Hulu Sets Oct. 22 Release for The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Remake, Trailer Released
With Spooky Season right around the corner, every studio and streaming service in Hollywood is letting us know what new thrills and chills we can expect in the coming month. Hulu has decided to dust off The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, a once-successful but now almost-forgotten ’90s thriller, giving us a remake that will star Maika Monroe. Monroe is an actress best known for doing her best to vanquish the forces of evil in It Follows and last year’s Longlegs; this time, she’ll be the one to watch out for.
A Successful (in Its Day) Thriller, Standalone Until Now
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a rare example of a standalone thriller that was a smashing success but still remained standalone. Released in 1992, it tells the story of a widow (Rebecca De Mornay) who suffers a stress-induced miscarriage after her husband, a sexually predatory obstetrician, commits suicide to avoid arrest; seeking vengeance, the widow poses as a nanny to infiltrate the household of the victim (Anabella Sciorra) who exposed her late husband.
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle was fairly well-received critically, and it was one of the most successful films of its year in terms of its budget-to-gross ratio. It was also remade the following year in India – in 1993, the same premise was used for a Hindi-language film called Khal-Naaikaa (Lady Villain). However, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle never got any sequels, and Hulu’s forthcoming remake will be the first one made by Hollywood.
Two Veteran Scream Queens Lead the Cast
In Hulu’s The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, of course, the Rebecca De Mornay role has gone to Maika Monroe. Her unsuspecting victim will be played by Mary Elizabeth Winstead, who has quite the track record in the horror genre herself. Back in 2006, she played the final girl of Final Destination 3 and one of the sorority victims in the Black Christmas remake. The subsequent year, she had a small but very disturbing role (as a would-be victim, not a villain) in Quentin Tarantino’s grindhouse throwback Death Proof. Her more recent horror films include Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter (2012) and 10 Cloverfield Lane (2016).
Other actors in The Hand That Rocks the Cradle will include Raúl Castillo as the husband of Caitlin Morales (Winstead), Riki Lindhome (2009’s The Last House on the Left), and Shannon Cochran (The Ring).
A Pretty Faithful-Looking and Very Chilling Remake
Trailer for The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, Courtesy of 20th Century Studios
Hulu’s trailer for The Hand That Rocks the Cradle dropped on September 23. From this trailer, it appears that we can expect a remake that stays quite true to the 1992 original. Caitlin and Miguel (Castillo) have a daughter, Emma (Mileiah Vega), who looks about 18 months old; the beginning of the trailer sees Caitlin calling another family and receiving a glowing reference in regard to Polly Murphy (Monroe). “She’s amazing,” the other mother says, “Really became a part of our family.”
Caitlin is sold on this new nanny, whom she promptly hires. At first, Polly certainly appears warm, charming, and a very comforting caretaker for Emma. The trailer’s first sinister note comes when Polly walks away from the crying, unattended Emma and goes over to a mirror, into which she stares with an expression of mounting rage before slapping her own face. “What do you know about her?” queries a character named Stewart (Martin Starr), “besides what she’s told you.”
From here, the trailer’s tone quickly grows more ominous. We see Polly peering into Caitlin and Miguel’s room as they sleep; we hear Caitlin voicing suspicions about her, in part because she spends hours at a time alone with their daughter in Emma’s room; we see Polly making a “Shh” gesture to Emma. (Years must pass in the movie’s time frame, because Emma now looks close to six years old). Like all too many husbands in the horror genre, Miguel doesn’t seem to be listening to Caitlin’s warnings. “You’re struggling again,” he tells her.
More time goes by, Emma gets older, and it becomes apparent that Polly is grooming her to turn her against her mother. “Your mom’s pretending to be someone else,” Polly declares. “Who is she?” asks Emma, whose expression is horrifyingly credulous. Eventually, she declares to Caitlin, “I’m going with her!” while Polly waits outside in a car with a smug expression.
Ultimately, Polly drops any pretense of being well-intentioned, even to her fellow adults. “I know you’re their friend,” she tells Stewart, “But this feels like my house now.” “What I want,” she hisses at Caitlin, “is for you to rot in Hell.” The latter part of the trailer contains shots of Polly attempting to strangle Caitlin, and vice versa. Naturally, we’ll have to wait for the movie’s October 22 release date to find out who will prevail in this contest of choke-or-be-choked.
