Official Synopsis:
“When Jenny cheated on her husband, he didn’t just leave…he split.
From master of terror Brian De Palma comes this stylish psychological thriller that will keep you on the edge of your seat until the final frame.
Carter Nix (Lithgow) is a respected psychologist, loving husband and devoted father who decides to take a year off to help raise his daughter. Carter’s wife Jenny is pleased to have her attentive husband home – at first.
When Carter shows obsessive behavior toward their daughter, Jenny becomes concerned, and to complicate matters, Jenny’s old flame re-enters her life. But nothing can prepare her for the emergence of Carter’s multiple personalities, and a fiendish plot to recreate the infamous experiments of his deranged father.”
Brian De Palma takes you on a wild ride that will definitely make you want to get off multiple times while viewing this strange concoction that will be unlike anything you’ve witnessed. Brian De Palma challenges all the norms of filmmaking in Raising Cain, and if you can stick with it and understand the nuances and the reasoning behind all the small choices that stray drastically from anything you are accustomed to, you’ll find that this is a very important film that paved the way from some of the groundbreaking non-linear films years later that gained wide acclaim.
One of the first things you have to decide when watching this is if you want to watch the Theatrical Cut, or the Director’s Cut. One of the most fascinating things I discovered about this set, is that the Director’s Cut isn’t cut by the director at all. A fan of the film, Peet Gelderblom, researched the Hell out of this film and everything De Palma related, only to discover a regret the filmmaker had regarding the final cut of the film. Through heavily researched interviews and pieced together excerpts, this fan took it upon himself to re-cut the film to what he envisioned De Palma would have wanted. The Raising Cain re-cut and video essay gained popularity, namely from De Palma himself, who requested that the re-cut be included in the blu-ray release by Scream Factory. This story alone makes Raising Cain a fascinating film and blu-ray set, interesting enough to compare the Theatrical and Director’s Cut to discover for yourself the difference between what the director intended, and what he regretfully ended up with.
With all the blatant challenges from the director to disregard everything you’ve come to learn about narrative and story-telling, Raising Cain can be a hard pill to swallow for a first time viewer. Watching the film is nothing but confusing, left to fend for yourself in a sea of visual images with no narrative structure, forcing the viewer to use their brain to put the pieces together to figure out what is real and what is not. As exhausting as it is at times, seeing dream sequence after dream sequence, once the final stretch of the film presents itself, you may discover that you have finally figured the story out, and that feeling alone is very gratifying.
As fragmented as the story may be, one constant throughout the film is the brilliance of John Lithgow. Playing several different roles at once, you can almost forget the fact that you don’t understand a thing and revel at the superb acting abilities of one of the great character actors. Lithgow acts as a guiding light through darkness and confusion to an epic De Palma conclusion.
Video
The video is presented in 1080p High Definition 1.85:1. The transfer is done very well, with little to no defects noticed throughout, save for a bit of grain in some of the darker scenes.
Audio
The audio is presented in DTS Master Audio Stereo. The track sounds just fine, with a good mix and levels to go along with it. An eerie score complements this track nicely.
Special Features
On this set you’re going to see:
DISC ONE:
Theatrical Version Of The Film
NEW Interviews With Actors John Lithgow, Steven Bauer, Gregg Henry, Tom Bower, Mel Harris And Editor Paul Hirsch
Original Theatrical Trailer
DISC TWO:
Director’s Cut Of The Film Featuring Scenes Reordered As Originally Intended
NEW Changing Cain: Brian De Palma’s Cult Classic Restored Featurette
NEW Raising Cain Re-Cut – A Video Essay By Peet Gelderblom
It was my viewing of the special features that changed my mind about this film drastically. With a little insight to the mind of the director, and the backstory to the Director’s Cut of the film, it made my interest peak much more, and left me wanting to re-watch the Director’s Cut and Theatrical Version to note the differences in narrative structure.
Raising Cain may not be for everyone, but for those who can appreciate the craft of filmmaking and a unique was of storytelling will have a blast exploring everything about this set.
