Passes the Bechdel test
A Nightmare on Elm Street: The Dream Child
1989. Directed by Stephen Hopkins, written by Wes Craven and John Skipp and Craig Spector.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
11 women characters. 9 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 7 scenes out of 74. -
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
Alice, having survived the previous installment of the Nightmare series, finds the deadly dreams of Freddy Krueger starting once again. This time, the taunting murderer is striking through the sleeping mind of Alice's unborn child. His intention is to be "born again" into the real world. The only one who can stop Freddy is his dead mother, but can Alice free her spirit in time to save her own son?
- Released
- 11 Aug 1989
- Genres
- Fantasy, Horror
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 5.1 / 10
- Metascore
- 54 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 2 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Alice 188 lines, woman
- Mark 67 lines, man
- Yvonne 55 lines, woman
- Greta 33 lines, woman
- Dan 29 lines, man
- Freddy 27 lines, man
- Alice'S Dad 23 lines, man
- Jacob 21 lines, man
- Mrs. Gibson 11 lines, woman
- Mrs. Jordan 10 lines, woman
Full cast, 43 people
- Lisa Wilcox as Alice Johnson
- Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger
- Danny Hassel as Dan Jordan
- Kelly Jo Minter as Yvonne Miller
- Erika Anderson as Greta Gibson
- Nicholas Mele as Dennis Johnson
- Valorie Armstrong as Mrs. Jordan
- Michael Ashton as Gurney Orderly
- Joe Seely as Mark Gray
- Burr DeBenning as Mr. Jordan
- Clarence Felder as Mr. Gray
- Beatrice Boepple as Amanda Krueger
- Matt Borlenghi as Jock
- Noble Craig as Merging Freddy
- E.R. Davies as Delivery Doctor
- Beth DePatie as Anne
- Will Egan as Semi-Truck Driver
- Stacey Elliott as Girl in Locker
- Steven Grives as Dr. Moore
- Whit Hertford as Jacob
- Jennifer Honneus as Asylum Girl
- Jake Jacobs as Trendy Guest
- Annie Lamaje as Elm Street Kid
- Gerry Loew as Orderly #1
- Kara Marie as Baby Jacob
- Roxanne Mayweather as Delivery Nurse
- Don Maxwell as Coach Ostrow
- John R. Murray as Customer
- Marnette Patterson as Little Girl
- Cameron Perry as Guest
- Marc Siegler as Thirty-Something
- Michael Bailey Smith as Super Freddy
- Pat Sturges as Racine Gibson
- Cesar Anthony Torres as Cop
- Peter Trencher as Trendy
- Wally George as Wally George
- Ron Armstrong as Hot Seat Band Member
- Ted Nugent as Hot Seat Band Member
- Rudy Sarzo as Hot Seat Band Member
- Jill Adler as Dinner Guest (uncredited)
- Victor A. Haddox as Asylum Inmate (uncredited)
- James Vallo as Paramedic (uncredited)
- Eric Singer as Hot Seat Band Member
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 2 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 3% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 74
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 2 | 1 | 0 |
| 3 to 4 | 1 | 0 |
| 5 to 6 | 2 | 3 |
| 7 to 8 | 0 | 1 |
| 9 to 10 | 61 | 44 |
| 11 to 12 | 2 | 0 |
| 13 to 14 | 4 | 0 |
| 15 to 16 | 14 | 2 |
| 17 to 18 | 15 | 14 |
| 19 to 20 | 2 | 6 |
| 21 to 22 | 0 | 1 |
| 23 to 24 | 1 | 3 |
| 25 to 26 | 12 | 7 |
| 27 to 28 | 13 | 5 |
| 29 to 30 | 22 | 9 |
| 31 to 32 | 16 | 6 |
| 33 to 34 | 2 | 0 |
| 35 to 36 | 16 | 11 |
| 37 to 38 | 6 | 4 |
| 39 to 40 | 12 | 9 |
| 41 to 42 | 14 | 7 |
| 43 to 44 | 7 | 6 |
| 45 to 46 | 31 | 13 |
| 47 to 48 | 0 | 0 |
| 49 to 50 | 12 | 9 |
| 51 to 52 | 14 | 15 |
| 53 to 54 | 5 | 3 |
| 55 to 56 | 6 | 5 |
| 57 to 58 | 0 | 0 |
| 59 to 60 | 6 | 0 |
| 61 to 62 | 2 | 3 |
| 63 to 64 | 4 | 5 |
| 65 to 66 | 4 | 2 |
| 67 to 68 | 1 | 1 |
| 69 to 70 | 1 | 0 |
| 71 to 72 | 0 | 0 |
| 73 to 74 | 9 | 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.
YVONNE: C'mon, honey! ALICE: I'm the A-L-I-C-E. Blond hair on my head, blue eyes to see.
GRETA: Maybe I should spell it for you. ALICE: Maybe God's trying to tell you something.
GRETA: That must never pass these lips. RACINE GIBSON: Greta, that's not what a cover girl puts in her body.
GRETA: Pimples, heartburn, cellulite... and no modeling career. ALICE: Not to mention the heartbreak of psoriasis.
YVONNE: All right kids, I tell you what we're gonna do. I've got swimming practice until six-thirty today... GRETA: Yeah... YVONNE: That means they're gonna give me the key to the pool so I can lock up when I'm done.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 62 are women's.
318 lines from women, 197 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
11 women and 29 men in the cast. 9 women and 14 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 3 of 532.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 7 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 62% of the words (2,707), men 38% (1,656).
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
36
Two men
10
Exhibit F: behind the camera
None 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
- Stephen Hopkins (man)
- Written by
- Leslie Bohem (man)
- Story by
- John Skipp (man), Leslie Bohem (man), Craig Spector (man)
- Produced by
- Rupert Harvey (man), Robert Shaye (man)
- Shot by
- Peter Levy (man)
- Edited by
- Brent A. Schoenfeld (man), Chuck Weiss (gender not listed)
- Music by
- Jay Ferguson (man)
- Production design by
- C.J. Strawn (gender not listed)
- Costumes by
- Sara Markowitz (gender not listed)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
5 women, 19 men, 6 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 4 men, 11 not listed
-
Production
4 women, 4 men, 4 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 6 not listed
-
Camera
1 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Costume & Make-Up
0 women, 1 men, 6 not listed
-
Directing
2 women, 3 men
-
Writing
0 women, 5 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 30 on average. Men: 38 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Kelly Jo Minter 22, Lisa Wilcox 25, Erika Anderson 25, Valorie Armstrong 47
Men
Danny Hassel 21, Joe Seely 29, Robert Englund 42, Nicholas Mele 47, Burr DeBenning 52
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.8 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- $22.2 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 74 scenes and 532 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
