For several years, there's a very trendy cinematographic genre. This is the "psychological fantastic". This genre is very successful as the movies: "the sixth sense" (1999),"what lies beneath" (2000) or "unbreakable" (2000) showed. All these movies must have been influenced by "Jacob's ladder". In this way, you can regard Adrian Lyne's movie as a precursory and innovative movie. Lyne achieved a masterstroke in an absolutely new genre for him. It means that you're very far from the atmosphere of "9 weeks and a half" or "fatal attraction".

"Jacob's ladder" is based on an outstanding screenplay including numerous weird details that increase the spectator's curiosity. It's precisely with the spectator that Lyne and Bruce Joel Robin, the scriptwriter play with. They take a malicious pleasure in getting the spectator lost in a real maze where seem to border dream and reality. Like Tim Robbins, you look for the clue to the mystery. This clue may be the chemist which Jacob's meeting at the refreshment bar truck. This chemist will lead the plot towards an amazing conclusion.

In Adrian Lyne's movie, there's also a part of the fantastic genre that is very well exploited: at first common and normal living conditions but that are little by little overcome by the unreal, the strange and the fear.

The movie also enjoys an outstanding performance to begin with Tim Robbins. A brilliant success and a movie that deserves to rank among the ten best fantastic movies of the nineties

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.

New York postal worker Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) has nightmarish hallucinations stemming from his horrific Vietnam War experience. His wife Jezzie (Elizabeth Peña) struggles to help him. He is also haunted by his first marriage to Sarah and his dead son Gabe (Macaulay Culkin). Louis (Danny Aiello) is a chiropractor whose adjustments unleashes a long paranoid demonic nightmare.

This is a great movie of a personal nightmare. It's a very good performance of a paranoid character from Tim Robbins. Some of the images are actually quite disturbing. It may be the first time that I noticed the shaking head effects. The long nightmare does meander a little. It's hard to expect hallucinations to drive a straight line to a destination. The final reveal is problematic and pulls the rug from the rest of the movie.