Stars:
John Lithgow,
Lolita Davidovich,
Steven Bauer,
Frances Sternhagen,
Tom Bower,
Mel Harris,
Gregg Henry
Director:
Brian De Palma
Summary: Carter Nix, a respected psychologist and loving husband, decides to take a year off to help raise his daughter. His wife is pleased to have him home at first but nothing prepares her for the emergence of her husband's multiple personalities.
John Lithgow goes bananas in a crazed multiple role as a child psychologist haunted by his deranged twin in this film from Brian De Palma (who explored similar territory in his earlier feature SISTERS). Inspired by Hitchcock as well as Michael Powell's classic PEEPING TOM, this study in abnormality has child psychologist Dr. Carter Nix (Lithgow) beginning to go bonkers around his young daughter. Wife Jenny (Lolita Davidovich) is a little concerned but too guilty over her affair with another man (Steven Bauer) to do anything about it. It's not until local children start disappearing that Jenny begins to realize that her husband might be continuing the demented experiments performed on him as a child by his own father, an infamous psychiatrist who's been wanted by the police for years. As the number of missing children rises, it is up to Jenny to unravel just what is going on before her own daughter vanishes as well. The highlight here is Lithgow, creepy and magnificent in not less then three distinct roles. It's a gleefully insane little chiller that features some great De Palma set pieces and will keep even dyed-in-the-wool suspense fans guessing.