The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (2025) Ending explained - What was Polly's plan?

Welcome to Knockout Horror and to our The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (2025) Ending Explained article. Did you check this movie out as part of Huluween and wonder what the hell was going on? Today, we explain the muddled ending of The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (2025). Find out who Polly really was, her tragic past, and what that final scene with Emma actually meant.

There’s probably a bunch of websites that have already knocked this article out but that’s not going to stop me. I know there are plenty of people who come here for my take over some of those bigger websites that outsource their content to AI and disinterested freelancers so I am forever committed to you guys.

With that being said, I feel like this might be a bit of a monkey’s paw article for that one person who requested I explain the ending to this title a few months back. Especially given the fact that they probably meant the classic 1992 film not the fairly lousy Hulu remake. I will throw in some comparison stuff between the two movies coming up in just a second, though.

You can check out our review of The Hand That Rocks The Cradle right here. It’s spoiler free, unlike this ending explained, so be warned if you haven’t watched the movie yet. Alright, let’s go.

Caitlin’s a busy mum that needs help

We kick things off witnessing a flashback of a young girl watching a house burning to the ground. We learn, later on, that this is our movie’s antagonist, Polly Murphy (Maika Monroe) as a young girl. The house burning down is hers and her parents and younger sister are inside. They will all succumb to the flames and smoke, leaving her an orphan. This is going to play heavily into Polly’s story. She spent time in numerous foster homes and has no family to speak of.

Fast forward a decent number of years. Polly, now an adult, arrives at an event that matches people who are facing housing difficulties with attorneys who will fight their case completely free (pro bono). She recently lost her job as a nanny and is being threatened with eviction after her landlord raised her rent which she was unable to pay. Polly has been matched with the heavily pregnant Caitlin Morales (Mary Elizabeth Winstead).

Later, after the event is over, Caitlin goes into labour. A few months later, she is now a parent to two children and struggling to manage the burden. She is frustrated by people speeding down her street, eventually campaigning for a sign to indicate that people should slow down, and she needs help. Her older daughter, Emma, is also in a particularly rebellious phase which is making Caitlin’s life even more difficult.

Polly joins the household as a nanny

There’s a lot of stuff going on here that hints at a bit of a disconnect between Caitlin and Emma. Caitlin seems to struggle to get along with her and Emma feels like she doesn’t know her all that well. Caitlin also seems to clash on parenting style with her husband. Obviously, this stuff will come into play very shortly.

Meeting Polly, once again, at a farmer’s market, Caitlin decides to hire her as a nanny. She finds her easy to talk to and receives a positive reference from a woman called Rosanna who claims Polly cared for her child for a number of years and was amazing.

Polly takes Caitlin up on the offer and everything seems to start swimmingly. Caitlin has a strict routine involving no sugar, no microplastics, all organic food, only breast milk, and no junk food. Polly seems to have a sixth sense for this and immediately integrates into the household perfectly.

Polly gets along perfectly with both Caitlin’s husband Miguel and with her daughter Emma. She’s a natural with the baby, as well. Though we see an early hint at something strange being afoot when she remarks to the baby on not being allowed sugar.

We learn that Polly is a lesbian and Caitlin is bisexual, something which will be vaguely referenced later on. We also learn that Caitlin has a history of mental illness. She is taking, what appears to be, the anti-depressant SSRI medication venlafaxine, which suggests she suffers from depression. This will come into play later on.

Is Miguel attracted to Polly?

It quickly becomes obvious that Polly’s intentions are not completely pure. While out with the kids she gives them cupcakes and tells them not to tell their mum. This, obviously, begins a process of normalising keeping secrets between her and them. If they lie for her, they get rewarded. She also tells Emma about how she was treated poorly by her foster families.

There’s a few awkward scenes here that seem to hint at Polly attempting to seduce Miguel. Polly is, very clearly, not wearing a bra in at least one scene. I know not wearing bras is common but I don’t think this is coincidence, I think this is part of her attempting to seduce him.

When she is lying on the floor, it’s made very clear that she is trying to get his attention. She plays with the baby before turning over to talk to him with the camera panning towards her cleavage. It’s not very well executed, though, but she is clearly trying to tempt him.

Much of this confusion is a result of how the writer and director miss on some of the story’s more important points. Miguel is going to continually make exceptions for Polly and refuse to believe his wife over and over again. This is, likely, because he is very attracted to her. Just as she does with the kids, she shows him a lot of attention.

Polly poisons the family but why..?

While Caitlin is distracted by the fire alarm going off while she is cooking, Polly slips something into her food. This will, obviously, lead to the family becoming very sick. Everyone is throwing up, including the children. Polly didn’t actually eat any of the food but pretends that she is ill too. Josie even ends up in hospital due to dehydration. The obvious question here is why did Polly poison the food?

Well, she did this to make Caitlin feel even more incapable than she already does. It’s a form of gaslighting that helps to undermine her self-belief and make her think that she needs Polly even more than she really does. Making her far more necessary and essential. That way, when Polly mentions her housing situation, Caitlin would be more likely to allow her to move in because she is desperate not to lose her.

This will allow her to get much closer to the family and actually share in their living space. This is exactly what happens. Caitlin invites her to move into a little guest house on their property. This place kicks ass. These rich ass people in these Hollywood thrillers are so unbelievably unrelatable. Anyways, Polly moves in and that’s when things start to go very wrong

We instantly start to see that Polly is far from the doting carer that she claims to be. When Josie is crying, she just leaves her to roam the floor and doesn’t attend to her. Later that night, Polly massages a tense Caitlin. Again, this is a poorly constructed attempt to hint at the sexual tension between the pair.

The sexual tension is brewing..

This sexual tension continues, to a degree, later when Caitlin sees Polly sleeping and steals her sock playfully. Polly shocks Caitlin by reacting negatively to this, the first crack in her facade is beginning to show. Caitlin also notices an empty bottle of formula in the bin.

Confronting Polly, she admits to giving it to Josie as she was out of breast milk. Caitlin relates how they had discussed the topic of sugar but Polly denies it, again gaslighting Caitlin to make her feel unsure of herself. Director Michelle Garza Cervera wasted no time getting to the tension once Polly moved in.

The next night, after a job, Caitlin comes home to find that Polly had invited her girlfriend over and they are hanging out with Miguel and eating junk food. Caitlin is starting to feel alienated in her own home.

We see another hint of the brewing sexual tension later when Caitlin spies on Polly and her girlfriend being intimate. All in a manner which Caitlin will repeat later on with her husband, again reflecting her attraction to Polly. She is actively fantasising about her.

This should be a much bigger part of the plot but it isn’t. Caitlin is attracted to Polly which gives Polly even more control over her. Caitlin likely resents Miguel as she was in a relationship with a woman before meeting him. Her life changed massively then as she became pregnant. Polly gives her a small hint of that life she never got to have.

Caitlin is beginning to lose her grip.

We briefly see a conversation between Polly and Emma where Emma expresses her concern about her mum being sad and depressed. Polly tells her that her mum is actually angry and pretending to be something she isn’t. Obviously, this will play into the story much more later on.

Caitlin is becoming increasingly jittery and nervous. She is shaking and losing her grip on reality. We will later learn that this is due to the fact that Polly has replaced her anti-depressants with Methamphetamine. For now, it is presented as her simply suffering a mental breakdown.

At the dinner table, Emma suddenly brings up that she feels as though she is attracted to girls and not boys. Rather than accepting this, as Miguel does, Caitlin instead accuses Polly of putting ideas into her head. This further alienates Emma and angers her.

Miguel later suggests that perhaps Caitlin is jealous of the relationship Polly and Emma have. She tells him she is just scared to lose her before the pair have sex with Caitlin making Miguel touch her in the way Polly was touching her girlfriend. We also briefly see Polly filing down the meth pills to disguise them as Caitlin’s anti-depressants.

The firework that broke the camel’s back

At a new year’s celebration, Polly and Emma visit a man selling fireworks from the trunk of his car. Polly, obviously, buys one and gives it to Emma who sets it off in her bedroom. This sends Caitlin into a panic. She kicks Polly out for being dangerous and irresponsible despite Miguel’s pleas for leniency.

Bit of a strange thing to be okay with there, Miguel. Pretty sure anyone would be pissed if their nanny gave the kids a firework to set off in their bedroom. It’s not exactly normal behaviour, fella. My fiancée was miffed by this entire scene.

Polly goes to stay in a motel where we see a few scenes designed to indicate that she’s actually pretty whacky.. You know, as if all the firework stuff, poisoning the kids, and being a general nutjob wasn’t enough in the first place.

This is where it starts to make no sense. Caitlin finds the motel where Polly is staying and invites her to come and live with them again. I am guessing because she doesn’t want Emma to be upset and further damage their relationship. Moments later, she is talking to her friend, Stewart, about how little she trusts Polly. Terrible writing. Oh, and she also got the stop sign that she had been campaigning for installed on the street, this will be important later.

Stewart is an annoying twat!

Caitlin’s friend, Stewart (Martin Starr), agrees to help her find out more about Polly. He invites himself into Polly’s guest house and steals a bunch of her stuff. He then extracts DNA from it and uses that DNA to find out exactly who she is. Is he a cop, or something? There’s no explaining away any of this. This whole scene is awful. Did we need the tampon in the cup next to the cup with the teabag joke, as well? Nasty!

Meanwhile, Caitlin tracks down Rosanna, the person who gave her the reference for Polly. She learns that Polly never actually looked after Rosanna’s children. She just faked the reference after meeting Polly at the addiction clinic and wanted to help her get a job. Caitlin is enraged but the poor writing here makes the whole scene pretty laughable.

When Caitlin returns home, she tells Miguel about Polly lying but he really doesn’t care and is still in full on thriller movie male dunce mode. He is just pissed that he had to watch the kids for a few hours. The men in these movies are always such massive bell-ends.

Speaking of dunces, Stewart calls Polly and invites her to come over. The background information is in and there is exposition to be dumped. He tells her that he knows all about her past and about Caitlin’s so let’s clear some of that up.

Who is Polly and what’s Caitlin’s secret?

This is one of the most awkward and ham-fisted ways I have ever seen a movie fill in a bunch of plot holes. Obviously, the entire backstory isn’t related in this particular section but let’s summarise it completely so we can get a better picture of what is going on.

Polly isn’t actually called Polly at all. She’s actually called Rebecca and she is from San Bernardino. That’s exactly where Caitlin is originally from, only, her name isn’t really Caitlin, either. It’s Jennifer and the two girls share some history together.

As a young girl, Rebecca’s (Polly) house was burned down killing her entire family and leaving her an orphan. She then spent the rest of her life in foster homes where she suffered both mental and physical abuse. The person who burned her house down was none other than Jennifer (Caitlin).

Why did Caitlin burn down Polly’s house?

The reason Jennifer burned the house down is because Rebecca’s father was abusing her and she wanted it to stop. Nobody believed her and she couldn’t escape the situation. Jennifer also knew that Rebecca was being abused by her father too because he would tell Jennifer all about it.

The big question here is why the hell would Jennifer burn down the house with the entire family in it? Well, we have a few possibilities here. One is that Jennifer believed that the man would be home alone, two is it was an impulsive trauma response, and three is it is bad writing.

Victims of abuse have been known to actually take drastic, violent action on their abusers. Some have resulted in collateral victims but cases seem few and far between. Maybe we should chalk this one up to poor writing. Jennifer wasn’t charged with the crime and, instead, was given a new identity and a brand new life.

This, again, is fairly unlikely. The abuse victim defense is a legitimate one but it’s always difficult to prove that person’s actions were proportionate to the crime they were a victim of. It’s much more likely that Jennifer would have served some kind of punishment rather than being given a whole new life.

What is Polly’s plan?

Ever since she found out about Jennifer’s new identity, Rebecca (Polly) has been hatching a plan. She has continued to live in denial about her father abusing either of them and she blames Jennifer for ruining her life. The entire reason she is here now is to take revenge on Jennifer (Caitlin).

She is going to take her life away from her including her husband and her kids. The same way Jennifer took her life away when she burned her house down and killed her family. Whether Jennifer dies or is just left homeless and to live a life of suffering seems inconsequential to Rebecca (Polly).

She plans to do this by infiltrating her home, getting close to her family, switching her pills to meth so she becomes erratic, gaslighting her to undermine her self-belief, have her classed as unstable and taken away from the kids, and then begin a relationship with Miguel.

It’s your classic thriller movie replacement arc. Think Single White Female (1992) but with a bit more of a developed backstory and nowhere near as interesting of a plot. The only problem is, Stewart is on to her and now he needs to be removed from the picture.

Stewart is killed by Polly.

Stewart pleads with Polly to move on and forgive Caitlin. It seems as though he isn’t quite clear on Polly’s intentions. He thinks she, perhaps, just wants to confront her, not steal her life entirely. This is why he doesn’t call the police and, instead, attempts to reason with Polly. He is almost sympathetic with her.

Polly refuses to forgive Caitlin and makes this very apparent by bashing Stewart around the head with a baseball bat. She takes the evidence and leaves. Stewart will later be found unresponsive and wind up in hospital.

After a visit to the hospital and an encounter with some police who don’t believe her story. Caitlin returns home to find Polly eating breakfast with her family. She tells her to get out before beginning to pack her stuff for her. Polly tries to stop her only to be attacked by Caitlin who, in the scuffle, clobbers Emma on the face.

Miguel forces her to leave and files a domestic violence charge to keep her from seeing the kids. Meanwhile, we learn that Stewart has passed away. Caitlin goes to take one of her antidepressants before realising that they are actually a completely different tablet. Apparently Polly is terrible at filing a few mm off the top of a pill.

Caitlin Learns The Truth

Caitlin checks the internet and finds out that the pills she has been taking are actually methamphetamine. In someone who suffers from ADHD, this type of medication will increase the levels of neurotransmitters like dopamine and norepinephrine in the brain which helps increase concentration.

In people without ADHD, it will cause skin crawling, elevated heart-rate, erratic behaviour, shitting your pants, and an overwhelming desire to fight with police and to drag a dirty mattress into an abandoned building and spend most of your time there.

It has suddenly become clear to her why she has been feeling so jittery. Polly replaced her pills with a stimulant and she has been hopped up on meth for the past few months. She wasn’t actually going crazy.

On a visit with Emma, Emma gives Caitlin a piece of paper that she found in Polly’s room. It is a newspaper clipping from the evidence Polly took from Stewart. Caitlin suddenly realises that Polly is actually Rebecca, the girl who lost her family when she burned her house down all those years before.

She realises that Polly is likely there for revenge against her and that she has to do something about it before someone else gets hurt.

Caitlin confronts Polly.. With deadly results.

Caitlin heads to the house where Polly is now taking on her role. She is even styling her hair exactly the same. Polly lets her in and offers her some water. Caitlin tries to reason with her and apologise for their past history. Polly doesn’t buy into her sincerity and tells her that she still took her family away, even if that was true and, along with that, any chance she had at happiness.

Polly, furious and unwilling to admit that her father abused her too, smashes the baby bottle and stabs Caitlin in the stomach with it. All while giving a super villain speech about how she intends to steal Caitlin’s life, husband, and kids the way she took hers.

Meanwhile, Miguel has finally realised that Caitlin might not have been lying after all. It’s weird how these movies always have the dude suddenly have a moment of abstract intuition rather than craft a feasible way for them to suddenly become aware of the truth. Bad writing, once again.

Caitlin fights back, eventually pushing Polly through a window before grabbing Josie. She heads to the car and gets in before Polly jumps on the window and starts attacking the glass. Caitlin slams it into reverse and, thanks to someone seemingly ignoring that stop sign, collides with another car. This cartwheels Polly off, fatally injuring her in pretty graphic fashion.

Polly bleeds out on the pavement with one of her arms completely detached. This movie was weirdly graphic in parts. Josie is totally safe, Caitlin is injured but okay, and Miguel and Emma arrive just in time for him to reaffirm that he was a butt munch and should have listened to her.

Polly is dead and everyone lives happily ever after.. Or do they?

The final scenes show Caitlin looking into the fire pit. Obviously, the events have left her haunted and I can only imagine she would be a complete mess now. She was extremely hurt and very guilty for what happened to Polly, the awful life she led, and the fact that she… well, you know.. died.

The movie ends with a scene depicting Emma telling Josie the same story that Polly told her earlier in the film. This is, likely, a little Easter egg to show that Polly had already got into Emma’s head. The pair had a connection and a bond that was pretty strong.

You could see this as a hint that Caitlin was about to have a difficult time with Emma. Perhaps Polly’s corruption was so deep that it may even leave Emma wanting to avenge her at some point. After all, Polly was the only person who actually gave Emma any real attention. She actually listened to her and cared about what she had to say.

The pair spent an enormous amount of time together. In some way, Polly got what she wanted because she did actually take away something that Caitlin had. She took away her bond with Emma. It’s a fairly intriguing twist on the story that hints that, despite her death, Polly is still very much there and influencing Caitlin’s family forever.

How does the remake differ from the original?

Let’s be honest, people despise remakes. Especially when they take a completely different approach to the story. The Hand That Rocks The Cradle really only shares a name in common with the 1992 original. Here’s just a few of the ways in which they differ.

The most significant change in the 2025 remake is the fundamental motivation and backstory of the two leads. In the 1992 original, the conflict is sparked when the characters are already adults. There is no childhood history between the two. The protagonist, Claire Bartel (Annabella Sciorra), reports her obstetrician (Dr. Mott) for sexual assault.

This act leads to him taking his own life, which in turn causes his grieving widow (Rebecca De Mornay’s “Peyton”) to miscarry her baby and become sterile. Her motive is pure, adult-onset revenge and for quite a simple reason. Claire took her husband, her baby, and her future, so she will systematically take Claire’s. To do this, she will become her nanny and infiltrate her home life. It’s far more straight forward.

The 2025 version makes this conflict quite a lot more personal by rooting it in a shared childhood trauma. Polly and Caitlin were both victims as children, and it’s revealed that Caitlin (then “Jennifer”) set the fire that killed Polly’s family to escape their abusive father. Prompting Polly’s decades-long pursuit for revenge. We also have the added seasoning of Polly suffering abuse as a foster child.

Different backstories mean different villains..

1992’s Peyton Flanders is a pretty clear-cut and almost theatrical “villain” invading a near-perfect family. The 2025 remake shifts this narrative into a cycle of trauma, making our antagonist actually quite sympathetic. It’s easy to understand Polly’s desire for revenge.

Where Peyton’s destabilisation tactics were rather domestic and occasionally innocuous (secretly breastfeeding the baby, sabotaging an asthma inhaler, trying to seduce the husband), 2025’s Polly employs a much more violent strategy. The poisoning of the stew and the replacement of Caitlin’s anti-depressants with methamphetamine actually makes her, at least on the surface, a bit scarier.

Polly isn’t just the proverbial cuckoo in the nest; she’s a victim of profound trauma actively destroying another victim of trauma. The endings are worlds apart. The 1992 film ends with a clear, triumphant victory for the “good” family after a violent climax. You know how 90s thriller movies go. Peyton was a proper villain so she had to die.

The 2025 version sort of opts for a more tragic and ambiguous conclusion. Instead of being decisively killed, Polly dies in Caitlin’s arms in something of a moment of tragic recognition. The biggest difference, however, is that the 2025 version suggests the trauma is contagious.

The final shot of Emma imitating Polly’s gestures implies the “cradle” has already been rocked, and the damage has been passed to the next generation. Remember, the key is in the name right there. This is a cycle of abuse and trauma that is destined to continue.

Thanks for reading!

So, that’s my take on the ending of The Hand That Rocks The Cradle (2025). It’s a massive departure from the original, swapping a straightforward revenge-thriller for a much more tragic (and muddled!) story about a contagious cycle of abuse. It’s hard not to feel a tiny bit sorry for Polly. That final shot of Emma is the real stinger, proving that Polly, in a way, still won. Thanks so much for dropping by Knockout Horror! I always appreciate each and every one of you who chooses to spend your time here.

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