The Hand That Rocks the Cradle

"Trust is her weapon. Innocence her opportunity. Revenge her only desire."

1992 1h 50m EN

👍

6.9

SOLID

★6.9TMDB · 1,064

DramaThriller

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A suburban family chooses seemingly sweet Peyton Flanders as their newborn's nanny. Only much later does the infant's mother, Claire Bartel, realize Peyton's true intentions -- to destroy Claire and replace her in the family. The nail-biting suspense builds quickly in this chilling psychological thriller about deception and bitter revenge.

“Trust is her weapon. Innocence her opportunity. Revenge her only desire.”

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Cast

Annabella Sciorra
Claire Bartel
Rebecca De Mornay
Mrs. Mott / Peyton Flanders
Matt McCoy
Michael Bartel
Ernie Hudson
Solomon
Madeline Zima
Emma Bartel
Julianne Moore
Marlene Craven
John de Lancie
Dr. Victor Mott
Kevin Skousen
Marty Craven

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Curtis Hanson
Writers: Amanda Silver
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Made its money back 7.5× over at the box office.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

34 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Curtis Hanson, shot by Robert Elswit. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Graeme Revell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor John F. Link shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Annabella Sciorra and Rebecca De Mornay and Matt McCoy carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Trust is her weapon. Innocence her opportunity. Revenge her only desire.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

WILD

Did you know

IMDB entry: tt0104389 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Curtis Hanson directs. Robert Elswit behind the camera. Graeme Revell scores. John F. Link cuts. Made its budget back several times over at the box office. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Made its money back 7.5× over at the box office.
234 years old — old enough to be someone's favourite childhood film.
3Directed by Curtis Hanson, shot by Robert Elswit. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
4Original score by Graeme Revell. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
5Editor John F. Link shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
6Annabella Sciorra and Rebecca De Mornay and Matt McCoy carry the top of the cast.
7Marketing tagline: "Trust is her weapon. Innocence her opportunity. Revenge her only desire.".
8IMDB entry: tt0104389 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
9Classified under 12 themes, including "rage and hate", "loss of loved one", "nanny", "destroy".

The technical file

Cinematography: Robert Elswit
Original score: Graeme Revell
Editing: John F. Link
Production design: Edward Pisoni
Costume design: Jennifer von Mayrhauser
Makeup / hair: Nina Paskowitz
Sound: Richard Portman
Stunt coordinator: John Moio
Runtime: 110 min · 1h 50m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $11,700,000
Box office: $88,036,683
Return: 752% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): R
IMDB: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992)

Awards

MTV Movie Award for Best Villain

Individual records documented via Wikidata; the summary above may count more.

Also by

Curtis Hanson

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

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Wallpaper

Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

Wuchak2019-12-19
★ 6/10
The nanny from hell in the Seattle area A well-to-do couple in the Puget Sound region (Matt McCoy & Annabella Sciorra) hires a nanny not knowing that she has axes to grind (Rebecca De Mornay). Ernie Hudson plays a mentally challenged laborer while Julianne Moore is on hand as the wife’s best friend. "The Hand that Rocks the Cradle" (1992) is a drama/thriller in the mold of contemporaneous flicks like “The Stepfather” (1987) and “The Crush” (1993). The events even take place in the same area as those. While it’s the least of these, it’s not far off in overall quality. It has a bit of a Lifetime movie vibe and the serviceable Sciorra doesn’t trip my trigger while De Mornay’s character is a turn-off because she’s obviously nutzoid. Meanwhile Moore superbly plays a biyatch while McCoy is ineffectual as the hubby. The locations are fabulous, however. The movie runs 1 hour, 50 minutes, and was shot in Seattle, Tacoma and Issaquah, Washington. GRADE: B-/C+
CinemaSerf2022-09-18
★ 7/10
For a while, Rebecca de Mornay is quite menacing as the live-in nanny "Peyton". She is hired by "Claire" (Annabella Sciorra) and her husband "Michael" (Matt McCoy) to look after their baby. Initially all kind and helpful, we soon begin to suspect that she has another agenda - and that she will stop at nothing to attain it! Sadly, after about twenty minutes the story rather settles into a predictable pattern as she gradually manipulates the family, exploits and creates some cracks in the marriage (or tries to, anyway) before a denouement that is really rather weak and takes just a bit to long to arrive. The production is maybe just a bit too pristine, too sterile, to sustain the sense of peril and the dialogue is just too wordy with scenarios taking too long to cook. Still, it's quite watchable film just one that I think has dated rather over the last thirty years into a mediocre television thriller.