Jacob's Ladder [Blu-ray + Digital HD]

No other film has been so misunderstood.Jacob's Ladder is a film about the pain and fear felt by a man coming to terms with his imminent death. In the movie Jacob is stabbed with a bayonette and lie dying in the jungle. That's real. While laying there he struggled to live and that struggle manifested itself in the chaos that went through his mind. The real success of the film is that we the audience participate in his death and the terror of his dying through the flashback sequences with Jezebel, the chiropractor, Sarah and Gabriel. When Jacob fought his death he was always in distress and always with Jezebel. She was a literary construct to torment him. When he would accept his death he was always happy, with the ones he loved such as the chiropractor, his wife Sarah, and of course his son Gabriel. The movie goes back and forth with his struggle to live or die. What makes it so successful is how the film imparts the terror and pain of a dying man onto the viewer. That's what did it for me. No other film in cinematic history has accomplished this task. Although Jacob's death took place in Vietnam the movie is NOT about Vietnam, hallucinogenic drugs, demons or psychotic ex-girlfriends.The character in the movie that explains the movie's plot - and literary mechanisms - is Danny Aiello's character the chiropractor. The chiropractor explains so eloquently that "if you fight your death you'll see demons tearing away at your life. But if you accept your death, the devils are really angels setting you free." Dante. The flashbacks in the movie are deliberately misleading deliberately terrifying. Jacob kept flashing back and forth between Jezebel and Sarah. Live or die. Jezebel was the dark manifestation of his fear tearing him away from the life he loved with Sarah. The metaphor of "The Ladder" is Jacob's ascension to heaven where he is met at the gate by Gabriel his deceased son.It's one of the most beautifully written screenplays of all time but for obvious reasons difficult to follow because of the chaos created by the flashbacks. What you have to understand is that in all likely hood Elizabeth Penas character never existed because he never made it back to New York. He had no life after Vietnam because he died in Vietnam. Jacob died on the table in Vietnam with a smile on his face after finally accepting and making peace with his life. What do the doctors say in the very last scene of the movie? "Put up a hell of a fight. The guy looks kinda peaceful." I hope this helps your understanding of the film. I cherish it.

I'm an avid horror fan. I love the classics like Halloween, the trashy ones like the Saw franchise, but my favorites are the "elevated horrors" like the ones from A24. Jacob's Ladder was my first experience with this type of film. While it may seem tame compared to what we can watch today, it remains with me as an emotional and somber experience that blew my mind in high school. I hadn't seen many movies that try and make the view experience a complex emotion. I wasn't ready for it and found myself crying at the end of the movie. Maybe it could be chopped up to my lack of expectations for these types movie or younger age at the time, but with the emotions it made me feel, the film immediately jumped up to the top of my favorite movies ever and never really left. I don't watch the film often. I want it to keep its emotional weight, and constant reviewing would lessen it considerably. I still like to watch it every few years when I want an emotion gut punch.

This is one of the most underrated movies ever, and that is why I am taking the time to give a short review. I have watched over a thousand films and this is in the top 100. I adore the acting, the direction, set design, and most of all the wonderful script.Loving care was given to this film by Adrian Lyne and written by Bruce Joel Rubin; you can see this love in the beautiful opening shots of vietnam to the masterful effects and cinematography; each actor exists firmly in our reality, despite the creepy script. They all need each other, and the direction for each involving scene is quite immersive and satisfying. The soundtrack is very pretty but sombre and sad at times. Nothing ever shows a hint of any weakness.The TIME review in particular is so far up its own bum that I am angry at the fact this film is so mistreated by these 'professionals'. As if it is more cliche than something like Saving Private Ryan, for all its astounding splendor, the actual movie wasn't even that well tied together. This movie is tied very tight with resounding themes about dream, angels, demons, and what war means for the living and the dead. You will find that for every weakness you look for in this movie, a strength outshines it by tenfold. I cannot say enough about the acting, FROM EVERYBODY, and how this 1990 movie just doesn't feel dated, at all, and you would almost expect that from a supernatural thriller of this type. It just proves that 'they' are not making movies like this anymore in Hollywood's non Indie scene.Anyway, despite my overwhelming hatred for petty and contrived reviewers, don't listen to the bad ones, they mean nothing. The NY Times and Roger Ebert have fair and balanced reviews of this film, scoring around 90 on the Metacritic. Read them, but watch the movie first. A true American Classic.The Bluray is fair to good. A good amount of detail is kept for this release. It's grainy and the bitrate is stuck around an average of 20, which is adequate but barely, and this allows for decent peaks but an image that definitely is softer. It's certainly never sounded or looked better. The film is five bucks on sale and you should do yourself a favor and get it.

I really had the air taken out of my sails when his son was introduced. NOT MY Choice ever!!

No te la puedes perder...

Jacob's Ladder war wegweisend in der Entwicklung des "Body-Horror", auch wenn er aus heutiger Sicht für die meisten wohl einen Großteil seines ehemaligen Schreckens eingebüßt hat.Diese ganz persönliche Hölle, die dort in den Alltag des Protagonisten einbricht und deren Grenzen zur Realität fließend sind, bildete die maßgebliche Grundlage der "Silent Hill"-Reihe, in der dieses Konzept noch weiter ausbaugebaut wurde.Fazit:Für die Komplexität des Films und die revolutionäre Idee eines ganz persönlichen Horrors, der plötzlich in den Alltag einbricht, war das Publikum Anfang der Neunziger offensichtlich noch nicht bereit - aber zum Glück galt dies nicht für die Macher von "Silent Hill".Umso schöner ist es, dass die Grundidee nicht nur eine ganze Generation an Horrorspielen mitbeeinflusst hat, sondern man mittlerweile den Kult-Charakter dieses Filmes wertschätzen kann.

Genial

A classic psychological film,with truth woven into the storyline.A must watch film