THE STORY – An upscale suburban mom brings a new nanny, Polly Murphy, into her home, only to discover she is not the person she claims to be.
THE CAST – Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Maika Monroe, Raúl Castillo & Martin Starr
THE TEAM – Michelle Garza Cervera (Director) & Micah Bloomberg (Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 105 Minutes
Thrillers! For adults! The people yearn for them, even if studios seem reluctant to greenlight any for theatrical release that aren’t tinged with the supernatural. Thus is the fate of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” the remake of the 1992 film of the same name, being unceremoniously uploaded to Hulu. The original was a sensation, epitomizing the types of pulpy, conversation-starting movies that were as trendy in the 90s as Tamagotchi or flannel shirts. The remake comes from director Michelle Garza Cervera, making her first English-language film after her feature debut “Huesera: The Bone Woman.” And while it changes up some details and hints at possibly exploring alternative avenues from the previous film, this redo doesn’t offer up enough newness or fresh ideas to justify remaking the imperfect-but-entertaining original.
The overstressed mother at the film’s center is Caitlyn, played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead. As the story begins, she’s shown to be a hard-working lawyer who still shows up to the office despite being nine months pregnant. Polly (Maika Monroe), the young woman Caitlyn meets with at the start of the film, observes that she’s “about to pop.” A few months later, Caitlyn runs into Polly on a typically stressful shopping trip with her husband Miguel (Raúl Castillo) and older daughter Emma (Mileiah Vega). Seeing how harried Caitlyn is, Polly offers to babysit if Caitlyn ever needs a break. Charmed by Polly and sympathetic to her housing and financial hardships, Caitlyn and Miguel take Polly up on her offer. Polly is so attentive that they eventually even offer her a place to stay at their spacious home, letting her move into the guest house on their property. While Caitlyn initially feels that Polly is a blessing, even bonding with her, Polly’s behavior starts to change in bizarre ways as she settles in with the family. Given her history of mental health struggles, Caitlyn doesn’t want to affirm her worst thoughts immediately. Still, when Polly starts to act increasingly strangely, Caitlyn begins to fear for her and her family’s safety.
Without a doubt, Winstead and Monroe are the best reasons to watch this film. Winstead returns to her roots in a role that feels like a grown-up version of the scream queen characters she brought to life earlier in her career in films like “Final Destination 3” and the 2006 remake of “Black Christmas.” Here, she keeps her fears bottled up and hidden under the surface, but that doesn’t mean these anxieties aren’t evident, no matter how much Caitlyn tries to mask them. She perfectly captures the energy of a person who’s been through a lot of therapy and thus has a hefty array of coping mechanisms to try and mitigate their inner turmoil, to varying degrees of success. And Monroe fully invests herself in playing both sides of Polly – the young woman going through a hard time but putting her best face forward, and the troubled, manipulative person inside her. She’s especially good at playing a gaslighter, bringing some truly infuriating behavior to life on the screen in a way that feels truthful; it makes sense that Caitlyn doesn’t immediately throw her out of her house at the first sign of trouble, because, as played by Monroe, Polly may have just genuinely misunderstood what led to their first few disagreements. Monroe is also excellent at accentuating the creepiness of her character. She has a vacancy behind her devious actions that makes her feel truly sociopathic. She’ll clearly stop at nothing and hurt whoever she has to in order to put her scheme in motion.
But while the actresses bring a compelling energy to the story, the film itself doesn’t equal them. The camera has a slick quality, gliding through Caitlyn’s comfortable life, but this makes the film feel unhurried and therefore less tense than it should. Similarly, the hermetic, clean look of Caitlyn’s house – where most of the story takes place – makes the film look bland. Caitlyn and Miguel are clearly doing well for themselves, and their house reflects the boring, uncreative designs of modern homes for people in their tax bracket. Even if it may be realistic, it robs the film of a potentially interesting look.
The actual thrills are liberally spread out until the film accelerates aggressively in the final act. Unfortunately, in an effort to feel more grounded, the wicked acts that made the original movie a hit lacked a sense of playfulness from both the characters and the film itself. The movie doesn’t revel in the absurdities of the situation. Instead, it presents them very matter-of-factly, softening the necessary sense of propulsion. This staid energy, combined with the monotonous aesthetic and visual choices, dulls the thrills.
That’s not to say there aren’t squeamish moments to be found, they’re just few and far between. For most of its runtime, “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” merely flirts with being shocking rather than actually making viewers gasp. Indeed, the one new aspect that the remake seems to be hinting at is a non-subtextual queer connection between the two women, but even that is simply mentioned early on but never totally explored. Rather than feeling like the kind of culture-shifting moment the original film became, this remake is more of a shrug, destined to be sadly scrolled past by disinterested streaming audiences.
