Raising Cain

Jenny finds herself doubting if she is happy when her ex comes back into town... she reminds herself that she is married to the perfect man, an excellent psychiatrist who's taken time off his own practice to spend more time with their daughter, Amy. He is getting somewhat obsessive about it, though... almost like he's... studying her. De Palma goes so far in this homage to Hitchcock that the entire film is one big tribute to the master, and he plays with the camera as he also loves to do(we get a couple of long takes, one of them 4 full minutes, and one sequence has great use of slow-mo... not quite the subway scene in The Untouchables, of course), and we get a tension-packed, suspenseful psychological thriller(light, in the way that it uses the Hollywood approach to mental problems; it is actually a brutal, disturbing, bloody and violent piece with some strong sexuality... also setting it apart from Alfred's pictures - then again, he might have gone this far if the censorship laws had allowed for it, considering stuff like Frenzy), with a lot of the power coming from Lithgow's inherent creepiness(and he's perfectly cast, if some of what he's asked to do here is awkward... and do not look at the IMDb listings before watching, it will spoil a lot). The characters aren't bad(nothing spectacular, but likable and interesting enough), and the acting is plenty solid. This has a lot going on, especially as far as the plot goes(you may want to give it a second viewing just to make sure you picked up on everything that happened), and not only for a fast-paced movie that doesn't break 90 minutes. The chronology can really confuse you, as well as the score of surprises(and several fake-outs!). And at the end of the day, this is mainly meant to entertain you, and it lacks the kick of credible flicks. The DVD comes with a trailer. I recommend this to any fan of the director, star and the man whose body of work provided the inspiration. 6/10

It's disappointing when a movie starts well and then kind of derails by the end the way Raising Cain does. I'd liken it to another De Palma film from the 90s, Snake Eyes. Each get off to a strong start and have good first halves, but become noticeably less interesting in the second half (though neither is terrible overall).

What works here is John Lithgow. He's really great, and shines when playing the various personalities that his character moves between (whether this is at all accurate about multiple personality disorder at all is a whole other matter, and I'd understand people finding it offensive and dismissing it if they did believe it was an unfair or potentially dangerous depiction).

Funnily enough, the movie starts to feel like it's splitting off in multiple directions, but not in a good or thematic way. Suddenly, Lithgow's wife has a voiceover? And a melodramatic infidelity subplot? Too much time's spent on it- if you have Lithgow doing great acting and it's cut away from so much!

Then there are other various characters who are all introduced awkwardly, and the finale is all a bit underwhelming... it's a shame, because this starts as a very promising psychological thriller, and ends up being a bit disposable by the end. For a good first half and somewhat shaky/not great second half, I think splitting the score halfway to be a 6/10 is fair.

Despite the hordes of comments made about this film explaining where it 'went wrong', it appears a great deal of these reviews are from viewers failing to recognise the directors tongue in cheek intentions.

The film is a satirical thriller/horror that abides by the conventions of the genre, though twists them. Instead of concentrating on what the audience doesn't know and building up to a yawn-full climax, a cliché that Scream parodies, the film takes on the perspective of the psycho, presenting the audience with more information than other characters.

The obvious influences, or should I say homages, to Hitchcock show De Palma's respect for his predecessors, though it appears De Palma is also presenting us with a parody of Psycho, which is a reason in itself to watch this movie.

Along with other directors (Including Scorsese, Coppola, Spielberg and Lucas), Brian De Palma has been labelled as a 'movie brat', and I think this film is a prime example of a film made by this generation of filmmakers.

Despite the fact that he wrote a rather unintelligent script for his 1992 effort, director Brian De Palma's "Raising Cain" is still fast, funny, and, occasionally, very scary.

In order not to reveal too much and spoil this wild little roller coaster ride, all I will say is that John Lithgow plays or at least speaks for five very different roles(!)

De Palma isn't at his all-time best, but Lithgow proves that he is one of the great character actors of our time. Rated R. 95 minutes. 6 out of 10.

Raising Cain (1992)

*** (out of 4)

Jenny (Lolita Davidovich) believes that her husband Carter (John Lithgow) is the perfect man but what she doesn't realize is that his father messed with his mind a little too much and now his past is going to come back and haunt him.

Brian De Palma's RAISING CAIN was always a very disappointing movie to me because I felt it had so much potential but it never fully came out in the film. Director Peet Gelderblom would eventually re-edit the movie in a cut known as RAISING CAIN RE-CUT and director De Palma would praise it saying that this version is what he originally wanted to do with the film but he regretted changing his mind at the last second. Now this "Director's Cut" is available on Blu-ray and we can finally see this film for what it was meant to be.

I'm not going to give away any major spoilers but it should be said that the Director's Cut contains every frame that was in the Theatrical Cut. The only difference between the two is the way that they are edited and I must say that it's really amazing how much better the Director's Cut is. In fact, after viewing this version it becomes a complete nightmare why someone as great as De Palma would turn in the Theatrical Cut because it just doesn't play very well and a lot of the build up in the suspense department is just lost.

What is also more apparent in the Director's Cut is the flow of the film. If you're familiar with De Palma's work then you already know that he loves to keep a certain style and flow in his films and it's much more clear in this cut of the movie. The opening scenes really set you up for the thriller that is going to follow and I thought the entire movie played much better. It certainly helps build up the suspense as the madness of the Lithgow character slowly builds until he eventually breaks. The "clues" that De Palma gives off are a lot more shocking when they finally reveal themselves as well.

The one great thing about whichever version you watched was the performance of Lithgow. He's playing multiple characters here with multiple personalities and he perfectly brings them to life and really creates a rather creepy and mentally disturbing character. I thought Davidovich was a bite too light here but we get some nice supporting performances including the one from Steven Bauer and Frances Sternhagen.

Most people considered RAISING CAIN a major disappointment but I would ask, or beg, those people to give the movie another chances in the Director's Cut. It really goes to show how important editing is and how a bad edit of a movie can ruin it.