Raising Cain (1992)

Director:

Brian De Palma

Writer (WGA):

Brian De Palma (written by)

Release Date:

7 August 1992 (USA)

Genre:

Thriller | Horror

Tagline:

De Mented, De Ranged, De Ceptive, De Palma

Plot:

Jenny Nix, wife of eminent child psychologist Carter Nix, becomes increasingly concerned about her husband's...

Plot Keywords:

Psychologist | Drowning | Corpse | Back From The Dead | Psychopath

Awards:

2 nominations

Cast

John Lithgow	...	Carter / Cain / Dr. Nix / Josh / Margo
Lolita Davidovich	...	Jenny
Steven Bauer	...	Jack Dante
Frances Sternhagen	...	Dr. Lynn Waldheim
Gregg Henry	...	Lt. Terri
Tom Bower	...	Sgt. Cully
Mel Harris	...	Sarah
Teri Austin	...	Karen
Gabrielle Carteris	...	Nan
Barton Heyman	...	Mack
Amanda Pombo	...	Amy
Kathleen Callan	...	Emma
Ed Hooks	...	Coroner
Jim Johnson	...	Night clerk
Karen Kahn	...	Saleslady
Noe Montoya	...	Gardener
Riq Boogie Espinoza	...	Gardener
Carolyn Morrell	...	Newscaster
W. Allen Taylor	...	Peters
Scott Townley	...	Josh (little boy)
Mary Uhland	...	Receptionist
Steve Schill	...	Weatherman
James Van Harper	...	Young detective
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Geoff Callan	...	Young lover (uncredited)
John McGowan	...	Sam, Karen's son (uncredited)

Directed by
Brian De Palma

Writing credits (WGA)
Brian De Palma		(written by)

Produced by
Gale Anne Hurd	....	producer
Michael R. Joyce	....	co-producer

Original Music by
Pino Donaggio

Cinematography by
Stephen H. Burum

Film Editing by
Robert Dalva
Paul Hirsch
Bonnie Koehler

Casting by
Pam Dixon

Production Design by
Doug Kraner

Art Direction by
Mark Billerman

Set Decoration by
Barbara Munch

Costume Design by
Bobbie Read

Makeup Department
Thomas Floutz	....	special makeup effects artist

Production Management
John Engel	....	post-production supervisor (as John S. Engel)
John Engel	....	unit production manager (as John S. Engel)

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Jim Dyer	....	first assistant director
Gwyneth Horder-Payton	....	second second assistant director
Annie Spiegelman	....	second assistant director

Art Department
Kristin Argue	....	drapery
J. Michael Davis	....	set dresser
J. Michael Davis	....	swing gang
Peter Hoobyar	....	swing gang
Geoffrey Lake	....	greensman
Bill Patchet	....	greensman
Edward C. Penna	....	swing gang
Gary E. Roloff	....	leadman
Kristen Ross	....	art department coordinator
Don W. Wegner	....	set designer
George Zimninsky	....	greensman
Michael Meier	....	carpenter (uncredited)

Sound Department
James Ashwill	....	foley mixer
Rick Kline	....	sound re-recording mixer
John Morris	....	supervising sound editor
Bob Newlan	....	sound editor
Kevin O'Connell	....	sound re-recording mixer
Rodger Pardee	....	sound
Steve Richardson	....	sound editor
Jerry Ross	....	supervising sound editor
Fred Runner	....	assistant sound mixer
Fred Runner	....	boom operator
Conrad Slater	....	cable person
Conrad Slater	....	second boom operator
Steve F.B. Smith	....	stereo sound consultant: Dolby
Nelson Stoll	....	production sound supervisor
Hugo Weng	....	dialogue editor

Special Effects by
Karin Hanson	....	special effects hair
Robbie Knott	....	special effects coordinator
Tom Knott	....	special effects technician

Stunts
Glory Fioramonti	....	stunts (as Gloria Fioramonti)
Gary Hymes	....	stunt coordinator
Spiro Razatos	....	stunts
Myke Schwartz	....	stunts
Fred M. Waugh	....	stunts (as Fred Waugh)

Camera and Electrical Department
Alan S. Blauvelt	....	first assistant camera
Dustin Blauvelt	....	camera operator
Phil Bray	....	still photographer
Howard Campbell	....	grip
Dave Childers	....	dolly grip
Don L. Henderson	....	grip
Rod M. Janusch	....	lamp operator (as Rod Janusch)
Larry McConkey	....	steadicam operator
J. Michael Muro	....	steadicam operator (as James Muro)
Dan Nelson	....	grip
Medel Ramos	....	lamp operator
John Schoening	....	lamp operator
Mark Stanley	....	key grip
Terry Sullivan	....	lamp operator

Editorial Department
Adam C. Frank	....	assistant editor
Robert Grahamjones	....	assistant editor
Samuel H. Hinckley	....	apprentice editor (uncredited)

Music Department
Frank Fitzpatrick	....	music supervisor
Natale Massara	....	conductor

Other crew
Carol DePasquale	....	script supervisor (as Carol De Pasquale)
Bruce Devan	....	location manager
Ernest D. Farino	....	title designer
Debra A. Girard	....	assistant location manager
Kay Kimler	....	fight choreographer
Cynthia LaPointe	....	location manager
Ellen Lent	....	location scout (as Ellen Winchell)
Kris Fullan Martinez	....	production coordinator
Kathryn Mindala	....	assistant accountant
Jennifer Scott	....	assistant production office coordinator
Sandra L. Yeary	....	assistant accountant
Claudia Eastman	....	location scout (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Pacific Western

Distributors

• Universal Pictures (1992) (USA) (theatrical)
• Argentina Video Home (1993) (Argentina) (VHS)
• CIC-Taft Home Video
• Fox Network (1995) (USA) (TV) (broadcast premiere)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (USA) (VHS)
• MCA/Universal Home Video (USA) (laserdisc)
• United International Pictures (UIP) (Spain)

Special Effects

• 4-Ward Productions (additional optical effects)
• Pacific Title (optical effects)
• Todd Masters Company (animatronic puppets)

Other Companies

• Acme Soundworks Studio  sound editing (as Acme Soundworks)
• DeLuxe Laboratories  color
• Forum Studios  music recorded and mixed at
• Inter Video  24 frame video services
• Milan Records  soundtrack
• Pacific Title  end titles
• Panavision  cameras and lenses
• Segue Music  music editing
• Skywalker Sound  re-recorded at

Runtime:

91 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

USA:R (certificate #31783) | Portugal:M/16 | Iceland:16 | Argentina:18 | Australia:M | Finland:K-16 | France:-12 | Germany:16 | Peru:18 | Singapore:NC-16 | Spain:18 | Sweden:15 | UK:15

Filming Locations:

Los Altos, California, USA

Company:

Pacific Western

Quotes:

Carter: Hickory dickory dock. Cain has picked his lock.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Charlie Rose Show: Quentin Tarantino" (1994)

Soundtrack:

Morning (from 'Peer Gynt')

Sisters meets Scream meets Lost Highway meets god knows what

Raising Cain is an awesomely baffling set of pomo hijinks care of the man De Palma. I can't blame the hordes of people who hate this movie for its nastiness and incoherency, but those are the reasons I love it so much. It's a total parody/homage/celebration of the kind of razor-inspired fun De Palma spent much of his career perfecting, with the fun (and intentionally self-destructive) gimmick of presenting the movie more or less from Carter's point of view.

With this, the movie trades conventional thrills, chills, and spills for a sneakier sort of fun. Instead of putting together the sort of hallucinatory bloodbath De Palma specialized in, he takes it apart. It's like he took all of his box-office successes, threw them in a blender, and kneaded the mixture into an extended nightmare sequence of half-remembered horrors, unreliable visual intake, and malformed cliches.

If you try to take it as a straight thriller, it'll never work. It's a thriller plot turned into a horror flick, where instead of being the brave wife protecting people from her deranged husband, we're the deranged husband, not sure where we are or who we are, doing terrible things we don't quite understand, in a dreamworld constructed entirely of cliches and stock terrors.

Scream would take the parody aspect into firmer territory and Lost Highway would take the insane protagonist aspect into firmer territory as well, and both of those films worked very well, but Raising Cain gets the ultimate thumbs-up from me for being constructed much like my own nightmares and for genuinely surprising me from time to time, not to mention for creating a feeling of urgency and sympathy for Carter.

If you're into really oddball flicks, give Raising Cain a chance.