Frances Sternhagen, John Lithgow, Lolita Davidovich

In this wicked thriller from 1992, director Brian De Palma shamelessly borrows from Alfred Hitchcock (as usual) and several other filmmakers to create a shock-a-thon that plays like a film buff's high...( read more  read more... )light reel from a dozen different thrillers. Taken on those terms it's a lot of fun to watch (though not for the faint-hearted), and multiple maniac roles for John Lithgow make it an irresistible shocker that isn't afraid to wallow in its own excess. Lithgow not only plays the evil Dr. Carter Nix, who is performing strange experiments on children, but he also plays the doctor's twin sons, Josh and Cain, who kidnap kids and bring them to their father's laboratory. Lolita Davidovich is a mother whose child has been abducted, but she won't give up without a fight. If this sounds repulsive, rest assured that De Palma focuses on the battle between the mother and the nefarious twins (this isn't a film about gratuitous child abuse), and film students will delight in the allusions to Hitchcock, Michael Powell's Peeping Tom, and Orson Welles's Touch of Evil, among others. It never makes much sense or adds up to anything truly satisfying, but thanks to Lithgow's wild performances Raising Cain is the kind of over-the-top thriller that grabs you for 95 minutes and holds you in its entertaining grip. --Jeff Shannon

Flixster Users

43% liked it

8,379 ratings

Critics

50% liked it

18 critics

R, 91 min.

Directed by: Brian DePalma

Release Date: August 7, 1992

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DVD Release Date: September 8, 1998

Stats: 250 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (250)


  • July 19, 2008
    This thrillers' content is very disturbing, so not for the faint-hearted. An evil Dr performs strange experiments on children.
  • February 19, 2008
    John Lithgow's disturbing and wicked multiple roles are the only appealing element of a tiresome thriller with dozens of themes previously displayed in Hitchcock films (freudianism, voyeurism, split personality, etc) Brian DePalma revered the master of suspense with good results ...( read more)(sisters, obsession, dressed to kill, body double) but here he just missed the point.
  • January 29, 2008
    I'm not sure how this film got into my film collection, it's as corny as hell, but for that reason, I found it quite amusing.
  • December 14, 2007
    This is one of those crazy little Hitchcockian thrillers that De Palma churns out between big-budget Hollywood assignments. Here, besides obvious nods to "Psycho" and a host of other movies, he finds time to reference his own "Sisters" and "Dressed To Kill". John Lithgow is great...( read more), playing multiple roles, Pino Donaggio contributes a good score and there are a couple of superb orchestrated camera movements. If you accept it on its own barmy terms this is a lot of fun.
  • August 17, 2007
    Plot twists galore and some great suspense. Not quite a masterpiece because of some of the over-the-top performances. But it's quite interesting and has some really cool scenes. Yup, a lot of it feels like Hitchcock, but that's a good thing. There's a sense of menace throughout. ...( read more)I liked the child psychology and abduction plot elements. There are various good shock scenes. Recommended.
  • October 27, 2009
    I actually really liked this, it had layers and it took actual thought to understand much of the goings-on in the plot. I'd definitely watch it again.
  • October 26, 2009
    Want to see it for Lithgow's multiple performance.
  • October 7, 2009
    I couldn?t help but find this movie again after finding out it was filmed in the San Francisco bay area. As is De Palma?s current career, this movie is quickly dismissed. However, I feel this movie is overlooked because of the cheese factor of John Lithgow playing someone with mu...( read more)ltiple personalities. And there are hammy parts, but you cannot take this movie seriously. And that?s the point. The storyline is pure pulp. It is the vehicle that takes you on the harrowing trip down a twisted mountain road at the edge of a cliff. It?s the journey that makes up for it and is what this movie is all about. De Palma made no qualms about it. He fills the movie with coy black humor and slap stick jokes. He even trades off dreams with day dreams with real dreams again. And then, there is the clock motif, that really just means?well, whatever you take it to mean. Time is running out. The timeline is not to be believed. Time should just be ignored. But if you watch this movie, you should be startled at least once.

    This movie just plays out for the thrills. It sets up scenarios that are entirely constructed around the scare. And the technical brilliance of scenes like the walk down to the morgue that relies on the one actress to just get it right.
  • September 15, 2009
    ' Saw this from the free movie pass given to me by a radio station. This one is a concrete example of how traumas affect people's personalities.
  • July 10, 2009
    This movie is great work of art totally fucking cool but I could play a role like him and does what he does

    Two thumbs up!

Critic Reviews


Comments


  • brokenupsociety
    April 8, 2008
    One of my obession about this film like the story itself it's so, so strong, so dark even something to learn from

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Raising Cain Trivia


  • In this underrated thriller by Brian De Palma, John Lithgow plays a psycho with multiple personalities.  Answer »
  • what connects the movies raising cain, dead ringers and the man in the iron mask?  Answer »

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