Review of Jacob's Ladder (1942) by Samuel G — 10 Sep 2010

Jacob's Ladder is a psychological thrill ride written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Adryn Lyne, with a cast that includes Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Pena, Danny Aiello, Jason Alexander, Matt Craven and Ving Rhames.

Being a big Tim Robbins fan, this film really appealed to me. But mind you, this is no regular Robbins film, this is a blood curdling, hair raising horror story that will leave an ever lasting imprint on your mind, and will change the way you look at both Santa Claus, and the doctors office.

The film focuses on a Vietnam veteran played by Tim Robbins who begins to experience disturbing hallucinations and flashbacks. These flashbacks include unsettling images of his time in the war. And also, images of demonic creatures. Throughout the entire film, you are left to wonder ?Are these hallucinations, or the real thing?? a question left unanswered until the stunning end.

Jacob's Ladder is not a film for the easily confused as no matter what, you will get lost from time to time. The plot twists and turns and never really allows you to grab hold of it for long. But the stunning performances, and the story's pace in general make up for this quite well, and for that, it will forever stick with you.

Not only is it incredibly confusing, but also incredibly creepy. On many occurrences I felt my skin begin to crawl. Infact, this film scared me so badly, that I was actually forced to leave a light on while I slept. Hell, I even checked under the bed after this one.

With all of this praise being said, there is much room for improvement. First off, the concept is incredibly eerie and brilliant, however, it was not executed to its fullest. Here we are witnessing the mental decay of a man who has been through Hell, but the film doesn't really dig down deep enough into the man's mind. Also, the ending, as great as it is, comes prematurely. The audience simply isn't ready for it, and it just seems to be thrown in there. And though the horror is there, after a while the film just evolves into a drama and forgets to focus on what we're all really here for: the pants crappingly disturbing imagery.

All in all, Jacob's Ladder is a vary haunting and down right disturbing film. Jacob's Ladder = Scary Stuff.