History Film / JacobSLadder

* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: It's not clear which (if any) members of Jacob's unit survived the firefight, since all of the scenes where Jacob interacts with them post-Vietnam are [[spoiler: Jacob's own dying dreams or hallucinations]].

* ShoutOut: The artist Francis Bacon, whom the SurrealHorror is based on.

* SurrealHorror: Inspired by the works of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Bacon_%28artist%29 Francis Bacon]], according to WordOfGod.
** "[[http://www.artnet.com/artists/joel-peter-witkin/man-with-no-legs-bV7xPf32DS8kIRwAxBFWpg2 Man With No Legs (1976)]]" by Joel-Peter Witkin.

-->'''Evil Doctor:''' [[spoiler: There ''is'' no 'out of here'. You've been killed. Don't you remember?]]

The nightmares he keeps having are tearing his life apart, one day at a time. They might be after-effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from his term of military service in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. They might be side-effects of a secret and illegal drug trial that he and his platoon were unknowingly exposed to. Or they may be a result of his own mind slipping into insanity from the trauma of his young son's death.

But there is still another possibility that terrifies Jacob, one that day by day seems more and more likely: the demons and monsters he keeps seeing -- out of the corner of his eye, hiding in the shadows, lurking in his darkest nightmares -- might be real. And if they are, then they're coming for him -- and there's nothing he can do about it.

* AnachronismStew: Jacob believes himself to be living in 1975. The taxi that takes him to his old residence has registration set to expire in 1972, as well as a "[[UsefulNotes/RichardNixon Nixon Now]]" pin that only appeared in '76. An [[TomeOfEldritchLore occult book]] Jacob examines, ''A Witch's Bible, Volume 1'', was not published until 1984.

** When Jacob is inside a car with government agents who feel that Jacob is talking to too many people about his experiences in Vietnam, one tells him ominously that his service in Vietnam was another life and that he needs to move on from that. [[spoiler: That comment is true in a literal sense, as he's trying to get through to Jacob bluntly and tell him that Jacob is dying (wounded in Vietnam!).]]

** When Jacob is inside a car with government agents who feel that Jacob is talking to too many people about his experiences in Vietnam, one tells him that his service in Vietnam was another life and that he needs to move on from that. [[spoiler: That comment is true in a literal sense, as he's trying to get through to Jacob bluntly and tell him that Jacob is dying (wounded in Vietnam!).]]

* {{Foreshadowing}}: All of the ads in the subway are [[ChekhovsNews anti-drug ads]], including one that says being on drugs is like Hell. Think about it.

* IronicHell: One of several explanations for what the hell is going on in this movie. [[spoiler:Louis implies it's meant to be a KarmicReformAfterlife to help him come to terms with his AfterlifeAngst.]]

* AuthorAppeal: A film about mortality and the afterlife? It's not a shock that it was written by Bruce Joel Rubin (''Film/{{Brainstorm}}'', ''Film/{{Ghost}}''.)

* {{Foreshadowing}}: All of the ads in the subway are [[FridgeBrilliance anti-drug ads]], including one that says being on drugs is like Hell. Think about it.

* AdultFear: Plenty. Gabe's death, being trapped in a subway, war, friends dying one by one, becoming an UnPerson, being taken hostage in broad daylight with witnesses pretending they don't see you, and so on.

* IronicHell: One of several explanations for what the hell is going on in this movie.

The nightmares he keeps having are tearing his life apart, one day at a time. They might be after-effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from his term of military service in UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar. They might be the side-effects from a secret and illegal drug trial that he and his platoon were unknowingly exposed to. Or they may be a result of his own mind slipping into insanity from the trauma of his young son's death.

But there is another possibility that terrifies him, one that day by day seems more and more likely. The demons and monsters he keeps seeing -- out of the corner of his eye, hiding in the shadows, lurking in his darkest nightmares -- might be real. And if they are, then they're coming for him -- and there's nothing he can do about it...

[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jacobs-ladder-1990-poster.jpg]]

->''"[-Dream on.-]"''

''Jacob's Ladder'' (1990) is a psychological {{thriller}} and {{horror}} film directed by Adrian Lyne, based on a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin. It stars Creator/TimRobbins, Creator/ElizabethPena, Creator/DannyAiello, and Creator/JasonAlexander. Creator/MacaulayCulkin appears playing Jacob's deceased son Gabe, in an uncredited performance.

Jacob Singer isn't sure what's real anymore.

The nightmares he keeps having are tearing his life apart, one day at a time. They might be after-effects of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder from his term of military service in Vietnam. They might be the side-effects from a secret and illegal drug trial that he and his platoon were unknowingly exposed to. Or they may be a result of his own mind slipping into insanity from the trauma of his young son's death.

But there is one possibility that terrifies him, even though day by day it seems more and more likely. The demons and monsters he keeps seeing -- out of the corner of his eye, hiding in the shadows, lurking in his darkest nightmares -- might be real. And if they are, then they're coming for him -- and there's nothing he can do about it...

This movie was one of the primary inspirations for the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' franchise.

A remake was released in 2019, helmed by ''The Perfect Guy'' director David M. Rosenthal.

[[SimilarlyNamedWorks No relation]] with the ''Literature/JacobsLadderTrilogy'' books by Creator/ElizabethBear.

* AfterlifeExpress: [[spoiler: Invoked at the beginning where Jacob wakes up on a subway train but is wanting to get off so he can go home get back to his normal life. However, Jacob doesn't realize that there is no going home and may as well stay on the train as he's irreversibly dying from a stab wound. The train also has a advert posted assuring Jacob that he's been drugged and help is available.]]

* AfterlifeExpress: [[spoiler: Invoked at the beginning where Jacob wakes up on a subway train but is wanting to get off so he can go home get back to his normal life. However, Jacob doesn't realize that there is no going home and may as well stay on the train as he's irreversibly dying from a stab wound.]]

* AfterlifeExpress: [[spoiler: Invoked at the beginning where Jacob wakes up on a subway train but is wanting to get off so he can go home. However, Jacob doesn't realize that there is no going home and may as well stay on the train as he's irreversibly dying from his stab wound.]]

''Jacob's Ladder'' (1990) is a psychological {{thriller}} and {{horror}} film directed by Adrian Lyne, based on a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin. It stars Creator/TimRobbins, Creator/ElizabethPena, Creator/DannyAiello, and Creator/JasonAlexander. Creator/MacaulayCulkin appears playing Jacob's [[spoiler:deceased]] son Gabe, in an uncredited performance.

''Jacob's Ladder'' (1990) is a psychological {{thriller}} and {{horror}} film directed by Adrian Lyne, based on a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin. It stars Creator/TimRobbins, Creator/ElizabethPena, Creator/DannyAiello, and Creator/JasonAlexander. Creator/MacaulayCulkin appears briefly in an uncredited performance.

* ItAlwaysRainsAtFunerals

** [[spoiler:When Jacob sees Gabe in the mirror, he pushes it to catch more of a glimpse of him. A demon/angel pops out, {{Undercrank}}ed, as if to say, "No. You're ''not'' ready.".]]
* MaybeMagicMaybeMundane: [[spoiler:While the GovernmentConspiracy to test drugs on American soldiers is confirmed as actually happening - ''[[{{Mockspiracy}} probably]]'' - everything that happens after Jacob gets bayoneted is just a DyingDream. So is his flatlining brain [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness hallucinating everything]] about the demons/angels that are supposedly tormenting him, or is the afterlife plot actually real and everything that happens to him is [[IronicHell a final judgment of his soul before he's ready to pass on]]?]]

* MentalMonster: Freudian creatures that torment Jacob Singer's [[spoiler: dying]] mind. [[DemonicHeadShake Their heads twitch]] and they moan in agony, looking much like the victims of his unit after being attacked by Viet Cong in Vietnam. The film is also rife with MedicalHorror, with characters like the [[EyelessFace eyeless surgeon]] and his disturbing staff, representing [[spoiler: Jacob's inability to let go of his life and die peacefully as the war surgeons try to revive him]].

** Not scary, but chills when Jacob finally returns home - to his ''old'' home - and [[spoiler:he finds homework and food on the dining room table - books open, pie half-eaten, as if they were there and had just vanished. Of course, that's exactly what ''had'' happened - he's letting go and his past is vanishing.]]

* ParanoidThriller: Jacob is gradually driven to paranoia, as he believes he's being pursued by both government agents and surreal monsters, and cannot tell reality from delusions. [[spoiler: He's actually dying in a hospital, and all of his post-Vietnam life is a DyingDream.]]

* PurgatoryAndLimbo: [[spoiler:The final [[TheReveal reveal]] is that Jacob died in combat in Vietnam, and what he saw as his life falling apart and the demonic visions he [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness wasn't sure were actually real]] was actually [[AllJustADream all just]] a DyingDream, preparing him for the afterlife.]]

* RedHerring: [[spoiler:The GovernmentConspiracy, to a degree.]]
* TheReveal: [[spoiler:Aside from the DyingDream: "You killed each other." Jacob got bayoneted by a fresh-faced ''American'' soldier (vets or military buffs probably figured it out much earlier, as the bayonet we see him stabbed with was an M7, the U.S. government issue in Vietnam).]]

* SchrodingersButterfly: This is the entire premise of the film. The main character keeps bouncing back and forth between three realities[[note]]Jacob in Vietnam, Jacob before Vietnam, Jacob after Vietnam[[/note]], each of which shares some people and places in common, but both of which seem to have demons[[spoiler:/angels]] in them as well. [[spoiler:It's finally shown that he had died in Vietnam, and this was all just an in-your-head Purgatory.]]

** The book, ''Literature/TheStranger'' appears twice over the course the movie. Though at first, it seems the book is only here to show that Jacob is studiying philosophy, the course of the movie reveal that both works have a similar theme as [[spoiler: the endings of both works deal with the protagonists learning to let go of their life and hope and make peace with their deaths]].

* ThroughTheEyesOfMadness: Things only make ''slightly'' more sense when you learn that Jacob's unit was subjected to military experiments during the war. [[spoiler:[[{{Mockspiracy}} We think.]]]]
* TomatoInTheMirror: [[spoiler:In the DeletedScene, Jezzie turns out to be Jacob himself. She was a WhatHappenedToTheMouse in the theatrical cut.]]

* YouHaveToBelieveMe: Upon admittance to the hospital, a disoriented Jacob tells the doctor that [[BadSanta Santa Claus]] [[FiveFingerDiscount stole his wallet]] with his dead son's only picture in it. It's perhaps [[{{Irony}} ironic]], given the themes of [[spoiler:[[PsychologicalTormentZone epiphanic purgatory]] and [[ItsAllJunk letting one's past attachments go]]]], that the Santa is question was a ''[[AngelUnaware Salvation]]'' [[AngelUnaware Army]] bellringer -- and [[SignificantAnagram "Santa" is an anagram for "Satan"]].

** At one point, Jacob looks at his chiropractor Louis and jokes that [[spoiler:he looks like an angel from .]]