Raising Cain is a 1992 American psychological horror thriller film written and directed by Brian De Palma, and starring John Lithgow, Lolita Davidovich and Steven Bauer.

Respected child psychologist Dr. Carter Nix's wife, Jenny, becomes concerned that he is obsessively studying their daughter Amy; he regards her like a scientist tracking the development of his creation.

The police contact Dr. Lynn Waldheim, who co-wrote a book with Nix Sr. called Raising Cain, about a boy with multiple personality disorder.

She eventually discovered the truth: Nix Sr. dispassionately put his own son through years of severe child abuse to gain firsthand accounts of his traumatic psychological development and study the emerging personalities.

Later on, Jenny takes Amy to a park and explains to her friend Sarah that Nix Sr. faked his own death and established a new identity and a clandestine research facility in Norway.

[3] Part of the plot's inception came from de Palma's own experience having a relationship with a married woman; while watching her sleep, he wondered what would happen if he did not wake her in time for her to return to her husband.

The role of the five characters, or personalities (Carter, Cain, Dr. Nix, Josh, and Margo) went to John Lithgow, who had previously worked with De Palma in Obsession and Blow Out.

The site's critical consensus states "Raising Cain doesn't rank with Brian De Palma's best work, but John Lithgow's spellbinding split-personality performance makes this thriller hard to dismiss.

"[8] Janet Maslin of The New York Times called the film a "delirious thriller" that "finds Mr. De Palma creating spellbinding, beautifully executed images that often make practically no sense.

"[9] Lawrence Cohn of Variety described the film as "a superficial, often risible, exercise in pure aesthetics that's likely to turn off mainstream audiences, spelling a fast flop.

As a showcase for John Lithgow's acting talents and a visual tour de force, the film may delight the director's most camp followers.

"[10] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote that "De Palma has concocted a hugely improbable stew that is preposterous from beginning to end.

He found out De Palma had regrets about the theatrical cut, created a fan edit to more closely resemble the original script, and posted the result on IndieWire in January 2012.