Going Insane with Jacob's Ladder (1990)

Today I decided to watch a bit of a cult classic horror film, Jacob's Ladder. This movie was also on a lot of top horror film lists, but judging from a few screenshots they'd often have with it, I knew this one was going to be pretty messed up. Messed up in the sense that it deals with a guy either dealing with mutilated demons, or he's totally going crazy, or maybe a bit of both. I was just hoping this didn't end up like another Session 9 film, where it's all hype, but no payoff. Hit the jump and I'll try my best to convey this movie's insanity to you.


Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a Vietnam war vet who has a nice life with his girlfriend Jezzie (Elizabeth Peña) who he met at his job working for the postal service. Sure, he still has a nightmare about his time in the war once in a while, but when he wakes up he recovers fairly quickly. Oddly, the events of the dream don't coincide with his life, as he sees his old war buddies die, yet they're still alive. Then more and more weird stuff starts happening. He starts seeing people with no faces on ghostly subway trains, the way people act is unusual, and someone tries to run him over in the street. If that weren't enough, reality seemingly starts to crumble around him, having dreams (hallucinations?) of living with his ex-wife and their dead son still being alive... but these aren't just memories of the past. Soon he doesn't know what is a dream, what is real, and who is going to attack him next!

Jacob doesn't know if he is waking from a dream, or if this is the dream

Tim Robbins does a fantastic job not only portraying the fragile psyche of Jacob Singer, but also making this world he lives in feel eerily real. Because he seems so down-to-earth and believable, his reactions to the crazy stuff that starts surrounding him make them seem all the more insanely possible. Things like suddenly seeing his girlfriend dancing with a tentacled, winged, bloody monster in the middle of a crowded dance floor. He's just as freaked out, and baffled as I was, and I think at that point we were both questioning his sanity. All sorts of things start making no sense. One of the more tame WTF moments happens when Jacob is at a party and casually notices a head in the fridge. At least it's plastic wrapped.

"Hey, can I grab a beer?" "Oh sure! It's in the fridge... beside the goat head." "Awesome, thanks!"

The movie got really confusing for a while as it kept jumping between the life with his girlfriend, the life with his wife and kids (in both, the other life is the dream) and his time in the war. Then you have people, possibly the government, coming after him to kill him and his friends, and the demons who seem to capture him at one point in a creepy hospital. The hospital seems fine at first, but they strap him down on a gurney, and the further in they go inside, the more WTF it gets with insane patients bashing their heads on the walls, and caged in the ceiling! Then the hallways start getting bloody with body parts scattered around on the floor. I can honestly say that I had NO IDEA what was going on at this point. But that's not a bad thing, I thought it was great! Don't worry, you do kinda get an answer by the end. But in the meantime, it was all disturbing insanity!

Oh great, the guy with NO EYES is going to stick me with a massive needle!

Of course to top it all off, I have to mention the effects. I've already touched on them slightly while talking about other things, but they really do deserve to be singled out. The great thing here, be they injuries in the war-dreams, slimey demon monsters, explosions, faceless people or sped up head shaking (have to see it to understand), they were all practical effects! There is not a single moment of CG in this movie, and it was great! I know I must sound like a broken record, but this month of horror movies has really solidified how much I prefer practical effects over CG. This movie is no exception.

Even though I was really confused for a large portion of the film, its visuals and weirdness kept me fixed to the TV. I found the ending kinda odd, but it seemed to make sense somehow. This movie might be really disturbing and frightening to some people just because it's so twisted and bizarre. If you want to see a screwed up, mess-with-your-head, totally insane movie, definitely check out Jacob's Ladder!