Passes the Bechdel test

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Name: A Nightmare on Elm Street
Released: 1984

1984. Directed by Wes Craven, written by Wes Craven.

The Bechdel test

Bechdel score

3 / 3

Passes

Yes 1. At least two women
9 women characters. 5 of them speak.
Yes 2. Who talk to each other
In 17 scenes out of 144.
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

On Elm Street, Nancy Thompson and a group of her friends (comprising Tina Gray, Rod Lane and Glen Lantz) are being tormented by a clawed killer in their dreams named Fred Krueger. Nancy must think quickly, as Fred tries to pick them off one by one. When he has you in your sleep, who is there to save you?

Released: 16 Nov 1984
Genres: Horror
Rated: R
IMDb: 7.4 / 10
Metascore: 76 / 100
Awards: 7 wins & 8 nominations total
Elsewhere: View on IMDb

Starring, by lines spoken

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

Nancy 207 lines, woman
Marge 88 lines, woman
Glen 77 lines, man
Lt Thompson 55 lines
Tina 36 lines, woman
Rod 32 lines, man
Dr King 20 lines, man
Parker 15 lines, man
Mr Lantz 13 lines, man
Mrs Lantz 12 lines, woman

Full cast, 26 people

Heather Langenkamp as Nancy Thompson
Robert Englund as Fred Krueger
Johnny Depp as Glen Lantz
Amanda Wyss as Tina Gray
Jsu Garcia as Rod Lane
John Saxon as Lt. Thompson
Ronee Blakley as Marge Thompson
Charles Fleischer as Dr. King
Joseph Whipp as Sgt. Parker
Lin Shaye as Teacher
Joe Unger as Sgt. Garcia
Mimi Craven as Nurse
Jack Shea as Minister
Ed Call as Mr. Lantz
Sandy Lipton as Mrs. Lantz
David Andrews as Foreman
Jeff Levine as Coroner
Donna Woodrum as Mrs. Gray
Shashawnee Hall as Cop #1
Carol Pritikin as Cop #2
Brian Reise as Cop #3
Ash Adams as Surfer #1
Don Hannah as Surfer #2
Leslie Hoffman as Hallguard
Paul Grenier as Tina's Mom's Boyfriend
Chris Tashima as Boy in Nancy's English Class (uncredited)

Who talks, scene by scene

Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 13% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.

Women

Men

Scene 1 Scene 144

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	0
4 to 6	15	4
7 to 9	29	24
10 to 12	5	5
13 to 15	0	1
16 to 18	4	0
19 to 21	1	5
22 to 24	2	13
25 to 27	19	0
28 to 30	9	10
31 to 33	7	1
34 to 36	5	0
37 to 39	13	9
40 to 42	11	0
43 to 45	1	0
46 to 48	12	0
49 to 51	16	14
52 to 54	2	1
55 to 57	3	0
58 to 60	2	0
61 to 63	3	0
64 to 66	10	4
67 to 69	7	6
70 to 72	1	1
73 to 75	7	3
76 to 78	14	11
79 to 81	8	9
82 to 84	31	12
85 to 87	30	0
88 to 90	14	14
91 to 93	1	3
94 to 96	6	4
97 to 99	6	2
100 to 102	1	0
103 to 105	0	1
106 to 108	0	0
109 to 111	3	4
112 to 114	11	1
115 to 117	10	4
118 to 120	0	0
121 to 123	3	0
124 to 126	1	6
127 to 129	1	0
130 to 132	1	0
133 to 135	6	3
136 to 138	3	1
139 to 141	2	3
142 to 144	18	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.

TINA: That's what it reminded me of -- that old jump rope song. Worst nightmare I ever had. You wouldn't believe it. NANCY: Matter of fact I had a bad dream last night myself...

TINA: There's somebody out there, isn't there... NANCY: I didn't hear anything...

NANCY: Then bring us back its tail and whiskers. TINA: Anyway, I don't have a cat...

NANCY: She had a nightmare about somebody trying to kill her, last night. That's why we were there; she was afraid to sleep alone. MARGE: She's been through enough for one night. You have her statement.

MARGE: Where you think you're going? NANCY: School. MARGE: I could hear you tossing and turning all night, kiddo. You've no business going to school. NANCY: I gotta go to school, Mom. Please. Otherwise I'll just sit up there and go crazy or something.

Exhibit B: every 100 lines

Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 66 are women's.

354 lines from women, 182 from men.

Women
Men

Exhibit C: who's in it

9 women and 17 men in the cast. 5 women and 10 men from it get lines.

Characters

With lines

Women
Men

Exhibit D: who gets heard

The first woman speaks at line 2 of 617. The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 14 lines.

Every line of dialogue, first to last

First line by a woman
Longest stretch with no woman speaking

Words spoken

Women speak 64% of the words (3,335), men 36% (1,912). Women have 66% 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 12 people in these jobs are women. Across the whole crew, 37% of the people whose gender is listed are women.

Directed by: Wes Craven (man)
Written by: Wes Craven (man)
Produced by: Robert Shaye (man), Sara Risher (woman), John Burrows (gender not listed)
Shot by: Jacques Haitkin (man)
Edited by: Patrick McMahon (man), Rick Shaine (man)
Music by: Charles Bernstein (man)
Production design by: Gregg Fonseca (man)
Costumes by: Dana Lyman (gender not listed)
Cast by: Annette Benson (woman)