FAQ

Raising Cain is based on a screenplay by American film-maker, Brian de Palma, who also directed the movie.

Child psychologist Dr Nix, who wrote the book Raising Cain: The Creation and Evolution of the Multiple Personality, did his research by inducing Multiple Personality Disorder (MPD) in his own son Carter, who eventually came to manifest three other personalities that they called Cain, Margo, and Josh. Carter is now an adult and a child psychologist in his own right, and he and his father are opening a clinic outside of Oslo, Norway in order to continue the elder Nix's research. Of course, they need children for their control group, so Carter has begun to kidnap young children to serve as their subjects. Actor John Lithgow plays the parts of Carter, Cain, Margo, Josh, and the elder Nix, Sr.

MPD, now known as Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) in the DSM-IV (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), is a psychological state in which an individual possesses two or more distinct personalities; oftentimes one of them is not even aware of the existence of the others. The cause of MPD/DID is unknown, but one theory is that it is the mind's way of dealing with severe childhood trauma. The mind may tend to "compartmentalize" various memories and emotions so that they become hidden within the various personalities, and the individual doesn't have to consciously deal with them. MPD/DID is not, as some believe, the same as schizophrenia. Although the word schizophrenia comes from two Greek words meaning "split mind", there is only one personality involved in schizophrenia, unlike in MPD.

Carter is the original personality. Cain appears whenever something bad happens to Carter or when Carter has to do something bad. Josh is the scared 7½-year-old boy who was so badly abused by his father. Josh appears whenever Cain gets hurt so that Josh can feel the pain. Margo is a matronly personality. She exists to prevent Nix from hurting more children.

That was Karen Bowman (Teri Austin)'s body. Karen is the woman Carter met on the playground (with her son Sam (John McGowan)) at the beginning of the movie. Carter chloroformed Karen, then stuck her in the trunk of her car. Her fingernails were cracked and bloody because she kept trying to claw her way out of the trunk.

That was Nan (Gabrielle Carteris), the babysitter who met Carter outside of the women's restroom, not long after Carter saw Jack Dante (Steven Bauer) and his wife Jenny (Lolita Davidovich) making out in the park. Carter stabbed Nan with Jack's penknife and then stuffed her body in the trunk of Jack's rented car, where it would later be found by the police.

Viewers are split on that. Some view Margo's appearance as evidence that Amy's personality has begun to split, such that she has taken on one of her father's personalities; Amy's insistence that her Daddy is "here" is interpreted to mean "here inside my head." Other viewers see Margo's appearance as actuality, such that Carter is now being "controlled" by Margo; Amy's insistence that her Daddy is "here" is meant to say "here in the park." Viewers are also split on whether or not, if it is truly Margo, it's a good or a bad thing. It would be a good thing if Margo is simply keeping an eye on Amy to prevent anyone from hurting her. It would be a bad thing if Margo's existence indicates that Carter's multiples still exist and that the whole thing could start up again. It's up to each viewer to determine which interpretation makes the most sense.

Sharp-eyed viewers have noticed that, indeed, they are both the same maroon-colored car bearing the license plate 2AB1111. Since Carter could not have submerged Jack's rental car in the marsh and still have it be in the parking lot for the police to find, there really are only two possible explanations: (1) it's a goof, or (2) it was the director's attempt to show the audience how Carter's switching between his personalities makes it difficult for him to see and remember things clearly.