History NightmareFuel / JacobsLadder

** ''"Dream on."'' is subtly terrifying in its actual use in the film; rather than recurring, it's used ''once'' when Jacob is in the depths of confusion and terror at what's going on, and clutching to the thinnest strand of happiness at the idea his wife still loves him. Like the [[spoiler:beings trying to coax him to accept the idea he's dead, the voice is forcing him to face the truth]].

%%* The idea that you can just be living a normal, uneventful life and all of a sudden you're in the middle of pure horror.

We could just say "This entire goddamn film" but we wouldn't be accurate. We should instead elaborate on all of the creepy moments this movie has to offer below, shall we?

* The scene at the party where Jez is either dancing with or getting molested by some sort of black tentacle. Which nobody else seems to notice.
** Also in this same act, Jacob has his palm read for a fortune-telling, and the teller is brutally honest about Jacob's current state of affairs. "No it's not funny, see according to this, you're already dead..."

** If you're on board with the common interpretation that the entire movie is Jacob's DyingDream after being gutted by drugged fellow servicemen in Vietnam then the meaning of this scene is harrowing: Jacob is feeling the army medics stuff his damaged, dying and oh-so-cold guts back into his body while holding him down and reassuring him that he will be fine. Most organs within the chest cavity have an extremely low tolerance for temperature change compared to the extremities; a change of just a few degrees will cause them to begin to die. It's hard to imagine what this might feel like, but a horrific icy feeling throughout the body right down to one's core is not a bad guess.
** The scene where Jacob seems to wake up for real with his previous wife and his son is alive and well. It's like a sense of hope is being presented like maybe Jacob has finally waken up, but it might seem ''too good'' to be true. The coldness from Jacob's ice bath gets translated to "the window was left open" in this layer of the dream, giving a hint that Jacob is still dreaming. Indeed, Jacob can't stay in his relatively pleasant dream and has to wake back up into his New York City nightmare, creating a potential TearJerker.

* The hospital sequence. Jacob is strapped to a gurney being wheeled through an increasingly more dilapidated hospital corridor, passing by discarded body parts and random headshaking demons.
** Jacob gets to his destination and all of the medical staff in the room are dead silent as Jacob is restrained; the scene is relatively normal with nobody taking on a nightmarish appearance and for some reason, ''Jez'' is one of the staff members helping out. Jacob wants to go home, but a staff member bluntly tells him "This is your home, you're dead." A doctorish specter with no eyes (or eye sockets) looms over him with a hypodermic syringe, and Jacob is helpless to escape as the specter goes to stab him with it. It's pretty much every hospital nightmare rolled into a single surreal sequence.
** So petrifying was this sequence, that it inspired the creation of the DarkWorld in the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' series. Interestingly, by the end you learn that all those horrible things were just trying to help.
* The idea that you can just be living a normal, uneventful life and all of a sudden you're in the middle of pure horror.

* If you've ever been scared by that effect where a character's head twitches uncontrollably, Jacob's Ladder has inadvertently gotten its Nightmare Fuel on you. They pioneered the effect, and it's been used literally ''dozens'' of times since, to varying degrees of effectiveness.
** It should be noted the effect even made it into the ''Franchise/HarryPotter'' films in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix''. Voldemort is seen doing it a few times while [[MindRape Mind Raping]] Harry. It is quite scary, and definitely counts as HONF.
* The nurse with the bone sticking out of her head. Ew.
** There are actually two symmetrical bone growths on her head, which look rather like stumps of sawed off horns.
* If you've ever been subject to frightening hallucinations you'll rarely see a film that captures their atmosphere better than this one. The worst part is the notion that your own mind and your senses are betraying you and cannot be trusted. Your senses are your only filter for the world, and if they go haywire you've literally got nothing.

* Jezzie's "dance with the devil" culminating with the JumpScare at the end.

** If you're on board with the common interpretation that the entire movie is Jacob's DyingDream after being gutted by drugged fellow servicemen in Vietnam then the meaning of this scene is harrowing: Jacob is feeling the army medics stuff his damaged, dying and oh-so-cold guts back into his body. Most organs within the chest cavity have an extremely low tolerance for temperature change compared to the extremities; a change of just a few degrees will cause them to begin to die. It's hard to imagine what this might feel like, but a horrific icy feeling throughout the body right down to one's core is not a bad guess.

* The hospital sequence. Jacob is strapped to a gurney being wheeled through an increasingly more dilapidated hospital corridor, passing by discarded body parts and random headshaking demons. Jacob gets to his destination and all of the medical staff in the room is dead silent as Jacob is restrained; the scene is relatively normal with nobody taking on a nightmarish appearance and for some reason, ''Jez'' is one of the staff members helping out. Jacob wants to go home, but a staff member bluntly tells him "This is your home, you're dead." A doctorish specter with no eyes (or eye sockets) looms over him with a hypodermic syringe, and Jacob is helpless to escape as the specter goes to stab him with it. It's pretty much every hospital nightmare rolled into a single surreal sequence.

* The hospital sequence. Jacob is strapped to a gurney being wheeled through an increasingly more dilapidated hospital corridor, passing by discarded body parts and random headshaking demons, until he gets to his destination and a doctorish specter with no eyes (or eye sockets) looms over him with a hypodermic syringe, and Jacob is helpless to escape as the specter goes to stab him with it. It's pretty much every hospital nightmare rolled into a single surreal sequence.

** Jacob getting off at Bergen Street, only to find every exit locked up tight. The station has an extremely still silence as if the place has been abandoned for years.

** When Jacob is forced to walk through the subway tunnel on foot, he dives out of the way of an oncoming train filled with people staring out all of the windows. The facial details are vague as if Jacob is impaired by drugs (and indeed Jacob ''was'' drugged back in reality), and it is left open to interpretation where these people are being taken. Is this train an AfterlifeExpress?

** ''"Dream on."'' is subtly terrifying in it's actual use in the film; rather than recurring, it's used ''once'' when Jacob is in the depths of confusion and terror at what's going on, and clutching to the thinnest strand of happiness at the idea his wife still loves him. Like the [[spoiler:beings trying to coax him to accept the idea he's dead, the voice is forcing him to face the truth]].

* The film is also a master of "Uh, did I just see that?" moments.

** Also in this same act, Jacob has his palm read for a fortune-telling, and the teller is brutally honest about Jacob's current state of affairs. [[spoiler: "No it's not funny, see according to this, you're already dead..."]]

** If you're on board with the common interpretation that [[spoiler: the entire movie is Jacob's DyingDream after being gutted by drugged fellow servicemen in Vietnam]] then the meaning of this scene is harrowing: [[spoiler: Jacob is feeling the army medics stuff his damaged, dying and oh-so-cold guts back into his body. Most organs within the chest cavity have an extremely low tolerance for temperature change compared to the extremities; a change of just a few degrees will cause them to begin to die.]] It's hard to imagine what this might feel like, but a horrific icy feeling throughout the body right down to one's core is not a bad guess.

* The hospital sequence. Jacob is strapped to a gurney being wheeled through an increasingly more dilapidated hospital corridor, passing by discarded body parts and random headshaking demons, until he gets to his destination and a doctorish spectre with no eyes (or eye sockets) looms over him with a hypodermic syringe, and Jacob is helpless to escape as the spectre goes to stab him with it. It's pretty much every hospital nightmare rolled into a single surreal sequence.
** So petrifying was this sequence, that it inspired the creation of the DarkWorld in the ''Franchise/SilentHill'' series. Interestingly, [[spoiler:by the end you learn that all those horrible things were just trying to help.]]

* Jezzie's "dance with the devil" [[spoiler: culminating with the JumpScare at the end.]]