History Film / TheHandThatRocksTheCradle

* SurpriseParty: Planned by Peyton, it's not surprising it doesn't go well.

** She also scares the hell out a bratty little boy who was bullying Emma.

* AdultFear: That your doctor, someone you are supposed to be able to have the utmost trust in, could use that trust violate you when you're at your most vulnerable. It doesn't help knowing that this happens frequently in RealLife. Claire is just flat-out lucky that other women had the nerve to come forward once she did. In so many other instances they don't, whether out of the typical shame and fear experienced by assault victims or the confusion or uncertainty as to whether or not anything improper really happened.

* SurprizeParty: It doesn't go well.

* ChekhovsGun: The wind chimes at both houses. The baby monitor, which saved the baby. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Peyton had used it throughout the movie to eavesdrop on the Bartels.]] And Claire's asthma. After repeated attacks throughout the film, she ''fakes'' one in order tho throw Peyton off guard.

* WouldHurtAChild: In one scene Peyton is shown to be intending to smother baby Joe with a pillow. [[spoiler: Subverted when she decides instead breast-feed him.]]

* FirstGirlWins: Averted. During a chat with Peyton, Claire reveals that Marlene was Micheal's first love. Armed with this plus Claire's obvious lingering insecurity, this becomes yet another thing Peyton uses to her advantage.

* MistakenForCheating: Claire discovers Marlene's cigarette lighter in Micheal's pants pocket, not knowing that Peyton has planted it there. Between this and the several nights that he has supposedly been working late, she deduces that they've been having an affair and confronts him about it by screaming her head off at him, not knowing that an entire room full of party guests is there to celebrate her birthday--their sneaking around was to plan the event.

* HotMom + HotDad: Michael and Claire.

* UnwittingPawn: Claire, oh so much.

* InfantImmortality: Averted with Peyton's baby. Subverted with Claire's baby Joey, whom she nearly smothers before thinking better of it and instead deciding to take over Claire's life.

Dr. Mott's widow (Rebecca De Mornay), after losing her child from the stress of her husband's suicide, vows revenge on Claire's family, and sets herself up as a nanny that the family hires, not knowing her true identity. Now calling herself Peyton Flanders, Mrs. Mott begins working covertly to bring the family down.

* BabysitterFromHell

* MamaBear: Claire is this in full force once she discovers what Peyton really is.

* WouldHurtAChild: In one scene Peyton is shown to be intending to smother baby Joe with a pillow. [[spoiler: Subverted when she decides instead breast-feed him.]]
* {{Yangire}}: Peyton, a particular frightening one.

* InfantImmortality: Averted hard with Peyton's baby. Subverted with Claire's baby Joey, whom she nearly smothers before thinking better of it and instead deciding to take over Claire's life.

* {{Frameup}}: Knowing that he's on to her,Peyton considers it convenient to get rid of Solomon, so she steals the panties of her employer's five-year-old daughter and plants them in his room. With this "evidence" in place, she starts accusing him of pedophilia. At the end, he goes PapaWolf to protect the baby when Peyton assaults Claire.

* IllGirl: Claire suffers from asthma and repeated attacks throughout the film. Leads to an inverted ChekhovsSkill when she ''fakes'' an attack in order to throw Peyton off guard.

* InspirationallyDisadvantaged[=/=]MagicalNegro: Solomon. Mentally retarded, yet a skilled carpenter and suspicious of Peyton as well, and even after being fired (thanks to Peyton convincing Claire that he's molesting her daughter Emma), he continues to hang around the house, ultimately playing a key role in saving the family during the final confrontation.

* TheyLookJustLikeEveryoneElse: The good-looking Motts--he's a sexually abusive pervert using his position as a physician to molest women, while she's a vengeful madwoman (even if one can argue that she was driven mad by the near-simultaneous loss of her husband and unborn child).
** Also all her money and her home and anything else she has due to the lawsuits against her husband.

* {{Yandere}}: Peyton, a particular frightening one.

* WouldHurtAChild: In one scene Peyton is shown to be intending to smother baby Joe with a pillow. [[spoiler: She decides instead breast-feed him.]]

* {{Frameup}}: Peyton considers it convenient to get rid of Solomon, so she steals the panties of her employer's five-year-old daughter and plants them in his room. With this "evidence" in place, she starts accusing him of pedophilia. At the end, he goes PapaWolf to protect the baby when Peyton assaults Claire.

* ChekhovsGun: The wind chimes at both houses. The baby monitor, which saved the baby. [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Peyton had used it throughout the movie to eavesdrop on the Bartels.]]

* MagicalNegro: Solomon. Despite being mentally retarded, he's suspicious of Peyton as well, and even after being fired (thanks to Peyton convincing Claire that he's molesting her daughter Emma), he continues to hang around the house, ultimately playing a key role in saving the family during the final confrontation.

* OneSceneWonder: John Delancie as Dr Mott.

Claire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra) is pregnant with her second child. At a routine checkup, Claire is molested by an obstetrician, Dr. Victor Mott (John de Lancie), and when Claire tells her husband (Matt McCoy), the couple decide to report the incident to the authorities. Four more women come forward to corroborate the Bartels' story and Dr. Mott commits suicide.

''The Hand That Rocks the Cradle'' is a 1992 American thriller about a vengeful nanny out to destroy a naïve woman and steal her family.