The Hand That Rocks The Cradle Review: The ‘90s Thriller That Made You Fear Nannies Gets A Makeover — Minus The Bite

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (R21)

Starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Maika Monroe, Raúl Castillo, Martin Starr

Directed by Michelle Garza Cervera

The 1992 psychological thriller The Hand That Rocks the Cradle — produced by Disney, back when it was churning out R-rated, idiosyncratic fare — did for nannies what Jaws did for swimming. Annabella Sciorra played a new mum who unknowingly hires a live-in helper (Rebecca De Mornay) from hell. As beloved as the movie is, it has one Death Star-sized plot hole: why didn’t anyone run a background check on their new hire? It would’ve saved everyone a lot of grief and mayhem. Then again, this was the early ‘90s — pre-mobile phone, pre-Internet — so we’ll let that slide. Three decades on, the inevitable reboot, starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Maika Monroe (channelling Brittany Murphy-esque unhingedness) in the respective roles, kinda-sorta fixes the problem. A slight change to the reason for the animosity aside, the plot remains the same: the nanny goes all out to tear her employer’s family apart by gaslighting her and driving a wedge between mother and her rebellious teenage daughter. Should anyone (hello, Martin Starr!) get in her way, homicide is an option. By made-for-streaming standards, the thrills are okay — rather tame, actually. Maybe the Koreans should have a go at remaking it — they don’t mess around when it comes to mixing revenge and melodrama. (2.5/5 stars) on Disney+

Photos: 20th Century Studios

The Resurrected (M18)

Starring Shu Qi, Lee Sinje, Alyssa Chia, Sukollawat Kanaros, Patrick Nattawat Finkler

Directed by Leste Chen, Hsu Chao-jen

Netflix’s hit Taiwanese series is a real oddity — part supernatural, part crime drama — that starts off as “what the hell?” and ends on a “what the f***?” note. Powerhouses Shu Qi and Lee Sinje play two mothers who turn to black magic to resurrect a recently executed human trafficker (Fu Meng Po) — all to avenge their daughters who fell victim to him. It plays like Les Diaboliques meets The Lazarus Effect, except that the moment the evil dead rises, the story ditches the supernatural to focus on the crime angle, which unfolds largely in the fictional Southeast Asian nation of Benkha (with Thailand as the stand-in). Which is, like I said, odd — because no one, not even the dead, seems the least bit curious about how he’s back among the living. And it gets better: the resurrected has only seven days on Earth before he turns to ash. Yet you never feel the urgency — it’s as if the characters have weeks, even months, to spare. (The flashbacks make the timeline even more confusing.) Doesn’t matter, really, because the crime aspects are intriguing enough (though some of the twists are a tad convenient and contrived) as the vigilante mums uncover a pseudo-religious sect fronting money laundering — and the disheartening fact that their daughters aren’t as innocent as they’d thought. So much so, the paranormal element feels almost superfluous, as if included only to bait viewers into a second season. (3/5 stars) on Netflix

Photo: Netflix