Jacob's Ladder Year: 1990 Director: Adrian Lyne Written by: Bruce Joel Rubin Threat: Insanity Weapon of Choice: Experimental Drug IMDb page:

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Rish's Reviews
Every once in a while, someone will ask tyranist and me why we haven't reviewed a certain movie on our site. The films in question can range from the semi-classic (Them! or The Haunting, for example) to the immensely obscure (Violent Shit VII or Evilmaker III: The Bad Filmmaker's Revenge). But the two movies we are most asked about are Faces of Death (which we're never going to review) and Jacob's Ladder, which I had avoided because I knew it wouldn't be for me.
One day, though, in a particularly weak moment, I broke down and grabbed a copy. And was never heard from again.
Vietnam vet Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins), back home in New York City, begins experiencing odd sensations, seeing frightening images, and finds himself embroiled in what may (or may not) be a conspiracy to cover it up.
Directed by Adrian Lyne (Fatal Attraction) and written by Bruce Joel Rubin (Ghost and Deep Impact), this had one of the most impressive casts in a long time. Besides Tim Robbins (who was quite good), there was Elizabeth Peņa, Danny Aiello, and a mess of future celebrities, such as Jason Alexander, Eric La Salle, Ving Rhames, and Macauley Culkin.
One of my favourite episodes of "Star Trek: The Next Generation" was called "Parallels," where a character found himself bouncing between alternate realities with him being the only one who realised things had changed. Another episode had the captain bouncing between three time periods, seemingly at random. While Jacob's Ladder was nothing like those episodes, the premise is somewhat similar.
Of course, I loved "Star Trek: The Next Generation," and hated Jacob's Ladder, so I may be biased here.
It wasn't a poorly-done film, in fact many of the scares and creepy moments work well (the whole film is almost a montage of sick, disturbing, confusing, erratic, creepy images), but it's put together in a way that insists there be a solution in the end, an explanation, and a payoff. The payoff, it would seem, is that you expected something you didn't get. Maybe that's a metaphor for life, I don't know.
This was another case of a very long ride for such a short trip. I started to worry that we'd NEVER find out what was going on, and then, I didn't get it, basically. I mean, I GET it, but I don't get why we had to see all this. I think you can read a lot into the film if you really think about it, and maybe that's why it's so well-liked in some circles. The problem with me is, I'm not willing to dedicate so much brainwork and stomach acid to this genre. I either like a movie or I don't. I like the characters or I don't. I understand or I don't. I don't want to have to FORCE myself to like the characters or think hard and long enough to understand the plot. That's the actors' and screenwriters' job.
But that's just my opinion. Some people love games or puzzles that are so complicated or rigged that you cannot win. And many people love symbolism, surrealism, and art for art's sake. If you're one of those, then perhaps Jacob's Ladder is for you.
Is it Horror? Well, yes and no. If they were paying me by the word, I'd explain in detail.
Best Scare: It was a very frightening movie, almost from the beginning. But for me, the biggest scare was an ultra-twisted moment when Elizabeth Peņa had evil black eyes for no reason. That was scary.
Posted: December 6, 2004

Total Skulls: 20

Sequel
Sequel setup
Rips off earlier film
Horror film showing on TV/in theater in movie
Future celebrity appears		V. Rhames, J. Alexander, M. Culkin, E. LaSalle
Former celebrity appears
Bad title
Bad premise
Bad acting
Bad dialogue
Bad execution
MTV Editing
OTS
Girl unnecessarily gets naked
Wanton sex
Death associated with sex
Unfulfilled promise of nudity
Characters forget about threat
Secluded location
Power is cut
Phone lines are cut
Someone investigates a strange noise
Someone runs up stairs instead of going out front door
Camera is the killer
Victims cower in front of a window/door
Victim locks self in with killer
Victim running from killer inexplicably falls
Toilet stall scene
Shower/bath scene
Car stalls or won't start
Cat jumps out
Fake scare
Laughable scare
Stupid discovery of corpse
Dream sequence
Hallucination/Vision
No one believes only witness
Crazy, drunk, old man knows the truth
Warning goes unheeded
Music detracts from scene
Death in first five minutes
x years before/later
Flashback sequence
Dark and stormy night
Killer doesn't stay dead
Killer wears a mask
Killer is in closet
Killer is in car with victim
Villain is more sympathetic than heroes
Unscary villain/monster
Beheading
Blood fountain
Blood spatters - camera, wall, etc.
Poor death effect
Excessive gore
No one dies at all
Virgin survives
Geek/Nerd survives
Little kid lamely survives
Dog/Pet miraculously survives
Unresolved subplots
"It was all a dream" ending
Unbelievably happy ending
Unbelievably crappy ending
What the hell?