Passes the Bechdel test
My Demon Lover
1987. Directed by Charlie Loventhal, written by Leslie Ray.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
12 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 129. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Disagree bechdeltest.com readers give it 2 out of 3.
The film
Denny has yet again been left by her thug boyfriend Chip. It seems as if she is doomed to be stuck with awful guys, this time she has to choose between nerdy Charles and the strange Kaz, who turns into a monster when sexually aroused.
- Released
- 24 Apr 1987
- Genres
- Comedy, Fantasy, Horror
- Rated
- PG-13
- IMDb
- 4.7 / 10
- Awards
- 1 nomination total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Kaz 231 lines, man
- Denny 199 lines, woman
- Sonia 87 lines, woman
- Fixer 44 lines, man
- Charles 30 lines, man
- Janus 27 lines, man
- Cu 13 lines
- Miguela 5 lines, woman
- Counter Girl 4 lines, woman
- Grady 4 lines, woman
Full cast, 31 people
- Scott Valentine as Kaz
- Michele Little as Denny
- Robert Trebor as Charles
- Gina Gallego as Sonia
- Alan Fudge as Phil Janus
- Peewee Piemonte as Charles Monster
- Tasia Valenza as Miguela
- James Gleason as Alert Cop
- Franis James as Mrs. Szegulesco
- Arnold Johnson as Fixer
- Lin Shaye as Anemic Counter Girl
- Daniel Zippi as Nerd
- Adrianne Sachs as (uncredited)
- Calvert DeForest as Man in Health Food Store
- Teresa Bowman as Well Dressed Woman in Subway
- Dan Patrick Brady as Chip
- David S. Cass Sr. as Grady's Partner
- Eva Charney as Grady
- Betsy Chasse as Bibi
- Marsha Clark as Reporter #2 in Police Station
- Frank Colangelo as Bum on Danny's Street
- Ellen Gerstein as Policewoman
- Steve Hutchins as Young Kaz
- Karl Johnson as Sharpshooter
- Luce Morgan as Woman from Jersey
- Raymond Patterson as Reporter #3 in Police Station
- Virginia Peters as Frumpy Woman
- Leslie Ray as Leggy Redhead
- Hank Rolike as Doctor
- Robert J. Locke Jr. as Student (uncredited)
- Tug Wilson as Thief #1 (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 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 129
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 | 0 | 7 |
| 4 to 6 | 1 | 3 |
| 7 to 9 | 0 | 11 |
| 10 to 12 | 5 | 0 |
| 13 to 15 | 28 | 1 |
| 16 to 18 | 37 | 8 |
| 19 to 21 | 23 | 19 |
| 22 to 24 | 22 | 29 |
| 25 to 27 | 14 | 19 |
| 28 to 30 | 13 | 12 |
| 31 to 33 | 0 | 1 |
| 34 to 36 | 6 | 9 |
| 37 to 39 | 3 | 28 |
| 40 to 42 | 8 | 30 |
| 43 to 45 | 13 | 11 |
| 46 to 48 | 15 | 14 |
| 49 to 51 | 20 | 25 |
| 52 to 54 | 6 | 4 |
| 55 to 57 | 25 | 19 |
| 58 to 60 | 12 | 10 |
| 61 to 63 | 6 | 5 |
| 64 to 66 | 0 | 3 |
| 67 to 69 | 5 | 5 |
| 70 to 72 | 1 | 2 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 1 |
| 76 to 78 | 2 | 6 |
| 79 to 81 | 9 | 13 |
| 82 to 84 | 6 | 10 |
| 85 to 87 | 1 | 0 |
| 88 to 90 | 1 | 1 |
| 91 to 93 | 6 | 5 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 2 |
| 97 to 99 | 3 | 7 |
| 100 to 102 | 2 | 3 |
| 103 to 105 | 0 | 1 |
| 106 to 108 | 1 | 0 |
| 109 to 111 | 0 | 0 |
| 112 to 114 | 0 | 0 |
| 115 to 117 | 0 | 0 |
| 118 to 120 | 0 | 3 |
| 121 to 123 | 4 | 0 |
| 124 to 126 | 12 | 22 |
| 127 to 129 | 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.
SONIA: ·It's not worth it, Chuck. You•re never gonna meet anybody here you can trust. Secrets. They all got 'em. Deep, dark. secrets .. ANGLE: AT D… DENNY: Okay, I'll prove it to you. Come home with me tonight. You change,. and this time don' t run away - let me finish. If you sta-rt looking at …
DENNY: Night,. Sonia... SONIA: Wait a minute!! Sonia, really scared, rushes to her, grabs her arm. SONIA: (continuing} Don't leave! Not wt th ••• that ••_.. •--
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 47 are women's.
310 lines from women, 349 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
12 women and 12 men in the cast. 9 women and 13 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 15 of 717.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 56 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 46% of the words (4,142), men 54% (4,811). Women have 47% 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
14
Two men
22
Exhibit F: behind the camera
2 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Charlie Loventhal (gender not listed)
- Written by
- Leslie Ray (woman)
- Produced by
- Gerald T. Olson (man), Robert Shaye (man)
- Shot by
- Jacques Haitkin (man)
- Edited by
- Ronald Roose (man)
- Production design by
- Brenton Swift (man)
- Costumes by
- Tom McKinley (gender not listed)
- Cast by
- Annette Benson (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
4 women, 12 men, 8 not listed
-
Art
0 women, 2 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 5 men, 1 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 2 men
-
Directing
1 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 1 men
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 0 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 1 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 26 on average. Men: 41 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Tasia Valenza 20, Gina Gallego 31
Men
Scott Valentine 28, Robert Trebor 33, James Gleason 34, Alan Fudge 43, Arnold Johnson 65
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 129 scenes and 717 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
