Brightlyme i know i wasted 90 mins of my life.

BroadcastChic Excellent, a Must See

ShangLuda Admirable film.

Calum Hutton It's a good bad... and worth a popcorn matinée. While it's easy to lament what could have been...

rgeauxracing Based upon CIA Project Bluebird: Operation Artichoke. The first test was fitting, two VC were dosed and tore the CIA operatives to shreds! After some tweaking (apparently), to the formula, it was tested on troops, and yes, they attacked each other and not the enemy. Can be found in many history books on the blunders of the CIA. Worth reading, especially on the sections on the ridiculous attempts on Fidel Castro's life. But, no bull, true story.

atomicgirl-34996 I remember when I first saw this movie. My mind was totally blown. I thought it was the most original film I'd ever seen. Then I saw Carnival of Souls, and that's when my opinion of the film sank considerably. Let me first say what's good about Jacob's Ladder before I give my critique. The film was visually stunning and filled with haunting, unforgettable imagery. I hadn't seen it in literally 20 years before watching it again recently, yet still remembered many of them as clear as yesterday. I'm not sure, but I also believe this was the movie that also invented the "demon" special effect (of the rapidly moving head coupled with goblin sound effects). So, based on the visuals, it gets points from me. As for the story and concept, this is where the movie falters. Jacob's Ladder is basically just a Carnival of Souls retread with better direction, splashy visuals and a better budget. However, it's in many ways the weaker film. The reason why is that Carnival of Souls never lied to the audience but this film did.Some people might say, "No fair! What's the difference between what Carnival of Souls did and what Jacob's Ladder did?" Well, the difference is that if Carnival of Souls lied, it lied by omission. To put it another way, it let you assume what happened after the first scene. With Jacob's Ladder, it's a completely different story. It says point blank that it's a horror mystery about a Vietnam Vet who has terrible hallucinations and flashbacks because he's the victim of some kind of conspiracy. Then, when it solves the mystery of the conspiracy, it says in the last scene. "Psyche! There was never a conspiracy at all! He was dying the entire time!" This is what I mean by the movie lying. It sets you up for one story, then pulls the rug out from under you and says, "That story? Forget it. This is the real story."The movie even cheated to make the audience think that everything that happened to Jacob after he was stabbed in Vietnam was rooted in reality. There are many times when we are shown scenes from the other characters' perspectives when Jacob isn't around. For example, there's a scene in which the members of Jacob's unit are staring at each other after one of them hangs up on him. There's another scene of Jezzie secretly burning photographs behind Jacob's back. The problem with these scenes is that because they happen outside of Jacob's awareness, it misleads the audience into thinking that the "conspiracy" plot is really happening. Because of the misleading plot, all of Jacob's Ladder between the moment Jacob gets stabbed and the moment he dies is nothing more than a red herring. Because it's a red herring, it's inconsequential. It's so inconsequential that if someone only watched the first ten minutes of the movie in which Jacob is shown being bayoneted and the last three minutes in which he dies, that person wouldn't be missing anything in the way of character development or plot because that's all the movie boils down to--a guy dying from his wounds. All the stuff in between is irrelevant.So, all in all, Jacob's Ladder merits a 6/10. It's well directed and visually arresting but it's a lot more unoriginal than people give it credit for (again: see Carnival of Soul). Plus, it uses deception to pull off its twist.

The Movie Diorama Another film that has garnered cult status over the years, more so for its unique nightmarish flashback narrative structure. I honestly had to sit in silence for a good ten minutes and attempt to string some words together to surmise this film. Simply put: "A confusing mystery of confusing confusion". *sigh*...I'm going to need my notebook next time. Jacob is wounded during the Vietnam war, years later he starts to see hallucinations and experience depressing flashbacks which leads him to investigate the sudden mental visions. I mean...how do I even collate adjectives and superlatives to create a review for this? It's so bizarrely executed that it left me questioning if this was a hidden masterpiece or just difficult for the sake of melting the brains of the audience. Currently, I sit in the middle. It's an intriguing perspective into a heightened mind during a visceral heart-pumping experience such as the Vietnam War, where secret experiments with hallucinogens were utilised as a means to increase aggression. That aside, the primary appeal to this thriller is the intricate narrative structure. Is it real? Fabricated? Nostalgic memories or malicious nightmares? The careful construct of the plot will leave you questioning every scene up until its conclusion (which still left me scratching my head occasionally). It's rapid pacing, consistently blending ghostly fantasies with reality, which certainly needs to be adjusted to. The constant transitions between flashbacks is jarring, particularly for the first half, but stick with it and all will be answered. Robbins gives yet another exceptional performance as a man undergoing psychological delusions. My main negative is the fact it was so...how to put it..."in your face", that actually I cannot remember the majority of scenes. It's like a jigsaw puzzle, you don't remember slotting each piece in but you do acknowledge the final product. Jacob's Ladder is just that, an absurdly hallucinogenic jigsaw puzzle that definitely needs to be revisited again.

Leofwine_draca Although a definite case of "style over substance", Adrian Lyne's movie is nonetheless powerful and compelling viewing, although overlong and a little slow in parts. Halfway through the movie walks a fine line between being irritating and being profound before finally falling in the latter camp. It charts the turmoil-filled life of Tim Robbins, a postal worker who is plagued by paranoia and hideous nightmares. His descent into madness and despair is a difficult one to watch, thanks to the strong characterisation and good acting on Robbins' part, although the shock-twist ending (which will be familiar to any viewer in this post-SIXTH SENSE world) is both brilliant and infuriating in equal measure.Horror fans seeking some real chills rather than the standard bloody carnage (although there are some brief, horrifying glimpses of that in the Vietnam flashbacks) will no doubt be pleased with the numerous disorientating, highly disturbing visuals that this film has. These mainly take the form of the "demons" which Robbins sees forever chasing and trying to kill him; their heads shake in a super-fast motion (like in the HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL remake) thanks to some nifty special effects apparently done there and then on set. These "demons" surpass even the ones in the same year's GHOST in terms of weirdness and sheer scariness and are definitely a highlight of the movie.Other scenes to watch out for include a disturbing party scene in which strobe lighting is used to great effect; and the film's major, prolonged sequence in which Robbins is wheeled from a brightly-lit hospital into the very depths of Hell. Great, scary stuff. Something most reviewers fail to mention are also the effective on-the-street locations that this film has, as Robbins spends most of his time with the down-and-outs on the dirty, rubbish-strewn streets of New York. At one point he gets his wallet snatched by a guy dressed as Santa! Burnt-out cars and graffiti populate Robbins' surroundings giving the film a very depressing, downbeat feel.The acting is pretty great all round, with Robbins giving it his all as Jacob in the role that possibly geared him towards movie stardom. The underrated Elizabeth Pena is also great as the sympathetic, charming girlfriend, and Danny Aiello is excellent in his cameo as Louis, a doctor with unconventional methods. Even the presence of a pre-stardom Macaulay Culkin can't negate the quality acting of the rest of the cast. The conspiracy angle of the film is handled nicely, when Robbins meets up with his former war buddies only to find them mysteriously "silenced". Varying wildly between intense and sombre moods, the film's conclusion is one which had me in tears, which not many films have the power to do these days. JACOB'S LADDER comes highly recommended, but be prepared to concentrate at all moments and stick with it, as it's by no means an easy film to watch.