby Joe
- Ted Raimi as Possessed Henrietta
- Denise Bixler as Linda
- Richard Domeier as Ed
- John Peakes as Professor Knowby
- Lou Hancock as Henrietta
- Snowy Winters as Dancer
- Sol Abrams as Fake Shemp
- Josh Becker as Fake Shemp
- Sam Raimi as Fake Shemp / Medieval Soldier / Possessed Rocking Chair
- Scott Spiegel as Fake Shemp
- Thomas Kidd as Fake Shemp
- Mitch Cantor as Fake Shemp
- Jenny Griffith as Fake Shemp
- William Preston Robertson as The Hand / The Dark Spirit / The Deer Head / The Enchanted Objects (voice)
- Tony Elwood as Luggage Monkey (uncredited)
- David M. Goodman as Airport Worker (uncredited)
- Gary Jones as The Hand (uncredited)
- Greg Nicotero as The Hand / Evil Ed's Hand / Henrietta's Long Neck Pee-Wee Head (uncredited)
- Tom Sullivan as Baggage Handler (uncredited)
- Robert Tapert as Airport Worker (uncredited)
- John Walter as The Hand / Evil Ed's Hand (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 11% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 221
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 5 | 0 | 0 |
| 6 to 10 | 0 | 3 |
| 11 to 15 | 3 | 3 |
| 16 to 20 | 0 | 0 |
| 21 to 25 | 0 | 0 |
| 26 to 30 | 0 | 1 |
| 31 to 35 | 0 | 1 |
| 36 to 40 | 0 | 0 |
| 41 to 45 | 0 | 0 |
| 46 to 50 | 0 | 0 |
| 51 to 55 | 0 | 0 |
| 56 to 60 | 5 | 8 |
| 61 to 65 | 0 | 0 |
| 66 to 70 | 0 | 0 |
| 71 to 75 | 1 | 0 |
| 76 to 80 | 2 | 6 |
| 81 to 85 | 0 | 1 |
| 86 to 90 | 0 | 5 |
| 91 to 95 | 9 | 10 |
| 96 to 100 | 3 | 9 |
| 101 to 105 | 3 | 3 |
| 106 to 110 | 1 | 3 |
| 111 to 115 | 4 | 3 |
| 116 to 120 | 3 | 2 |
| 121 to 125 | 18 | 14 |
| 126 to 130 | 2 | 7 |
| 131 to 135 | 6 | 15 |
| 136 to 140 | 0 | 3 |
| 141 to 145 | 0 | 4 |
| 146 to 150 | 0 | 0 |
| 151 to 155 | 1 | 1 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 1 |
| 161 to 165 | 4 | 7 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 1 |
| 171 to 175 | 3 | 3 |
| 176 to 180 | 2 | 0 |
| 181 to 185 | 2 | 3 |
| 186 to 190 | 3 | 2 |
| 191 to 195 | 2 | 2 |
| 196 to 200 | 1 | 0 |
| 201 to 205 | 0 | 1 |
| 206 to 210 | 0 | 1 |
| 211 to 215 | 0 | 0 |
| 216 to 220 | 0 | 0 |
| 221 to 221 | 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.
ANNIE: There must be another way in. Another road or something. BOBBY JOE: Sure ain't no, road. BOBBY JOE: Hell you wanna go there for, anyway? ANNIE: None of your business.
HENRIETTA: Remember that song Annie? I used to sing it to you when you were a baby. HENRIETTA: Let me out, dear. It's so cold and dark in here. ANNIE: Mother? HENRIETTA: Unlock these chains. Quickly.
HENRIETTA: Dead by dawn! Dead by dawn! HENRIETTA: Free me! Unlock these chains! ANNIE: Where are you going?! HELP US!! You filthy COWARD!
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 39 are women's.
78 lines from women, 123 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
4 women and 18 men in the cast. 4 women and 8 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 16 of 226.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 17 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 35% of the words (521), men 65% (964). Women have 39% 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
3
Two men
16
Exhibit F: behind the camera
None of the 7 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Sam Raimi (man)
- Written by
- Scott Spiegel (man), Sam Raimi (man)
- Produced by
- Robert Tapert (man)
- Shot by
- Peter Deming (man)
- Edited by
- Kaye Davis (gender not listed)
- Music by
- Joseph LoDuca (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
3 women, 6 men, 3 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Production
0 women, 1 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 0 men, 2 not listed
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Directing
0 women, 1 men
-
Editing
0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 35 on average. Men: 34 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Sarah Berry 17, Kassie DePaiva 25, Lou Hancock 63
Men
Ted Raimi 21, Bruce Campbell 28, Dan Hicks 35, John Peakes 53
Exhibit H: the money
It made 1.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3.5 million
- Box office
- $5.9 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 221 scenes and 226 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
