(Jacob's Ladder - In der Gewalt des Jenseits [de])
USA 1990
d: Adrian Lyne
Artisan Entertainment (Region 1 us)
sc: Bruce Joel Rubin
c: Jeffrey L. Kimball (Technicolor)
e: Tom Rolf
pd: Brian Morris
m: Maurice Jarre
p: Alan Marshall (Carolco Pictures)
w: Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jason Alexander, Patricia Kalember, Eriq La Salle, Ving Rhames, Brian Tarantina, Anthony Alessandro, Brent Hinkley, S. Epatha Merkerson, Suzanne Shepherd, Doug Barron
pr: 02 Nov 1990
rt: 113:05 min
dvd-rl: 21 Aug 2001
ar: 1.85:1 (16:9 Anamorphic Widescreen)
sd: English Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround
st: Spanish; CC
supp: • Audio Commentary with director Adrian Lyne
• Making-of documentary "Building Jacob's Ladder", including never-before-seen footage (26:27 min)
• 3 deleted scenes with optional audio commentary by director Adrian Lyne (Letterbox 1.85:1, Dolby Digital 2.0) (13:23 min)
• Theatrical trailer (1:50 min)
• TV spot (1:30 min)
• Production notes
• Cast and crew biographies
Lyne's chilling film bombed in the States, probably because of its origins in the murkier side of the now done-to-death Vietnam War. But, messy and maddening though some of it is, Jacob's Ladder is also a truly scary film which is never simply a war or horror vehicle. Jacob Singer (Robbins) is a man whose life totters continually between past, present and future, between reality and terrifying illusion brought on by his experiences in Vietnam, where his unit was dosed with a vicious derivative of LSD to improve its killing power. Where the problem arises is that this scenario is only one alternative in the life of a man variously shown as divorced, studying and co-habiting, married and prosperous with children, or dead on a Vietnam field-hospital table. But Lyne's giddying, unsettling direction conjures up moments of horrifying hallucinogenic power from the bad-trip hell of his protagonist.
— SGr, Time Out Film Guide
•••••
Director Adrian Lyne followed his trashy smash FATAL ATTRACTION with this arresting oddity, an arty, terrifying psychological thriller. Scripted by Bruce Joel Rubin (GHOST) and produced at a cost of $40 million, the film failed at the box office, probably due to a twist ending that almost everyone perceived as a cop-out. ...
The much-touted screenplay for JACOB'S LADDER circulated in Hollywood for almost a decade, and in a 1983 American Film article, Rubin's screenplay was listed among the ten best unproduced scripts. (In our view, Lyne improved on the screenplay by heightening its ambiguities and jettisoning much fabular preachiness.) Truly frightening and visually unique, this messy, challenging film is anchored by Tim Robbins' remarkable performance.
— TV MovieGuide
•••••
A bold, powerful psychological horror film (1990) about a recently returned Vietnam vet (Tim Robbins) in New York City, plagued by nightmarish visions he doesn't understand. Thanks to a remarkable script by Bruce Joel Rubin and the directorial skills of Adrian Lyne (whose infernal vision of New York is even more effective here than in Fatal Attraction), this works as both a highly effective stream-of-consciousness puzzle thriller offering the viewer not one but many "solutions" and an emotionally persuasive statement about the plight of many American vets who fought in Vietnam. The surprises, ambiguities, and many shifting levels of reality and consciousness sometimes recall The Manchurian Candidate, albeit without that film's ironic sensibility. Robbins fully meets the unusual demands of his part, and Elizabeth Peña and Danny Aiello are equally impressive.
— Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
