Raising Cain
Brian De Palma has spent his entire career making classic movies from the realms of horror, action and of course, suspense filled homages to Alfred Hitchcock, a trait of his that grew so strong many compared him favorably as being the heir apparent of Hitchcockâs style of filmmaking. Several other great (non Hitchcock related) films would cool down that temperment, but in 1992 De Palma would auspiciously return to that style with this particular film though one has to wonder if he did so merely because he was able to secure the acting services of the one and only John Lithgow (a legendary performer who is equally adept at playing nice guys, goofballs and cold bloodedly evil bad guys), unleashing him upon the screen in what was easily the most insane, over the top performance of his career. What makes this movie fascinating in a twofold way is that first, the actual story is deceptively simple as it portrays a married couple having issues before the husband flips out over his wife having an affair with an old boyfriend, but secondly there is also the fact that the whole thing amounts to being a sly spoof on the entire so called âHitchcock genreâ, effectively playing its very own plot twists off almost like punchlines and literally allowing Lithgow to play his role as the most hilariously crazy lunatic imaginable while borrowing heavily not only from Psycho, but also the underrated British horror classic Peeping Tom and even from De Palmaâs own work in the field which included classics like Dressed To Kill, Sisters and Blow Out. Lithgow plays Carter Nix, a renowned child psychologist whom in a ânobleâ gesture, gives up his practice for two years to personally watch over and analyze the development of his young daughter. Lithgowâs personality in the opening scene is that of the kindly, lovably overbearing type who specializes in his ability to talk to kids, any kids really. He meets a mother with her own child in the park and with his own wife held up at work, she offers him and his daughter a ride home. During this time, Lithgow suddenly starts babbling about doing a case study where 5 kids in a controlled environment will be studied and analyzed through their early developmental process with the data being recorded from his observations, even going so far as to ask the woman if she would allow her kid to take part, only to be laughingly turned down by the pretty, incredulous mom. Suddenly Lithgow chloroforms the woman behind the wheel and starts to panic as if he doesnât know what to do next (all while both kids are in the back seat sleeping!). But whatâs even stranger is that then out of the blue what appears at least to be Lithgowâs twin brother (Lithgow) appears out of nowhere leaning in through the car window, laughing at him for his bumbling and telling him what he needs to do next. This second Lithgow character (Cain) is entirely different than the mild mannered Carter, using foul language liberally while smoking cigarettes and making no attempt to hide his cackling, evil nature. Later on we find out that as a boy, Lithgow was subject to horrible, inhumane and unethical treatment by his own father (Lithgow), also a highly respected child psychologist who had tortured and abused him for the actual purpose of inducing multiple personality disorder in his own son, leading Carter to create the personality of Cain (and others) who basically takes over when needed up to and including when itâs time to do some dirty work. Whatâs even more whacked out is that when Cain takes over Carter, he can actually quell his own giggling, nutty self and âpretendâ to be the respected, strait laced Carter in order to carry out anything that needs to be done (in essence pretending to be himself). Meanwhile, Carterâs wife (Lolita Davidovich, an actress who has remained eminently watchable even as she has gotten older) has rekindled that old romance with her ex boyfriend (Steven Bauer), something that has driven Lithgow even more completely around the bend than he was before as he still carries out his plans to kidnap babies for experimentation and murder their mothers but now he views Bauer (whose line of work is never explained) as a convenient fall guy for the murders. Where De Palma gets involved here is in the way that he literally starts distorting reality as he sees it (aided all the while by Lithgowâs distorted performance) as he shows much of the story from Davidovichâs point of view and even gives her multiple âshock scares that turn out to be dreamsâ leaving the viewer just as disoriented as she is. Unfortunately, the romance with Bauer is the filmâs one major (and crucial) weak point, with the two of them never really showing any chemistry and turning most of their scenes into a bore as we sit there and wait for Lithgow to come back onscreen. It turns out that Lithgow is looking to continue his fatherâs work, scooping up kids and bringing them to a controlled environment where they too will be abused and tortured in order to trigger the multiple personalities and anything else brought out by the trauma which will then be recorded and studied. However, unlike his father (who from all accounts was sane and stable), Lithgow is now constantly having to deal with various outbursts and psychotic episodes from his several personalities, thus making being able to focus a bit of a tough thing to handle and later on in the film the cops even bring in his fatherâs old colleague (Francis Sternhagen) who offers even more insight on what made Lithgow what he is (including a funny and drawn out parody of the infamous psychiatrist explanation scene from Psycho). The whole thing more or less plays out like a freakshow offshoot of the usually classy and played close to the vest methods that Hitchcock had once employed, here done very broadly and with Lithgow at times playing it not unlike his well known action movie villains. In the end, the whole thing falls upon Davidovichâs shoulders to not only take on the role of heroine, but to be the character whom we actually root for, with certain moments obviously intended to invoke in her image the ghosts of Janet Leigh and Tippi Hedren with her as their obvious successor and credit must be given to Davidovich (who has never stopped being cute even as the years go on) for successfully carrying this load while also playing what amounts to being an adulterous wife as well. While Lithgowâs Carter is appalled at her behavior and Lithgowâs Cain laughs at it as being cruel irony (even if he doesnât back down from trying to kill her too), Davidovichâs redeeming quality is in her love for her daughter and her need to protect her from the clutches of this psychopath, realizing even early on that her husbandâs desire to be a stay at home dad is just a front to conduct his research with his own little girl as a guinea pig, a suspicion that seems to lead her back into Bauerâs arms and ultimately to the wonderfully ridiculous finale, a series of contrived actions on the part of various characters with Lithgow resorting to yet another one of his personalities and the big final plot twist being somewhat predictable (yet welcome) not to mention very, very cool. De Palma obviously knew this style of filmmaking like the back of his hand, but given the chance to set Lithgow loose in a wild, anything goes performance and to have some fun with the known clichĂ©s of the genre, he manages to overcome the drudgery of the Davidovich-Bauer romance (save for one bit where he goes to see her in the hospital she works at only to have a patient die suddenly right in front of both of them in what is a morbid omen) and just allows John Lithgow to chew up the scenery as if it were styrofoam, not so much keeping the audience frozen in fear or suspense but rather to keeping them chuckling at just how absurd the whole enterprise gets based almost entirely on the fact that the vengeful, cuckolded husband of this somewhat basic story was already crazy to begin with, made even more amazing by having the âevil twin brotherâ personality become an entire character onto himself just by having Lithgow change certain aspects of his speech and mannerisms so that we know exactly who weâre watching onscreen at all times. While it may not have been Oscar worthy acting material, itâs still fun to watch one of the best character actors of all time completely throw caution and subtlety to the wind while the film still maintains itself as being the homage it was always meant to beâŠ
8/10