Passes the Bechdel test
New Nightmare
1994. Directed by Wes Craven, written by Wes Craven.
The Bechdel test
Bechdel score
3 / 3
Passes
-
Yes
1. At least two women
14 women characters. 7 of them speak. -
Yes
2. Who talk to each other
In 5 scenes out of 99. -
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
It's nearing the 10th Anniversary of the film 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' and one of the stars, Heather Langenkamp, is being scared by a voice on a phone, sounding very similar to the film's villain, Freddy Krueger. When Heather realizes that Freddy has now entered the real world, the only way to defeat him is to become Nancy Thompson once again.
- Released
- 14 Oct 1994
- Genres
- Fantasy, Horror, Mystery
- Rated
- R
- IMDb
- 6.4 / 10
- Metascore
- 64 / 100
- Awards
- 3 wins & 7 nominations total
- Elsewhere
- View on IMDb
Starring, by lines spoken
- Women
- Men
- Not in the cast list
- Bigger name, more lines
- Heather 259 lines, woman
- Dylan 63 lines, man
- Chase 43 lines, man
- Dr. Hefner 39 lines, woman
- John Saxon 26 lines, man
- Julie 25 lines, woman
- Bob 20 lines
- Wes 16 lines, man
- Robert Englund 14 lines, man
- Sara 11 lines, woman
Full cast, 41 people
- Heather Langenkamp as Heather Langenkamp / Nancy Thompson
- Robert Englund as Robert Englund / Freddy Krueger
- Miko Hughes as Dylan Porter
- Wes Craven as Wes Craven
- David Newsom as Chase Porter
- Tracy Middendorf as Julie
- Fran Bennett as Dr. Christine Heffner
- John Saxon as John Saxon / Lt. Donald Thompson
- JF Davis as Freddy's Hand Double
- Matt Winston as Chuck Wilson
- Rob LaBelle as Terry Feinstein
- Marianne Maddalena as Marianne Maddalena
- Gretchen Oehler as Script Supervisor
- Cully Fredricksen as Limo Driver
- Bodhi Elfman as TV Studio P.A.
- Sam Rubin as Sam Rubin
- Claudia Haro as New Line Receptionist
- Sara Risher as Sara Risher
- Robert Shaye as Robert Shaye
- Cindy Guidry as Kim at New Line
- Ray Glanzmann as Highway Patrolman
- Yonda Davis as Highway Patrolwoman
- Michael Hagiwara as Coroner
- W. Earl Brown as Morgue Attendant
- Kenneth Zanchi as Minister
- Jsu Garcia as Jsu Garcia
- Tuesday Knight as Tuesday Knight
- Beans Morocco as Graveyard Worker
- Tamara Mark as Patrice Englund
- Lin Shaye as Nurse with Pills
- Deborah Zara Kobylt as Newscaster
- Diane Nadeau as Counter Nurse
- Star-Shemah Bobatoon as ICU Nurse
- Lou Thornton as ICU Nurse
- Cynthia Savage as ICU Nurse
- Jessica Craven as Junior Nurse with Needle
- Sandra Ellis Lafferty as Senior Nurse with Needle
- Thomas G. Burt as Security Officer
- Tina Vail as Nurse Abbott
- Kathryn Greenwood as Nurse in Hospital Room with Heather (uncredited)
- Kevin Harrison as Hospital Intern (uncredited)
Who talks, scene by scene
Lines of dialogue in every 3 scenes, start to finish. Women above the line, men below. 12% of lines come from characters we couldn't match to the cast list and aren't shown.
Women
Men
Scene 1 Scene 99
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 | 5 | 23 |
| 4 to 6 | 16 | 23 |
| 7 to 9 | 12 | 1 |
| 10 to 12 | 24 | 6 |
| 13 to 15 | 6 | 11 |
| 16 to 18 | 21 | 5 |
| 19 to 21 | 19 | 0 |
| 22 to 24 | 14 | 12 |
| 25 to 27 | 13 | 17 |
| 28 to 30 | 0 | 2 |
| 31 to 33 | 17 | 5 |
| 34 to 36 | 3 | 3 |
| 37 to 39 | 24 | 23 |
| 40 to 42 | 10 | 8 |
| 43 to 45 | 0 | 1 |
| 46 to 48 | 3 | 6 |
| 49 to 51 | 24 | 1 |
| 52 to 54 | 8 | 1 |
| 55 to 57 | 30 | 16 |
| 58 to 60 | 32 | 1 |
| 61 to 63 | 10 | 3 |
| 64 to 66 | 5 | 0 |
| 67 to 69 | 4 | 2 |
| 70 to 72 | 10 | 0 |
| 73 to 75 | 0 | 2 |
| 76 to 78 | 0 | 0 |
| 79 to 81 | 9 | 4 |
| 82 to 84 | 3 | 0 |
| 85 to 87 | 11 | 15 |
| 88 to 90 | 4 | 2 |
| 91 to 93 | 7 | 6 |
| 94 to 96 | 0 | 0 |
| 97 to 99 | 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.
HEATHER: Uh, sorry. Hang on a minute. JULIE: Heather, what is it? HEATHER: Dunno. Just have this feeling today...
HEATHER: Yes? SARA: Heather, this is Sara Risher over at New Line. How are you? HEATHER: Oh, hi. I'm fine, Sara. My God, a voice from the past! SARA: Really! Listen, Heather, I won't take but a minute of your time. It's just that we have something to propose to you, and wonder if you'd sto…
SARA: Can I get you something to drink? HEATHER: Coffee'd be nice. SARA: Sounds good. Kim, would you get Heather HEATHER: Black's fine.
HEATHER: Doctor... DR. HEFNER: Get her back! I've got to go in! Get me a full anesthetic, STAT!
HEATHER: That's right. So I won't be long. Meanwhile Julie's gonna be right here with you. JULIE: You bet.
Exhibit B: every 100 lines
Out of every 100 lines with a known speaker, 63 are women's.
344 lines from women, 200 from men.
- Women
- Men
Exhibit C: who's in it
14 women and 16 men in the cast. 7 women and 11 men from it get lines.
Characters
With lines
- Women
- Men
Exhibit D: who gets heard
The first woman speaks at line 8 of 621.
The longest stretch with no woman speaking runs 10 lines.
Every line of dialogue, first to last
- First line by a woman
- Longest stretch with no woman speaking
Words spoken
Women speak 61% of the words (2,891), men 39% (1,845). Women have 63% 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
23
Two men
10
Exhibit F: behind the camera
3 of the 9 people in these jobs are women.
Across the whole crew, 25% of the people whose gender is listed are women.
- Directed by
- Wes Craven (man)
- Written by
- Wes Craven (man)
- Produced by
- Marianne Maddalena (woman)
- Shot by
- Mark Irwin (man)
- Edited by
- Patrick Lussier (man)
- Music by
- J. Peter Robinson (man)
- Production design by
- Cynthia Kay Charette (woman)
- Costumes by
- Mary Jane Fort (woman)
- Cast by
- Gary M. Zuckerbrod (man)
The crew, department by department
-
Other crew
6 women, 17 men, 1 not listed
-
Sound
2 women, 7 men, 6 not listed
-
Production
2 women, 4 men, 2 not listed
-
Art
1 women, 3 men, 2 not listed
-
Camera
0 women, 3 men, 1 not listed
-
Directing
1 women, 2 men
-
Editing
0 women, 2 men
-
Writing
0 women, 2 men
- Women
- Men
- Gender not listed on TMDB
Exhibit G: how old the stars were
Women: 37 on average. Men: 36 on average.
The top-billed cast, at the film's release.
Women
Tracy Middendorf 24, Heather Langenkamp 30, Fran Bennett 57
Men
Miko Hughes 8, Matt Winston 24, JF Davis 30, David Newsom 32, Robert Englund 47, Wes Craven 55, John Saxon 59
Exhibit H: the money
It made 2.5 times what it cost.
- Budget
- $8 million
- Box office
- $19.7 million
From TMDB, not adjusted for inflation.
About this analysis
Our parser read the script: 99 scenes and 621 lines of dialogue. The bechdeltest.com rating comes from that site’s readers. How the test works
