The beautiful modern house shines in this otherwise uninspired remake
Another 1990s thriller has been remade (see: Presumed Innocent; Fatal Attraction): the 1992 film The Hand that Rocks the Cradle. Stylishly directed by Michelle Garza Cervera (Marea Alta), the new The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is tense and atmospheric, but bears the brunt of its predictability and slow pace. The original film was wickedly outlandish, helping it achieve status over time as the quintessential “evil babysitter” movie. Unfortunately, the remake lacks the willingness to let loose.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead (A Gentleman in Moscow) stars as Caitlin, a wealthy mother in Los Angeles who reluctantly agrees with her husband, Miguel (Raúl Castillo, Task), to hire a nanny, Polly (Maika Monroe, It Follows), to help care for their daughters, ten year old Emma and infant Josie. At first, Polly’s presence is a welcome relief, but her mysterious behavior and awkward intrusiveness in the children’s lives lead Caitlin to believe something more sinister may be in motion.
If you’re going to set a remake in the present day, and be serious about it, you need to account for technology. The house is large, modern and immaculately decorated (it’s obviously worth a fortune and I want it!), yet it has no security cameras, either inside or outside. When Polly first begins acting suspicious, Caitlin has to track down a reference in-person, and go through secretive DNA testing to discover multiple facts that would’ve been found out with a modicum of serious investigative Googling. We aren’t given a good reason why anyone would doubt Caitlin’s suspicions, yet Miguel takes Polly’s side so quickly after a few child-endangering incidents, it makes us question what’s so unfathomable about finding another nanny? There’s too many moments of suspended belief to let the film operate on its own terms. The film is predictable by nature of its source material and genre tropes, but even so, it fails to have fun as it unfolds.
Monroe and Winstead are superb actors with strong screen presence, but are overqualified in this film. Winstead gets to portray an increasingly agitated mental state in the third act, but is otherwise tasked with a one-note worried expression until then. Monroe is forced to wait until the final ten minutes to showcase anything more than blank stares and eerie offers of assistance. At least, as original streaming titles go, The Hand that Rocks the Cradle is a semi-distracting, sub-two hour thriller that can easily be played while you are making dinner, folding laundry, or getting some other administrative tasks accomplished. On the other hand, you could hire a nanny.
—–
The Hand that Rocks the Cradle streams on Hulu starting Wednesday, Oct. 22nd.
