Passes the Bechdel test
Prince of Darkness
1987. Directed by John Carpenter, written by John Carpenter.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 8 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 2 scenes out of 208. -
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
A sinister secret has been kept in the basement of an abandoned Los Angeles church for many years. With the death of a priest belonging to a mysterious sect, another priest opens the door to the basement and discovers a vat containing a green liquid. The priest contacts a group of physics graduate students to investigate it. Unfortunately, they discover that the liquid contains the essence of Satan himself, and they also discover that he will release HIS father - an all-powerful Anti-God! The liquid later comes to life itself, turning some of the students into zombies as the Devil comes forward to release his father. Will these students be able to stop him?
- Released
- 23 Oct 1987
- Genres
- Horror
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.6 / 10
- Metascore
- 50 / 100
- Awards
- 1 win & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Brian 90 lines, man
- Walter 81 lines, man
- Catherine 74 lines, woman
- Dirac 63 lines, man
- Priest 31 lines, man
- Kelly 26 lines, woman
- Lomax 19 lines, man
- Mullins 15 lines, man
- Calder 8 lines, man
- Church 8 lines, man
Full cast, 17 people
- Donald Pleasence as Priest
- Lisa Blount as Catherine Danforth
- Victor Wong as Prof. Howard Birack
- Jameson Parker as Brian Marsh
- Dennis Dun as Walter
- Susan Blanchard as Kelly
- Anne Marie Howard as Susan Cabot
- Ann Yen as Lisa
- Ken Wright as Lomax
- Dirk Blocker as Mullins
- Jessie Lawrence Ferguson as Calder
- Peter Jason as Dr. Paul Leahy
- Robert Grasmere as Frank Wyndham
- Thom Bray as Etchinson
- Joanna Merlin as Bag Lady
- Alice Cooper as Street Schizo
- Betty Ramey as Nun
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 5 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 9% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 208
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 | 4 |
| 11 to 15 | 0 | 6 |
| 16 to 20 | 0 | 3 |
| 21 to 25 | 14 | 32 |
| 26 to 30 | 11 | 13 |
| 31 to 35 | 8 | 12 |
| 36 to 40 | 7 | 0 |
| 41 to 45 | 1 | 16 |
| 46 to 50 | 3 | 7 |
| 51 to 55 | 9 | 16 |
| 56 to 60 | 5 | 6 |
| 61 to 65 | 3 | 15 |
| 66 to 70 | 3 | 25 |
| 71 to 75 | 2 | 21 |
| 76 to 80 | 1 | 10 |
| 81 to 85 | 0 | 15 |
| 86 to 90 | 1 | 4 |
| 91 to 95 | 15 | 8 |
| 96 to 100 | 2 | 11 |
| 101 to 105 | 12 | 45 |
| 106 to 110 | 2 | 6 |
| 111 to 115 | 1 | 17 |
| 116 to 120 | 0 | 0 |
| 121 to 125 | 3 | 3 |
| 126 to 130 | 4 | 9 |
| 131 to 135 | 2 | 5 |
| 136 to 140 | 2 | 2 |
| 141 to 145 | 4 | 16 |
| 146 to 150 | 1 | 2 |
| 151 to 155 | 1 | 8 |
| 156 to 160 | 0 | 0 |
| 161 to 165 | 0 | 2 |
| 166 to 170 | 0 | 0 |
| 171 to 175 | 1 | 0 |
| 176 to 180 | 1 | 0 |
| 181 to 185 | 1 | 1 |
| 186 to 190 | 2 | 1 |
| 191 to 195 | 0 | 0 |
| 196 to 200 | 0 | 1 |
| 201 to 205 | 0 | 4 |
| 206 to 208 | 0 | 1 |
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.
CATHERINE: What are we supposed to do? Just go back to work ••. ? KELLY: What would you rather have a wreath of garlic? A benediction? A cruicifix ••• ? CATHERINE: .Then it really is.Old Scratch knocking at the door •••
KELLY: How can you keep working like this? It's ••• ••• 3:301 No wonder I'm so tired. CATHERINE: I'm getting these figures in the computer but they're not making any sense ••• KELLY: I stopped making sense about · 15 minutes ago ••• . CATHE~J:NE ... ,:N6,., ..~·::mean •the~i'e· eqtic1tions are beyond me now. They're like … CATHERINE: Go get some sleep. I'll wake you in a half hour.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 26 are women's.
122 lines from women, 347 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
6 women and 11 men in the cast. 8 women and 9 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 41 of 514.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 40 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 26% of the words (1,790), men 74% (5,019).
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
32
Exhibit F: behind the camera
1 of the 9 people in these jobs is a woman.
Across the whole crew, 23% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- John Carpenter (man)
- Written by
- John Carpenter (man)
- Produced by
- Larry Franco (man)
- Shot by
- Gary B. Kibbe (man)
- Edited by
- Steve Mirkovich (man)
- Music by
- John Carpenter (man), Alan Howarth (man)
- Production design by
- Daniel A. Lomino (man)
- Cast by
- Linda Francis (woman)
The crew, department by department
-
Sound
1 women, 14 men, 7 not listed
-
Other crew
4 women, 7 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 4 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
3 women, 5 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
2 women, 1 men, 1 not listed
-
Editing
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Lighting
0 women, 0 men, 4 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 32 on average. Men: 46 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Anne Marie Howard 27, Lisa Blount 30, Susan Blanchard 38
Men
Dirk Blocker 30, Dennis Dun 35, Jameson Parker 39, Victor Wong 60, Donald Pleasence 68
Exhibit H: the money
It made 4.7 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $3 million
- Box office
- $14.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 208 scenes and 514 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
