The Hand That Rocks The Cradle 1992

Dave Kehr, Chicago Tribune: Unpretentious and efficient. Read more

Peter Rainer, Los Angeles Times: At its best, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle is a bright, nasty psychological thriller with a joker up its sleeve. Read more

Jay Boyar, Orlando Sentinel: The careful structure of THTRTC guarantees that the movie will generate a fair amount of suspense throughout. But the single-mindedness of the movie is a genuine limitation, and, watching it, you begin to feel spoon-fed. Read more

Carrie Rickey, Philadelphia Inquirer: The film is unusually gripping. Read more

Michael Upchurch, Seattle Times: This is De Mornay's film and she's a wicked treat, looking daggers at her enemy one moment and then glazing over with sweetness the next. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: Cradle is the kind of cheap thrill you hate yourself for responding to. But director Curtis Hanson and a terrific cast provide enough scary fun to make Cradle the first fright-night hit of '92. Read more

Vincent Canby, New York Times: Hanson creates the occasionally effective shock effect to satisfy those who want to squeal in mock fright. More often the devices he uses are such tired tricks... to create the illusion of suspense that can't be sustained. Read more

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader: Curtis Hanson's direction and Amanda Silver's screenplay are both models of no-flab craft and intelligence, and all the actors (who also include Ernie Hudson and Julianne Moore) are believable from the first frame to the last. Read more

Owen Gleiberman, Entertainment Weekly: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle keeps you watching, yet this oddly somber thriller is really just a transparent chain of contrivances; it's all stunts, all concept. Read more

David Ansen, Newsweek: Peyton plays upon Claire's deepest anxieties -- her sexual insecurity, her fear of child molesters -- to vicious effect. Hanson and Silver manipulate our anxieties no less adeptly, but a good deal more playfully. Read more

Michael Sragow, New Yorker: With its banal, docile household threatened by an enemy within, the film is like The Stepfather without wit or irony. Read more

Colette Maude, Time Out: As the film progresses, malicious schemes and loony excesses are combined, with Hanson's self-conscious direction rendering one particularly sensational murder even more implausible. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: A low-key thriller that will make baby boomers double-check the references of any prospective nanny. Read more

Rita Kempley, Washington Post: This anti-feminist parable is both a labor and a pain. Read more