Rebecca de Mornay does Bunny Boiler duties in this little film. She stars as Peyton whose gynaecologist husband Dr Moss sexually molests Claire Bartel (Annabel Sciorra) whilst she is pregnant. He shoots himself to avoid disgrace and his wife, who is also pregnant loses her baby through the stress of it all. This drives Peyton into Bunny Boiler territory and she applies as a nanny to the Bartels. Her interview is successful and she insinuates herself more and more into their lives - breast feeding the baby, being mean to the educationally subnormal handyman. As time goes on, her behaviour becomes more sinister. Claire suffers from severe asthma and Peyton fiddles with her inhalers to endanger Claire's life. The only person who cops on to Peyton's nefarious ways is Claire's friend played by Julianne Moore. However, she meets a grisly end before she can inform the Bartels of Peyton's true intentions. And Peyton is determined that she will be the next Mrs Bartel. It is now a matter of the Bartels pitting their wits against a murderous Peyton when they find out about her Bunny Boiler ways. Another good fun 90 minutes to entertain you, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a fairly absorbing story with a good performance by Rebecca de Mornay as the killer nanny. It is all a little far fetched but it is easy to enter into the swing of things and enjoy Rebecca de Mornay doing a villainous turn as Peyton. I did have a certain amount of sympathy for her despite her bunny boiling antics. She found out her husband was a pervert and then he kills himself. Peyton suffers a harrowing miscarriage and is inconsolable after the death of the child. This is what feeds into her psychopathic behaviour and it is hard not to feel sorry for her over these losses, or at the very least empathise with her. Maybe I am being too soft on Peyton, but at least we know her traumatic history which puts some perspective on her behaviour through the film. Plus the Bartels are a really annoying, smug family and it is fun to watch Peyton wreak havoc in their midst. So the film is really the Rebecca de Mornay show with the rest of the characters boring as heck, especially Claire who has an asthma attack if someone looks sideways at her (no offence to asthmatics).
My first film watched was Carrie aged 2 on my dad's knee. Educated at The University of St Andrews and Trinity College Dublin. Fan of Arthouse, Exploitation, Horror, Euro Trash, Giallo, New French Extremism. Weaned at the bosom of a Russ Meyer starlet. The bleaker, artier or sleazier the better!
