Passes the Bechdel test
The Return of the Living Dead
1985. Directed by Dan O'Bannon, written by Rudy Ricci and John A. Russo and Russell Streiner.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
6 women characters. 3 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 1 scene out of 152. -
Yes
3. About something besides a man
In that scene, our script parser found no man named. See the scene.
Second opinion
Not rated bechdeltest.com readers haven't rated this film.
The film
Frank (James Karen) accidentally releases a military gas while trying to impress new employee Freddy (Thom Mathews), unleashing a chain reaction that infects cadavers, cemetery corpses, and eventually the living themselves. As Freddy's girlfriend Tina (Beverly Randolph) arrives with a group of punk friends, the contamination spreads through rain, smoke, and panic. Bodies rise faster than authorities can react. Inside the nearby mortuary, friendships collapse under fear, desire mutates into hunger, and every rescue attempt produces more dead flesh clawing at the doors. The survivors keep moving, talking, screaming, bargaining, but the city has already begun rotting around them.
- Released
- 16 Aug 1985
- Genres
- Comedy, Horror, Sci-Fi
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 7.3 / 10
- Metascore
- 66 / 100
- Awards
- 4 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Burt 158 lines, man
- Ernie 123 lines, man
- Meat 91 lines, man
- Freddy 82 lines, man
- Frank 81 lines, man
- Tina 65 lines, woman
- Casey 41 lines, woman
- Chuck 26 lines, man
- Dede 20 lines
- Suicide 19 lines, man
Full cast, 30 people
- Clu Gulager as Burt
- James Karen as Frank
- Don Calfa as Ernie
- Thom Mathews as Freddy
- Miguel A. Núñez Jr. as Spider
- Brian Peck as Scuz
- John Philbin as Chuck
- Linnea Quigley as Trash
- Beverly Randolph as Tina
- Jewel Shepard as Casey
- Mark Venturini as Suicide
- Jonathan Terry as Colonel Glover
- Cathleen Cordell as Colonel's Wife
- David Bond as Radio Corpse #2
- Derrick Brice as Gunnery Sergeant
- Paul Cloud as Cop #2
- Michael Crabtree as Riot Cop #2
- Robert Craighead as Cop #1
- James Dalesandro as Paramedic #2
- Drew Deighan as Paramedic #1
- Leigh Drake as Dispatcher
- John Durbin as Radio Corpse #1
- Ed Krieger as Riot Cop #3
- Bob Libman as Tac Squad Captain
- Allan Trautman as Tarman
- John Stuart West as Riot Cop #1
- Terry Houlihan as Yellow Cadaver
- Robert J. Bennett as Headless Tarman
- Jerome Coleman as Legless Corpse
- Cherry Davis as ½ Lady Corpse (voice)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 4 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 14% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 152
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 | 23 |
| 5 to 8 | 15 | 45 |
| 9 to 12 | 3 | 0 |
| 13 to 16 | 15 | 26 |
| 17 to 20 | 1 | 47 |
| 21 to 24 | 6 | 105 |
| 25 to 28 | 1 | 23 |
| 29 to 32 | 1 | 1 |
| 33 to 36 | 2 | 3 |
| 37 to 40 | 0 | 28 |
| 41 to 44 | 3 | 3 |
| 45 to 48 | 7 | 6 |
| 49 to 52 | 2 | 4 |
| 53 to 56 | 0 | 15 |
| 57 to 60 | 11 | 17 |
| 61 to 64 | 6 | 12 |
| 65 to 68 | 0 | 0 |
| 69 to 72 | 6 | 15 |
| 73 to 76 | 3 | 14 |
| 77 to 80 | 1 | 19 |
| 81 to 84 | 8 | 37 |
| 85 to 88 | 8 | 25 |
| 89 to 92 | 0 | 31 |
| 93 to 96 | 3 | 2 |
| 97 to 100 | 2 | 18 |
| 101 to 104 | 0 | 3 |
| 105 to 108 | 0 | 6 |
| 109 to 112 | 0 | 10 |
| 113 to 116 | 3 | 14 |
| 117 to 120 | 2 | 14 |
| 121 to 124 | 1 | 1 |
| 125 to 128 | 4 | 15 |
| 129 to 132 | 0 | 6 |
| 133 to 136 | 2 | 12 |
| 137 to 140 | 2 | 0 |
| 141 to 144 | 1 | 6 |
| 145 to 148 | 0 | 1 |
| 149 to 152 | 0 | 2 |
The evidence
- Straight from the script
- Counted from the script and the credits
Tap an exhibit to open it.
Exhibit A: the passing scene
The scene our parser counted as passing, word for word.
CASEY: How are you getting there? TINA: On the bus. scuz Shit, I ain't takin' no fuckin' bus.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 16 are women's.
119 lines from women, 609 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
6 women and 24 men in the cast. 3 women and 18 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 30 of 850.
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 14% of the words (1,195), men 86% (7,344). Women have 16% 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
6
Two men
67
Exhibit F: behind the camera
None of the 11 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 11% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Dan O'Bannon (man)
- Written by
- Dan O'Bannon (man)
- Story by
- Rudy Ricci (man), John A. Russo (man), Russell Streiner (man)
- Produced by
- Tom Fox (man)
- Shot by
- Jules Brenner (man)
- Edited by
- Robert Gordon (man)
- Music by
- Matt Clifford (gender not listed)
- Production design by
- William Stout (man)
- Cast by
- Stanzi Stokes (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
1 women, 23 men, 7 not listed
-
Production
1 women, 3 men, 8 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
1 women, 2 men, 7 not listed
-
Sound
0 women, 8 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 5 men, 3 not listed
-
Editing
2 women, 4 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 24 on average. Men: 37 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Beverly Randolph 20, Linnea Quigley 26, Jewel Shepard 27
Men
Brian Peck 24, John Philbin 24, Miguel A. Núñez Jr. 25, Thom Mathews 26, Don Calfa 45, Clu Gulager 56, James Karen 61
Exhibit H: the money
It made 3.6 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $4 million
- Box office
- $14.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 152 scenes and 850 lines of dialogue. How the test works
