Passes the Bechdel test

Pet Sematary

Name: Pet Sematary
Released: 2019

2019. Directed by Kevin Kölsch and Dennis Widmyer, written by Stephen King and Matt Greenberg and Jeff Buhler.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
12 women characters. 2 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 8 scenes out of 156.
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

Louis Creed, his wife Rachel, and their two children, Gage and Ellie, move to a rural home where they are welcomed and enlightened about the eerie 'Pet Sematary' located nearby. After the tragedy of their cat being killed by a truck, Louis resorts to burying it in the mysterious pet cemetery, which is definitely not as it seems, as it proves to the Creeds that sometimes, dead is better.

Released: 05 Apr 2019
Genres: Horror, Mystery, Thriller
Rated: R
IMDb: 5.7 / 10
Metascore: 57 / 100
Awards: 1 win & 10 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Louis 225 lines, man
Ellie 132 lines, woman
Rachel 120 lines, woman
Jud 81 lines, man
Gage 29 lines, man
Havering 8 lines, man
Victor Paskow 6 lines, man
Boy 5 lines, man
Everyone 2 lines
Mrs. Hughes 2 lines, woman

Full cast, 29 people

Jason Clarke as Louis Creed
Amy Seimetz as Rachel Creed
John Lithgow as Jud Crandall
Jeté Laurence as Ellie Creed
Hugo Lavoie as Gage Creed
Lucas Lavoie as Gage Creed
Obssa Ahmed as Victor Pascow
Sonia Maria Chirila as Young Rachel
Alyssa Brooke Levine as Zelda Goldman
Maria Herrera as Marcella
Jacob Lemieux as Mouse Face
Maverick Fortin as Dog Face
Lou Ferrando as Rabbit Face
Najya Muipatayi as Cat Face
Emma Hill as Horse Face
Frank Schorpion as Rachel's Father
Linda E. Smith as Rachel's Mother
Naomi Frenette as Upset Student
Suzi Stingl as Norma
Kelly Lee as Nurse Kelly
Nina Lauren as Nurse Nina
Alison O'Donnell as Party Guest #1
Raphaël Laporte as Party Guest #2
Simon Pelletier-Gilbert as Party Guest #3
Ambre Dioh-Dikongué as Halloween Kid #4 (uncredited)
Constance St-Denis-Veilleux as Halloween Kid #2 (uncredited)
Bailey Thain as Kid #1 (uncredited)
Ines Feghouli Bozon as Halloween Kid #1 (uncredited)
Tonic as Church

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 2% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 156

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	5
9 to 12	13	7
13 to 16	12	10
17 to 20	21	11
21 to 24	1	2
25 to 28	23	21
29 to 32	2	4
33 to 36	3	15
37 to 40	6	2
41 to 44	5	17
45 to 48	0	24
49 to 52	15	19
53 to 56	9	12
57 to 60	7	6
61 to 64	7	5
65 to 68	0	15
69 to 72	7	6
73 to 76	0	20
77 to 80	14	13
81 to 84	0	5
85 to 88	0	8
89 to 92	0	1
93 to 96	1	6
97 to 100	0	9
101 to 104	0	2
105 to 108	13	13
109 to 112	1	5
113 to 116	17	26
117 to 120	0	0
121 to 124	2	7
125 to 128	4	5
129 to 132	21	20
133 to 136	17	13
137 to 140	9	9
141 to 144	6	1
145 to 148	2	9
149 to 152	5	0
153 to 156	11	3

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.

ELLIE: Forests are boring. RACHEL: That’s it. Remember that market?

RACHEL: What do you think of the house, El? ELLIE: This whole place is ours?

ELLIE: Even you and mommy? RACHEL: You’re thinking about all this because of that place in the woods?

RACHEL: Morning, sweetie. ELLIE: What is it?

ELLIE: Aren’t you happy, mom? I missed you. RACHEL: I missed you, too.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 42 are women's.

254 lines from women, 356 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

12 women and 10 men in the cast. 2 women and 4 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 9 of 620. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 26 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 41% of the words (1,792), men 59% (2,577). Women have 42% 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

Two men

Exhibit F: behind the camera

2 of the 13 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 26% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Dennis Widmyer (man), Kevin Kölsch (man)
Written by: Jeff Buhler (man)
From the novel by: Stephen King (man)
Produced by: Lorenzo di Bonaventura (man), Steven Schneider (man), Mark Vahradian (man)
Shot by: Laurie Rose (man)
Edited by: Sarah Broshar (woman)
Music by: Christopher Young (man)
Production design by: Todd Cherniawsky (man)
Cast by: Joseph Middleton (man), Monika Mikkelsen (woman)