Arabella Olivia Clark, Elena Campbell-Martinez, horror, LGBTQ, Los Angeles, Maika Monroe, Martin Starr, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Michelle Garza Cervera, Mileiah Vega, movies, Rafael Sigler, Raul Castillo, reviews, Riki Lindhome, Shannon Cochran, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Yvette Lu
October 22, 2025
by Carla Hay
“The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” (2025)
Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera
Some language in Spanish with subtitles
Culture Representation: Taking place in Los Angeles, the horror film “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” (a remake of the 1992 movie of the same name) features a predominantly white and Latin cast of characters (with a few Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.
Culture Clash: A mysterious woman becomes the nanny for a married couple with two children under the age of 11, but the nanny has a deadly agenda.
Culture Audience: “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of the movie’s headliners, the 1992 movie “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” and psychological thrillers that are slow-paced and have very little creativity.
The 2025 version of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” is an example of a movie that didn’t need to exist. This dull re-imagining of 1992’s campy “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” is more sluggish than scary. The effect of watching this revamped movie about a killer nanny is like falling asleep in a cradle. A plot twist can’t save this plodding and shallow dud.
Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera and written by Micah Bloomberg, the 2025 version of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” takes place in Los Angeles, where the movie was filmed on location. The 1992 version of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” was a crime drama directed by Curtis Hanson, written by Amanda Silver, and had Rebecca De Mornay, Annabella Sciorra and Matt McCoy in the starring roles. The 2025 version of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” is supposed to be more of a horror movie thriller, but there are very little thrills to be had in this mopey rehash with drab cinematography and a story that takes too long to get to any horror action.
The remake of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” begins by showing a 7-year-old blonde girl (played by Arabella Olivia Clark) staring at a house that’s directly across from her. The house is engulfed in flames and has no chance of being saved. It’s obvious that this girl will grow up to be one of the movie’s two main female characters, who are both blonde. It’s revealed later in the movie which of these characters is the adult version of the girl seen in the beginning of the movie and why the house was on fire.
The movie then fast-forwards to the present day. A blonde woman named Polly Murphy (played by Maika Monroe), who’s in her late 20s or early 30s, is being interviewed in an office by housing-rights attorney Caitlin Morales (played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead), who is also blonde and is about 10 years older than Polly. Caitlin is also about eight or nine months pregnant at the time of this interview.
Based on the conversation, Caitlin’s law firm is currently doing an “open house” event for potential clients who have legal disputes related to housing. Polly is apparently gearing up for a legal fight with her landlord, who raised the rent to an amount that Polly can no longer afford. Polly recently lost her job as a nanny because the family who hired her has moved away. Polly thinks the rate of the landlord’s rent increase is unfair and illegal.
Polly tells Caitlin that Polly also had to drop out of a school program that trains people on early childhood education because Polly can no longer afford the tuition. Caitlin assures Polly that Caitlin’s law firm does a lot of pro bono (free) work for people who can’t afford the law firm’s services. Polly notices that Caitlin is pregnant (“You look like you’re ready to pop,” Polly says tactlessly) and asks Caitlin to consider hiring Polly as a nanny if Caitlin needs a nanny.
About six or seven months later, Caitlin’s second daughter Josie Morales (played by twins Nora Contreras and Lola Contreras) has been born. Caitlin and her husband Miguel Morales (played by Raúl Castillo) have another daughter: 10-year-old Emma Morales (played by Mileiah Vega), who is prone to having temper tantrums. Emma and Caitlin have not been getting along with each other for an unspecified period of time.
Miguel’s occupation is unclear. The husband’s job is not relevant to the story, compared to how the husband’s job was part of a plot development in the 1992 version of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle.” In both movies, the family lives in an upper-middle-class home. And whatever the household income is, the family can afford to hire a nanny. That’s what happens when Caitlin is at a farmer’s market with her kids, Caitlin sees Polly again, and Caitlin decides to hire Polly as the family’s nanny.
Polly says she’s still looking for a job, so Caitlin takes up Polly’s offer to be the family’s nanny when Caitlin sees how friendly Polly is with Josie and Emma. Polly provides a work reference to Caitlin: a woman named Rosanna (played by Shannon Cochran), who says that she used to employ Polly as a nanny. Caitlin calls Rosanna, who gives a glowing recommendation about Polly. Rosanna describes Polly as “amazing” and says about Polly: “She really became part of our family.”
The next hour of this 104-minute movie then drags with repetition. Polly secretly puts medication in food to make Caitlin, Emma and Josie sick. Caitlin (who cooks the family’s food) feels guilty because she thinks she’s being an irresponsible mother. Meanwhile, Polly earns the trust of Emma, who seems to like Polly a lot more than Emma likes Caitlin. Polly (who describes herself as being orphaned when she was a child) tells Emma that when Polly lived as a ward of the state in her childhood, she was fed only tuna and could only eat it from a tin can.
When Polly can no longer afford her rent, Caitlin invites Polly to live in the family’s guest house. Caitlin eventually gets suspicious of Polly because Polly defies Caitlin’s orders. Miguel thinks that Caitlin is being paranoid. Caitlin had some sort of nervous breakdown after Emma was born, so Miguel thinks Caitlin is experiencing something similar after the recent birth of Josie. These scenarios are presented as mostly monotonous conversations. The movie’s irritating music score by Ariel Marx sounds like it belongs in an industrial nightclub, not a movie that’s supposed to be a suspensful thriller.
Caitlin and Miguel don’t have a lot of close friends. Their closest friends (and the only friends who hang out with Caitlin and Miguel in this story) are a married couple named Stewart (played by Martin Starr) and Bethany (played by Riki Lindhome), who are a little bit snobby and pretentious. Stewart is a doctor and puts his medical knowledge to use later in the film. Miguel’s parents Javí Morales (played by Rafael Sigler) and Marta Morales (played by Elena Campbell-Martinez) are too far away to visit in person, but they are briefly seen in a video chat. Caitlin’s parents are not seen in the movie.
Early on in the movie, Polly mentions that she dates women and is currently “talking” to a woman who might end up being a love interest for Polly. Caitlin then mentions that Caitlin was dating a woman when Caitlin met Miguel. Polly says she’s not surprised because she says Caitlin gives off “that vibe.” Unlike the nanny in 1992 version of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” the nanny in the 2025 version of the movie doesn’t plan to seduce anyone to break up a marriage—even though the 2025 movie has a few tepid and unconvincing attempts to make it look like there’s sexual tension between Polly and Caitlin.
Later, Polly invites her “friend” Amelia (played by Yvette Lu) over as Polly’s date when the family is having a small dinner party. After the party, Caitlin sees Polly having sex with Amelia in Polly’s bedroom and watches them through a window. Polly notices that Caitlin is watching and somewhat smirks. What does this sex scene have to do with the main story? Absolutely nothing. It’s just an example of how this dreadful movie has time-wasting scenes.
Another queerness scene that has no bearing on the plot is when Emma comes out as a lesbian to her parents while they are having a family dinner. Caitlin gets upset because she thinks Emma is too young to know what Emma’s sexual identity is. That’s about all you’ll learn about Emma, who is very underwritten as a character. Even though Caitlin is queer herself, Caitlin blames Polly for trying to influence Emma into prematurely declaring Emma’s lesbian identity. This movie has a misguided way of trying to make queerness look “provocative,” and queerness is misused as an irrelevant distraction in this movie’s boring plot.
In “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle,” the nanny has a secret motive for wanting to be the family’s nanny. This version of “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” doesn’t reveal that motive until the last third of the movie. The 1992 version of the movie had a family-employed handyman named Solomon (played by Ernie Hudson), who figures out before the family does that the nanny is devious. There is no handyman character in the 2025 version of the movie, but it’s not really spoiler information to say that Stewart has the role of the person who is the first one to find out some damning information about the nanny.
The movie’s screenplay is so lackluster, most of the cast members of 2025’s “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” just seem like they’re sleepwalking through their roles. Monroe has a vacant stare for most of her performance and acts more like someone who’s spaced out on painkillers instead of someone who should be laser-focused on causing havoc through a revenge scheme. Worst of all: These characters are so underdeveloped, by the time the mayhem starts and concludes in a very stereotypical way, most viewers won’t really care about seeing these characters again after the movie ends.
Hulu premiered “The Hand That Rocks the Cradle” on October 22, 2025.