Raising Cain

Love my Lithgow sleazy.

The tracking shot in which a character barely knows where to go is simply one of the most exquisite examples of how De Palma is able to manipulate us. The personality disorder thing is merely an excuse for him to do whatever he wants with his characters, no matter if we are following them or not. He's done better before and after Cain, but here's a pretty great sample of what he does best.

Every time I see any De Palma, I'm just constantly affronted by cheesiness. The sex scenes are also some of the most saxophoney around.

De Palma always focuses on visual storytelling and doesn't give a fuck about realistic acting or dialogue. He sure gets a lot of hate for that but I find him to be one of the most cinematic directors around and I absolutely love his expressive style. And I think that's what it all comes down to with this film. It's classic De Palma: an exploration of his usual themes filled with Freudian symbolism, spatial set-pieces, POV shots, and elaborate tracking shots. In short, cinematic splendour!

This one is interesting. There a million things going on in here, and as a result it can feel a bit incoherent. I have a lot of time for Lithgow's wacky performance(s) - he's a lot of fun, even though (or because) he goes "FULL HAM" occasionally. I've watched a few mad films recently, but this one had me saying "EH?" to myself more often than usual. I think if you like De Palma's films you'll like this.

Often dumb movie with some incredibly stupid characters, like Lithgow's absolute hussy of a wife and his evil split personality who is literally Andrew Dice Clay -- it's just a shame that this is also so much damn fun, well plotted (in its own stupidity), and very masterfully directed. The general concept and the story that emerges from it is actually intriguing and holds my interest throughout the film, right up to the cross-dressing finale (which unfortunately wouldn't fly these days).

Above anything else, it's a fantastic showcase of John Lithgow's talent. Just four years later he was on 3rd Rock, for God's sake. De Palma's biggest misstep in this one is all the dream scenes. They pile up on top of one another and muddy a lot of the scenes, the lack of clarity sucking suspense out of what should be good scenes.

(Theatrical cut): No amount of self awareness or technical trickery is able to compensate for De Palma's weak script, which is a compressed mishmash of all of his previous thrillers bordering on self parody. There are way too many story threads packed into its short running time, and DePalma has edited it in a way that is truly nonsensical rather than disorienting. Supposedly the director's cut is superior, but as it stands Raising Cain is only worthwhile for hardcore De Palma and Lithgow fans.

This film is Bonkers. Capital-B Bonkers. The film is nonsense, but it has John Lithgow destroying the scenery. Every few minutes, there's a new thing that I had to look at my partner and say, "what?"

When Hitchcock does Peeping Tom

Lithgow plays like 5 separate roles and it's great fun to watch him, but the script is such a confused mess of dream sequences and alternate personalities and by the end I'm left with a sense that nothing of consequence actually happened. Most of the classic DePalma thriller beats (i.e. sleazier Hitchcock) are here but the material and the execution are just weak in comparison to his previous movies.

De Palma is one of those filmmakers that either hit or miss. Here, I feel it was more a miss than a hit. Raising Cain isn't horrible, but it isn't terribly interesting either. I was confused a couple of times as to what the hell was going on, which never helps. I think if there was some actual setup to the characters rather than just jumping right into the suspense, that would've been better.

John Lithgow is one of those hit and miss actors for me. Here he hits a bullseye

Take a look into this movie, and your opinion of John Lithgow playing 'that guy in Third Rock From The Sun' will change - dramatically. Lithgow plays Carter Nix, the son of a mad child psychologist who used him as his own guinea pig for his own twisted experiments. These experiments split his mind into Carter and Cain...Good and Evil...with some shocking results. The plot gets a little muddy and confusing at times but it's one of the best straight-to-video films I've ever seen.

I never knew how many times you could put an "Oh, it was only a dream wake up in a cold sweat" scene in a movie and make it work. It turns out only once. This movie decides to do it 5 or 6 times. I know Brian De Palma is a Hitchcock worshipping goon, but do we really need to see him smoosh together 50 of Hitchcock's best scenes into one ridiculous unbelievable (even for a movie) mess? Convoluted slow motion and awkward "emotion defining" camera tricks that make sure you know it's a movie abound

I suppose I can't in good conscious rate this any higher. Absolute trash of a story, but Lithgow's performance is immensely entertaining, and De Palma over-directs the shit out it even more than he usually does. It all comes together to be a real guilty pleasure.

Sorry Brian, this one is pretty horrible.

Though sluggish in the middle act, the rest of the film is crazy and amusing enough to be worthwhile. Just not De Palma at his most enjoyable.

John Lithgow saved this movie from being one of the worst movies ever.

While I am a huge John Lithgow fan, his overacting in this film does tend to take away from the overall effect of what could have been a great film, even if the premise is hokey and overdone.

Serviceable De Palma thriller. Kept me entertained for 90 minutes and it has some memorable scenes as well.

Beautiful. De Palma scores again. I've actually said, "It's not the mileage, it's the make," to a younger woman who hit on me

A De Palma is best approached by not thinking too hard about the plot and being bothered with the lack of character development, but just sit back and enjoy the style, sweeping music and execution of tropes. And this goes especially for Raising Cain. A film that is so completely over the top, with De Palma pushing tropes to their breaking points, it walks the fine line between ridiculous bad and insanely amusing. Lithgow's holds-no-barred acting fits right into this style.

55.000

gerilim, suc, polisiye, deney, cocuk kacirma, bayiltma, kisilik bölünmesi, çoklu kisilik, ic ice rüya, obje ile rüyayi kontrol (inception), aldatma, seri katil, kayip cocuklar

My ★★★½ review of Raising Cain on Letterboxd https://boxd.it/36NXJl

"Rather than clarifying, De Palma's technique with Raising Cain effectively obliterates the audience's bearings." - Eric Henderson

Lithgow is quite amusing in this film and perhaps make it worthwhile watching.

Only tolerable because of Lithgow.

Lithgow is great,but the movie really sux

did not know Lithgow had it in him. :o what a great fucking performance. real expectations-fucker, this one.