Cheap Jacob's Ladder (DVD) (Tim Robbins) (Adrian Lyne) Price

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Customer Reviews of Jacob's Ladder

Don't buy this one.
Wait for them to include the extra scenes back into the movie. I saw it with those in it and that made the film a whole lot scarier. It also helped film, because in parts, it does drag a bit. This is a terrifying yet funny horror movie. This movie left me reeling with turmoil and confusion, with feelings of sadness and despair. Those are the notes it strives for. "Jacob's Ladder" enters into the hallucinations of a desperate mind, and lives there. It evokes a paranoid-schizophrenic state as effectively as any film I have ever seen. Despite an ending that is intended as victorious, the movie is a thoroughly painful and depressing experience - but, it must be said, one that has been powerfully written, directed and acted. The story stars Tim Robbins, previously the pleasant young hero of such films as "Bull Durham," as an American soldier in Vietnam who undergoes a shocking battle experience. The actual nature of the experience is withheld until the end of the film - and even then, we cannot be completely sure we know the truth - but it appears to send him back into civilian life as a psychological time bomb. Years pass. He gains a doctoral degree, but does not use it. Instead, after a first marriage fails and a young son is killed in an accident, he goes to work for the U.S. Postal Service, and starts to live with a woman he meets there. Then terrible things begin to happen to him. He is nearly run down by a subway train. Almost run over in the streets. Faceless demons pursue him. His doctor is killed in an automobile explosion. This movie left me reeling with turmoil and confusion, with feelings of sadness and despair. Those are the notes it strives for. "Jacob's Ladder" enters into the hallucinations of a desperate mind, and lives there. It evokes a paranoid-schizophrenic state as effectively as any film I have ever seen. Despite an ending that is intended as victorious, the movie is a thoroughly painful and depressing experience - but, it must be said, one that has been powerfully written, directed and acted. The story stars Tim Robbins, previously the pleasant young hero of such films as "Bull Durham," as an American soldier in Vietnam who undergoes a shocking battle experience. The actual nature of the experience is withheld until the end of the film - and even then, we cannot be completely sure we know the truth - but it appears to send him back into civilian life as a psychological time bomb. Years pass. He gains a doctoral degree, but does not use it. Instead, after a first marriage fails and a young son is killed in an accident, he goes to work for the U.S. Postal Service, and starts to live with a woman he meets there. Then terrible things begin to happen to him. He is nearly run down by a subway train. Almost run over in the streets. Faceless demons pursue him. His doctor is killed in an automobile explosion. So is a friend. He begins to suspect that he and his Vietnam friends were victims of some kind of misbegotten Army experiment. That day of their bloody battlefield experience, they all grew dizzy and their heads began to spin, and then he cannot remember what happened next. He was wounded, yes, and airlifted to a hospital - and what then? Flashbacks throughout the film follow his emergency treatment. But what is the secret of what happened? He gathers a group of fellow veterans, and they talk to a lawyer about representing them, but then the veterans and the lawyer back out. You will leave scared, disturbed, and a very unpleasant feeling with you. Stupid movie goers shouldn't see this. That's right this movie requires the audiences participation, and that takes to much effort for you MTV kids out there who think everything that makes a good movie is CGI, potty humor, and sex.

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The most mind-twisting tale ever ! !
"Alive and dreaming, or dead and remembering ?" is the ambiguous world of unlucky Jacob's Singer; a man toggling between the perplexing realm of life and extinction.

After suffering a fatal wound during combat in Vietnam, Jacob Singer is left seeing his life flash before his eyes -- his life, that is, mixed with terrifying, demonic images conjured by Jacob's own fears and anxieties concerning his ultimate situation; death.

Another Adrian Lyne film, Jacob's Ladder is an excellent portrayal of one man's foray into afterlife --- the twist, however, is that this movie does not depict the dying process as being the trite clean and peaceful transition seen in other thanatological films. Personally, I feel this movie certainly compels the viewer to question the status of one's own capacity in dealing with such a situation; as it's been said "Those closest to death are the least capable of accepting it" [excerpt: film "Faces of Death" series]. Jacob's Ladder utterly expresses this concept.

By augmenting the intercutting of the various time span experiences in Jacob Singer's life, the director (Adrian Lyne) accomplishes unyielding pandemonium in the mind of the viewer. Thus, all reference to the proper time-sequence of Jacob's life is so offset, the viewer of this film is constantly left mostly confused at realizing which part of Jacob's life is true, distorted, or if it ever took place at all.

In the end, the movie conveys a very compelling & powerful message, as it induces the notion..."the outcome of death is one's own resolution ("If you're dying and you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away, but it you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels freeing you from the earth [it's a matter of how you look at it]; excerpt: film "Jacob's Ladder")."

Jacob's Ladder is an excellent film about life going into death. A must for anyone involved with Thanatology, Theology, /or psychology. And for the moviegoer seeking a meritorious psychological-twister, Jacob's Ladder offers a remarkable mind-binding experience.

ADDITIONAL PLUSES for this DVD: Deleted Scenes, "Documentary" the makings of this film (aptly informative), and the Director's Commentary.

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True Horror is Psychological Horror
Deft director Adrian Lyne creates a world that draws you in
and horrifies you. Not because you know what you're seeing, but because you don't understand and want to so badly.
Tim Robbins does a masterful job as someone caught in situations he doesn't understand. Awful things begin to occur between him as he is swept between two lives, one with his ex-wife and (dead) son and another with the sexy Jesse, one of his co-workers at the post office. He feels trapped and is hunted by monstrous, malformed things he cannot fathom. This chilling film gave the creators of Silent Hill plenty of material to work with and combine with their own artistic visions.
Recommended for anyone who likes a good scare, and also wants a
film they can talk about with friends afterward.