The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (2025)

Hell Hath No Fury Like a Nanny Scorned

Caitlyn Morales (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) is a lawyer who’s just given birth to her second child. The overwhelmed mom hires Polly (Maika Monroe) a former client, to be her nanny. If you’ve seen the original The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992), you know this isn’t going to turn out well. Caitlyn has hired the nanny from hell!

The Hand That Rocks the Cradle‘s main strength is its two leads. Both Winstead and Monroe give good performances. Monroe is refreshingly unlikeable in a rare villainous role. Polly often comes across as cold and aloof, but she’s good at seeming innocent. Caitlyn begins to suspect that Polly’s a threat to her family. Due to a history of mental illness, her accusations aren’t taken seriously.

Winstead, who hasn’t appeared in many films in recent years, delivers an appropriately intense performance. Both women have plenty of rage, much of it wholly justified, and they enjoy taking it out on each other in both outward and passively aggressive ways.

1992 vs. 2025

The key question for this remake is how it compares to the original. Although the plots are broadly similar, there are numerous significant differences between the two films. In the 1992 version, the nanny (portrayed by Rebecca de Mornay) is secretly the wife of a doctor who was accused by the mom, Claire (Annabella Sciorra), of sexual misconduct. The resulting scandal led to the doctor taking his own life.

Claire’s accusations toward the doctor are true, but that doesn’t stop the wife/nanny (who adopts the pseudonym Peyton) from craving revenge for her husband’s demise. This storyline would have been great to include in the remake – it’s certainly more relevant today than it was in the early ’90s.

Unfortunately, the new version shies away from this. Polly’s background and motivation are completely different than Peyton’s. Ultimately, the remake is about how adults are affected by repressed childhood trauma. There is a sexual abuse angle, but it ‘s in a totally different context than the original.

Maybe director Michelle Garza Cervera and writer Micah Bloomberg wanted to avoid making the movie too predictable by giving their nanny the same motivation. But their movie remains formulaic even with the changes.

In the original, Peyton is a clever manipulator. Her ability to subtly plant seeds of doubt in Claire’s mind is brilliantly written. Without ever explicitly accusing anyone, she is able to convince Claire that her husband is cheating on her with her best friend and that her landscaper is molesting her daughter. Polly is not as well written as Peyton, and her manipulation isn’t as convincing.

However, there are some ways that the remake wisely updates the original material. Remember the landscaper character I mentioned above? He doesn’t appear in the remake, and for good reason. This guy REALLY has not aged well.

He’s a mentally disabled Black man who is accused or suspected of being a sexual predator on multiple occasions. The landscaper’s only function is to express concern for the Caucasian family and eventually vindicate himself and save the day.

I don’t think the original filmmakers had malicious intent with this character, but he is all kinds of messed up by today’s standards, especially since he’s the only major Black character in the movie.

Another update is that the remake family is bi-racial. The dad is Mexican and the children are obviously mixed race, which is an understandable change from the all-White family from the original.

As for their endings, I’d say it’s a tie between the two movies. Both conclusions are the typical over the top thriller stuff. The villain’s mask of sanity completely slips away and she goes insane, just like in Single White Female, Fatal Attraction, etc.