Raising Cain (1992)

Director Brian De Palma is one of the recognizable names of the last forty or so years hitting us with classics like Carlito's Way, Mission: Impossible, The Untouchables, Carrie, but who could forget Scarface as one of his finest. In 1992, De Palma would have another work of his hit the big screen when he released psychological horror classic Raising Cain which starred John Lithgow (The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension) as Carter Nix, a seemingly normal child psychologist who is raising his daughter with his lovely and attractive wife Jenny (Lolita Davidovich). Jenny begins to notice that Cater is taking too much of an interest in how their daughter is rai sed. What Jenny doesn't realize is that Carter is harboring a dark secret inside him from his past that is causing him to kidnap children, but why is he doing it? The film also stars Steven Bauer (Scarface) as Jack, Frances Sternhagen (Sex And The City) as Dr. Waldheim, Gregg Henry (Guardians Of The Galaxy) as Lt. Terri, Tom Bower (Out Of The Furnace) as Sgt. Cally, Mel Harris (Wanted: Dead Or Alive) as Sarah, Teri Austin (Knots Landing) as Karen, Gabrielle Carteris (Batman: The Brave And The Bold) as Nan, and Barton Heyman (Let's Scare Jessica To Death) as Mack.

So, I can definitely see where M. Night Shyamalan got his inspiration for the film Split as Carter is someone who deals with multiple personalities like a female figure, a child, a bad boy, and even his father and each one is created to protect and hide the real him. I'm not saying that he ripped him off, but you can see what might have inspired him at some point. He could also read some books about much like Brian De Palma had to as well, but I want to get down to business. What the hell was wrong with the police officers in this film? A doctor comes in claiming she knows Carter Nix because she worked with his dad and tells the cops that she can basically get to the bottom of it as she has some time and a room. They accommodate her only to leave her alone in the room with her with no other supervision. Are you kidding me? No cop would ever go with it let alone leave him in there with no restraints. John Lithgow who I am so used to seeing in comedies was actually brilliant in the film especially when he did the different personalities. I liked the idea of the events that happened in the film, I thought some of them were actually pretty clever, but it could have been written a little better. I don't know how to describe it, but the film has a very 90's feel to it as far as it's look and I kind of miss that kind of cinematography. The film pays homage to several films that De Palma obviously loved like Psycho and the car scene which I thought was great and there's many more. I am going to give the film an B for a final grade.