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''Jacob's Ladder'' is a 1990 American psychological horror film directed by Adrian Lyne, written and produced by Bruce Joel Rubin and starring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña and Danny Aiello. The Special Edition of the film was released on DVD by Artisan Entertainment in 1998 and on Blu-ray Disc by Lions Gate Entertainment in 2010. The film's protagonist, Jacob, is a Vietnam veteran whose experiences prior to and during the war result in strange, fragmentary flashbacks and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt him. As his ordeal worsens, Jacob desperately attempts to figure out the truth. ''Jacob's Ladder'' was made by Carolco Pictures ten years after being written by Rubin. It drew from several inspirations for its story and effects, including the short film ''An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge'' and the paintings of Francis Bacon. Though only moderately successful upon release, the film garnered a cult following and became a source of influence for various other works such as the horror franchise ''Silent Hill''. A loose remake of ''Jacob's Ladder'' was announced to be in works by LD Entertainment. ==Plot summary== On October 6, 1971, American soldier Jacob Singer is with the 1st Air Cavalry Division, deployed in a village in the Mekong Delta during the Vietnam War, when his close knit unit comes under attack. As many of Jacob's comrades are killed or wounded, others exhibit abnormal behavior, including catatonia and a bloody seizure. A terrified Jacob flees into the jungle, only to be bayoneted in the gut. In 1975, Jacob awakens on a New York City Subway, with the novel ''The Stranger''. Despite having a PhD, Jacob works as a postal clerk and lives in a run down apartment in Brooklyn with his seductive girlfriend Jezzie. But he misses his wife and their three sons, especially the youngest, Gabe, who died before the war. He is increasingly beset by disturbing experiences, including inexplicably locked subway exits, faceless vibrating people, a car trying to run him down, a nurse with grotesque teeth on the top of her head, and a bat-like monster penetrating Jezzie at a party, where he collapses with a dangerous fever. The comrade who had gone catatonic, Paul, contacts him to reveal having had similar terrifying experiences, but is immediately killed when his car explodes. Commiserating together after the funeral, the platoon-mates confess that all but one have also been been living a nightmare. Jacob explains that the army must have done something to them, and they hire a lawyer to investigate, who later backs out after reading military files documenting that the soldiers were never in combat, but were discharged for psychological reasons. Jacob's comrades also back out, looking scared, as Jacob demands they tell him who got to them. Jacob himself is later thrown into a car with intimidating men in suits who tell him to stop nosing around in military business, but he is able to jump from the moving car. Taken to the hospital, he finds himself strapped to a stretcher being wheeled over bloody body parts, past demented, disfigured inmates. Trapped with doctors wielding barbaric metal instruments, he is told he is already dead, but denies it. He is taken out of the hospital by his friend and chiropractor Louis, who cites the 14th-century Christian mystic Meister Eckhart: Eckhart saw Hell too. He said: "The only thing that burns in Hell is the part of you that won't let go of life, your memories, your attachments. They burn them all away. But they're not punishing you", he said. "They're freeing your soul. So, if you're frightened of dying and... you're holding on, you'll see devils tearing your life away. But if you've made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freeing you from the earth." Jacob is approached by a distressed Michael Newman, the same man who treated his wound in a medevac helicopter in Vietnam, and who dragged him away from Paul's burning car. Newman tells a story of having been a chemist with the Army's chemical warfare division in Saigon. He designed "the Ladder", a drug that massively increased aggression, taking people straight to their most primal urges. A dose was secretly given to Jacob's unit, who then turned homicidally on each other. At various times Jacob experiences the aftermath of his attack, such as being found gutted in the jungle and being evacuated under fire. At one point he awakens in his home before the war with his wife and all three sons, telling his wife he had a dream he was living with another woman, Jezzie. Eventually he re-experiences the traumatic moment, where it is a fellow American soldier that bayonets him. Finally given knowledge of what happened to him and why, in a calmer place, Jacob returns to the apartment of his family. He sorts through his mementos, including his combat dog tags and honorable discharge. He is surprised to then see Gabe at the foot of the stairwell, who takes him by the hand and leads him up the stairwell into a bright light. In a wartime triage tent, military doctors declare Jacob dead after "putting up quite a fight." He has an expression of peace on his face. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jacob's Ladder (film)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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