Watch The Hand that Rocks the Cradle For Free

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Funny, strange, confrontational and subversive, this is one of the most interesting experiences you'll have at the cinema this year.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

There are moments in this movie where the great movie it could've been peek out... They're fleeting, here, but they're worth savoring, and they happen often enough to make it worth your while.

I have seen this film many times now and know exactly what is gonna happen. But it still creeps me out.The suspense is so terrifyingly good because the tension is built up very slowly.Many movies have been made wherein an ideal family gets threatened by outside forces. But "The Hand that rocks the Cradle" is more evil because the harm comes from inside the family: the trusted blonde and blue eyed babysitter. I give nothing away relating to the plot, because all of this is explained in the very opening of the movie: the babysitter has an evil agenda. The only question is: will she succeed or fail in destroying this ideal family? This movie is the ultimate popcorn movie. One cliche on top of the other, but it is done so excellent that it becomes one of the best suspense movies of the entire nineties, comparable to "Fatal Atraction". That movie got all the awards but The Hand that rocks the Cradle is equally thrilling but got none. It was however a big box office hit back then. I still have got the shivers writing about it. And I am not easily shaken. Seen many thrilling movies and didnt blink an eye, but "The Hand that rocks the Cradle" is special because it uses everyday people we think we can trust as our hidden enemies! Because everything starts out so peachy and lovely you easily fall into the trap that you let your guard down. And then the upcoming evil hits you harder, because your heart got softened by earlier scenes with lovely playing children, suddenly followed by hideous manipulative frenzy from the babysitter. Great suspense stuff. This movie will creep up on you, but be reassured, this movie will still make you feel good! But dont watch it at night lol...

Sorry for the lousy pun but a nanny-themed movie starring Madeline Zima was asking for it, now, let the review start. You have a good typical American Family made of a handsome blue-eyed scientist with a sexy beard, played by an actor whose fame didn't rise much since the film, a frail devoted asthmatic housewife who looks like the twin sister of Talia Shire with a nicer hairdo, played by Annabella Sciorra, and a smart little girl (Zima), that's for the initial picture, and this happy family is looking for a nanny to take care of their newborn son and brother, so that Claire (the wife) can take care of a greenhouse project. Kind of a boring premise ... but there's more spicy elements about this family, and it's all wrapped up in the first 15 minutes, like a script school-case.During a visit, Claire was victim of sexual abuse from her gynecologist, she sued him, other mothers complained, he killed himself, his wife played by Rebecca De Mornay didn't inherit the money and what's more, she has a miscarriage in the process, and become permanently sterile. To call it a strike of 'bad luck' would be the understatement of the millennium. Still, in her bad luck, while watching the news, she could catch the name and face of that woman who was indirectly responsible for all the personal mayhem she went through. You gotta wonder what the TV and police were thinking. Anyway, now, guess who's gonna offer his services for the nanny job?Good thriller always rely on simple concept. "The Hand That Rocks the Cradle" is no exception, it was an unexpected hit in 1992, the same year of a similarly themed film "Single White Female". Both are based on the same "Stranger Within" concept, when the lives of an ordinary family or group of persons are affected by the entrance of a next- door stranger, and it is a source of heart-pounding psychological thrills that was made started with "Fatal Attraction" and "Misery". The "Stranger Within" thriller is almost a synonym of 'fatal attraction'... in fact, the film could have as a tag-line "Fatal Attraction with a Nanny", just like "Single White Female" was "Fatal Attraction with a Roommate".So, there are reasons though why this film wasn't as memorable as the one with Glenn Close, the surprise effect asked for more tricks and it's likely that the ones used in the film never really catch the audience off guard. Rewatching the film myself after 15 years, I realized that the realism, as used in Curtis Hanson's film, was made of the self- canceling effect between things happening too conveniently well for the villainess for the first three quarters, and then for the good guys in the last one. The evolution of the narrative is so schematically well-oiled that even the greatest effects are still attenuated by their predictability. It wows at times but hardly with a major 'w'.Just to give you an idea, my younger brother who has seen less movies than I (ten years younger) immediately guessed that the big black retarded guy (played by the only Ghostbuster whose name is hardly remembered) was gonna be the last-minute hero, needless to say that he harbored a triumphant smile when at the climax, the poor daddy broke his legs and was immediately disqualified from the final confrontation. Anyone could've guess that but he also predicted that the slutty evil baby sitter would frame him so that he can be expelled from the house, and that was impressive.He still enjoyed the film and I still did, but it is true that, suspension of disbelief was too demanding. So many things go totally wrong as soon as Peyton, the baby sitter makes her entrance that it's a wonder how Claire can't reassemble the pieces of he puzzle. She wants to wear a sexy dress, but she finds a last-minute stain and then puts the something that looks like extracted from the wall cover of a grandma's house. But let's say she's naive and at least, the character of the friend Marlene, played by sexy Julianne Moore never really trusted Peyton, but then how about a missing application letter, how about the sudden change of behavior of her daughter. But let's just say that, given how these tricks work, and how efficient they are in their frustrating effects, I accept them for the sake of what I expect from a B-movie thriller.Still, there are three things I can't really forgive and that could've been easily avoided, Peyton could have faked a resume, after all the troubles that affected Claire's family, they would take some precautions and not let any stranger entering their world, just like that. Secondly, I don't think a woman who didn't have a child, much more sterile, can breast-feed a baby, and last but not least, the depiction of asthma. Not only these wheezing noises were annoying because they were never matching Clair's chests' movements, but when you decide that your movie will have a main character suffering from asthma, is it too much asking some tutorial about the proper use of an inhaler. All she did was making a quick click, she never put the inhaler in her mouth and it didn't feel as if she was inhaling anything.If you care for realism, the film might not be your cup of tea, but that's not a reason to dismiss it, "Fatal Attraction", as a milestone as it was (and it wasn't) had its more-or- less ridiculously unrealistic parts. So, Hanson's film is enjoyable for what it serves well, a solid villainous performance, and an eerie sometimes sexy atmosphere that creates a well-packaged average psychological thriller, that's all, but as far as realism is concerned, well, it's not a good sign when a film is an inspiration for these hilarious '100 THings I learned" threads ...

Michael (Matt McCoy) and Claire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra) take on mentally handicapped Solomon (Ernie Hudson) to build the fence. They have a girl and she's pregnant with their second. She is molested by her new doctor Victor Mott (John de Lancie). She reports him along with other women and he shoots himself before the trial. Mott's pregnant wife (Rebecca De Mornay) loses her family wealth and her baby. Mrs. Mott vows revenge on Claire and becomes her nanny as Peyton Flanders. Claire's friend Marlene (Julianne Moore) warns her as Mrs. Mott wage a secret campaign against Claire.This is probably more scary for parents and especially mothers. This is simply geared more towards that demographic. For others, it needs something more than this straight forward thriller. I think it would be more compelling to start the movie with De Mornay as a mysterious woman. Claire can uncover her history along with the audience. De Mornay is pretty good with a restrained intensity and volcanic outbursts. This is a bit too slow but there is just enough tension.

I've only seen this movie once, and I remember just how good it was, one trademark scene, having Julianne Moore buy it in that glasshouse, where for some, you could be turned off for walking into one, ever again. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (a great title) is another Fatal Attraction, Single White Female, etc, kind of film/thriller, but what's so good here, is the believable revenge scenario, that really follows through, with good planning in it's catalyst, and acting talent, De Mornay, our new revenge driven femme fatale, proves she can play bad, good. We can't help feel a bit sorry for her, in light of her very damaging tragedy, brought on by her lover's suicide. It was something, that came back to bite this late gynocologist, whatever, with his unlawful advances towards patient (Sciorra) who's character just happens to be asthmatic, but hey, it can happen top the best of us. Wait till you see who her gynocologist is (another familiar face, from another popular daytime soapie, who's always used in small roles. She was gonna report him to the police, so he took the easy way out. Now we have a new psycho nanny, under a smiling, loving facade of normalcy, that bellies a hate driven woman, determined to see Sciorra suffer, by taking what she has, because of what she herself, has been robbed of, which includes Sciorra's husband (Matt Mccoy, a very underrated actor). It was a surprise top see hi turn up in this. This whole retrieving angle, all makes sense, when you see it from our "flip a switch" character, Mornay, where we know, what her ultimate intention is, all too clearly. De Mornay, really has a a screw loose alright, and her character is fun to watch. She even gets physical with a little boy who's bullying Sciorra's little girl, and that dire and clear as crystal threat she gives to that retarded green keeper of Sciorra's (versatile Ernie Hudson) is dialogue I'll never forget. This is a solid driven thriller all the way. The movie sets out what it intends to do, it's intentions never clearer, though we really wonder what's playing around in the diabolical mind of De Mornay. But she's set a new score with her unforgettable and scary performance in a thriller, you must see at least once once. I would of seen this again, but this particular movie was actually copy protected. Them's the brakes.