The Original “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” came in 1992 and was directed by Curtis Hanson and starred Rebecca De Mornay, Julianne Moore, and Annabella Scioria. It was a pretty big hit for the time as far as these kinds of psychological horror films went. I’m surprised that it took 33 years for someone to make a remake of this movie based on Amanda Silver’s story. It has finally happened, though, and the new version is coming to Hulu this week just in time for the spooky Halloween season. The new version is a reimagining of the previous work, though, so hopefully, people won’t get too upset with the changes to the story.

Polly Murphy (Maika Monroe, Longlegs) is a down on her luck young lady who lost her job and is facing eviction because of the high price of her rent she can’t afford. She seeks help from a social worker named Caitlin (Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World). She is a married mother of two children and sees that this woman was a nanny before she lost her job. She offers her a job looking after her two children. She does a bit of checking into this unknown woman but finds nothing in her past. So she lets her keep the job and be the nanny of her kids. Even her husband Miguel (Raul Castillo) likes her and thinks she’s doing a good job. Until things start to go, not so good.

The Maika Monroe character isn’t who she seemed at first. Some of the things she’s doing regarding how she’s taking care of the children raise some eyebrows for this woman who is already on edge.Things they’ve discussed regarding breast milk over bottled milk was a big red flag. Also how the whole family inexplicably got sick at the same time after eating soup that the Winstead character made. It’s not totally clear that she had anything to do with it but it seems odd these people have been eating food made by their wife and mother for years and all of a sudden now they get sick. She also seems to be turning the old daughter against her mother, which she doesn’t like.

At the beginning of the film there is a cold opening that involves a fire and a little girl standing with her bunny crying in the dark.This cold opening plays a big part in the ending of the movie.There are past residual connections between these two women that is not evidently revealed. These resentments well up into a revenge plot that takes over one of the characters’ minds. This could have been prevented if one of them had done the proper background check on the other. Lies abound, though, as both of the lead characters are hiding things in their pasts. That’s why they both have their guard up around the kids. In a way, they are both looking after them even though they aren’t the children of one of them. The husband is caught in the middle, and the script doesn’t seem to know what to do with this character.Castillo makes the most of his work on screen, though. He tries to do the best with what he’s given as a character. It’s the woman’s show here.

I like Monroe as an actress. Her work in The Guest, It Follows, and Watcher have proven she is ready for meaty roles. She is usually the victim of some kind of crazy person or things in her character’s lives. Here she plays the antagonist but she has a good reason, she thinks, for doing what she’s doing. She has a way of being very menacing even though the way she speaks is very low-key. She doesn’t raise her voice or anything like that. That’s part of why she gets on the nerve of the Winstead character. She convinces everyone she’s the good one, and Winstead’s character is going crazy.This takes a special actress to elicit this type of emotion in a character. Monroe is destined for more good horror or thriller roles like these because she’s so good at them. She makes them her own.

Winstead, on the other hand, is the total opposite of Monroe.  She has these everyday good looks and personalities that people can get behind. She tends to play the all-American girl in a lot of her films and so forth. Here, she plays a mom who has dealt with some issues in the past but seems to have gotten her shot together as the mother of two children and a happy wife. That is until she invites the Monroe character into her home as her nanny. Everything the Monroe character does and says rubs her the wrong way. It turns this mild mannered house wife who is concerned with speeding cars blowing past a stop sign in her neighborhood into a raving lunatic. That’s how the story progresses. Winstead goes with the flow, though changing her demeanor and previous on-screen reputation as an all-around nice person. A scene at the end of the film brings all of this full circle for both women.

“The Hand That Rocks The Cradle” remake isn’t going to blow anybody’s socks off, but there is a climactic scene where the two main characters finally have it out in a bloody confrontation. Both lead actresses do a good job with their characters changing perceived expectations of the types of characters they’ve played in the past. That was a good part of the film. Turning the tables on the story and characters a bit. The director did a good job bringing this version to light 33 years after the original. At the end of the day, this was a fine remake, and it makes sense that it’s going to stream on Hulu. This would have bombed in theaters. On Hulu, you can watch it anytime. That’s what I recommend. Get some popcorn and give it a watch at home when you have a couple hours or want to do a date night at home without the kids around.

3 stars

Dan Skip Allen