The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
Suburban couple Caitlin and Miguel Morales hire seemingly sweet Polly to take care of their newborn baby. But Polly's true motives have little to do with singing lullabies — much to the horror of the couple.
rg9400 reviewedOctober 26, 2025
I watched this movie entirely because of Maika Monroe who I feel is extremely talented despite being often relegated to horror movies only. This movie isn't exactly horror, and while I recognize it is a remake, it also feels very familiar to other movies within this genre. I think you can more or less predict high level plot beats, but the movie spends a lot of time before the shoe finally drops. I think I personally got antsy waiting for it to finally get to the point, and I don't think anything this movie will be doing will feel particularly new or innovative, often times feeling a bit soapy instead of really standing out amongst the rest of the movies in this genre. I do think the plot had potential to go beyond these trappings, but it just takes way too long to go to those interesting places. It does get kind of fun at the end where the movie has no issue becoming slightly campy and over the top. The real draw of this movie is the acting. Maika Monroe is excellent as usual, but I actually was surprised by Mary Elizabeth Winstead who I did not recognize at all. Both play off each other really well, and they oscillate between campy and grounded really well. I think they make this movie a lot more interesting than it really was, and it's a shame that the script could not support them. Also, if you are into interior design, this movie has a lot of shots and focus on that for some reason. Overall, it didn't feel like a waste of time because of the actresses, but it did feel like it wasted the talent of the actresses.