Hand That Rocks the Cradle: 20th Anniversary Ed (1992)

Who would've thought that The Hand That Rocks The Cradle would've become so popular ever since its 1992 release? After being broadcast on the networks many times and finally put on cable, the viewers ratings show that this thriller is one that manages to gain more popularity with each showing. Starring Rebecca De Mornay as the estranged wife of an obstitrician accused of sexual molestation, she seeks out the woman who brought up the charges (Annabella Sciorra) after her husband kills himself. De Mornay's character, Peyton Flanders, worms her way into Annie's home, posing as a nanny in order to make Sciorra's family her own. The suspense builds to sometimes frightening heights as Peyton begins to destroy Annie's life, misplacing papers and making things not what they seem. The climax is one of the best suspense endings I've seen in my life, and the acting from each person in this film is amazing and truly believable. Unlike so many other movies, this one is not anticlimactic, and flows very steadily from start to finish. A must-see for an De Mornay fan as well as followers of the suspense genre.

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is one creepy film but I enjoyed it. Rebecca de Mornay plays a manipulative and revenge-seeking nanny. I am kinda surprised this thriller is directed by Curtis Hanson, doesn't seem like his type of movie. I won't give away too much but De Mornay's character has been through a tragedy and she will stop at nothing to seek solace even if it means driving a happily married couple insane. I highly recommend this cat and mouse game, enjoy!

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The plot is a bit predictable. You'll probably guess most of the plot twists before they come. The demented nanny. The saintly, stuttering black handyman whom she has fired. The mousy, asthmatic wife. The clueless husband. There are sadly, few surprises in this movie.

So why four stars instead of zero or one? Well, Rebecca DeMornay is superbly chilling in the role. She's absolutely believable as the nanny who has her very real reasons for going off the deep end. (In fact one of the few surprises in the film is that she is given a solid reason for flipping out. I sort of hate to say this, but I was kind of rooting for her over the very mousy Annabella Sciorra.)

The scene with DeMornay in the woman's bathroom at the arboretum was great. Her character, Payton, was quite soulless, and she made you feel her chill. She never plays a false note. The stares she gave could stop people in their tracks. You really do think this woman could kill.

Recommended. Worth watching if you want a good, entertaining. And DeMornay's character will stick with you for quite some time. She's that good (and beautiful, to boot.) Because of her story, you actually start rooting for her, except that she's gone around the bend a bit.

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The ethereal, beautiful, and always just a little too frightening Rebecca DeMornay does a star turn in this overly predictable potboiler about a psychotic Nanny run amok.

In THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE, DeMornay plays Peyton, the widow of a Seattle-area gynecologist who commits suicide after he is accused by a patient (Annabella Sciorra) of sexual impropriety during an examination.

After losing her own pregnancy as a result of the shock of her husband's death, DeMornay manages to get hired by Sciorra to be the live-in Nanny for Sciorra's newly-arrived baby. As soon as Peyton settles in, she begins the slow and deliberate seduction and destruction of Sciorra's family, with the ultimate goal of stealing both husband and children away from the woman she considers responsible for the destruction of her own life.

Peyton is, ironically, a somewhat sympathetic character, who seems more dynamic than Sciorra's mousy Claire, at least until she starts to spit venom as her carefully constructed fantasy world begins to collapse.

The best thing about THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE is DeMornay herself, who moves from shyness and gentleness to brazenness and cruelty with an ease that is really disturbing. DeMornay is not a great actress, but she always projects an underlying predatory sexuality that THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE exploits magnificently.

When DeMornay's Peyton finally takes leave of her senses she is absolutely, convincingly, terrifying.

Always, ALWAYS, get references!

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Here's a movie whose premise is often unsettling, but the execution, when it takes off, keeps one's attention through thrills and chills. A doctor commits suicide after malpractice charges. His widow, who has apparently led a "normal" life before that, suddenly turns into a vengeful demon (just why is left unexplained). She targets the woman who first brought abuse charges against her deceased husband, posing as a nanny and moving in with a hidden motive of stealing her baby. The doctor's widow turned vengeful nanny is played by seldom-seen actress Rebecca de Mornay, in a generally commanding performance that could well make us wish to see her act in more movies. She's chilling as the grisly villain but a few of her actions are as unexplained as why she turns vengeful in the first place. At one point, as part of her plot, she destroys an important business letter to her target's husband (and father of the baby she plans to steal). She does so in a "toilet stall", preparing to flush the fragments of the letter. But for mysterious reasons she goes ballistic and seems to try to destroy the "stall" by beating it with a plunger. The mother she targets is played by Annabella Sciorra, who, in typical fashion for her, is part riveting, part exasperating. Her husband, played by Matt McCoy, is a longsuffering doter, exasperatingly longsuffering at times through his wife's travails. Julianne Moore has a supporting role in this movie, made before she had (at least to my knowledge) become anywhere nearly the major actress she is today. Her performance herein is a mixed bag, showing considerable acting potential but not clearly foreshadowing the significant actress she would become. But perhaps the show-stealing role herein is that of a mentally-challenged gardener, played by Ernie Hudson. Too bad movie makers apparently didn't take more note of his performance and recognize him as an actor who should have gone places. Given the right roles, I thought he should be one to eagerly wish to see again and again in the movies. But sadly, everywhere else I've seen him, he's far and away wasted compared to this role. Too bad some riveting performances seem to go so unnoticed.

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