Mourning his dead child, a haunted Vietnam War veteran attempts to uncover his past while suffering from a severe case of dissociation. To do so, he must decipher reality and life from his own dreams, delusions, and perceptions of death.

Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a Vietnam vet living a simple life as a postman, living with Jezzie (Elizabeth Peña) and mourning his lost son Gabe (an uncredited Macaulay Culkin). His grim, gritty world is desaturated and grubby, but satisfying enough, until Jacob starts seeing things that make him question the very nature of reality. At first they are small things, glimpsed faces in a passing train, but as he seeks answers, they come more face-to-face and his world seems desperately fragile. Are these demons? Hallucinations? Is he delusional or is he being affected by something he was exposed to in the war?

With the help and wisdom of his chiropractor Louis (Danny Aiello), he tries to figure out what’s going on here, anyway?

Tim Robbins sees things. Unpleasant things.

Signs point to his time in Vietnam, and when he seeks out his squadmembers, he finds that many of them are having similar visions. And then people start to disappear, and things get worse.

But Louis says there’s no need to fear demons. He paraphrases Eckhart Tolle: “If you’re afraid of dying, and you’re holdin’ on, you’ll see devils tearin’ your life away. But if you’ve made your peace, then the devils are really angels, freein’ you from the world.”

The origin of the now-common shaky-head ghost

I first watched Jacob’s Ladder because it was listed as a significant inspiration for Silent Hill, of which I am inordinately fond. It has been heavily referenced in horror from Supernatural to The Evil Within to American Horror Story. You ever see a glitchy, shaky-headed ghost? That’s down to Jacob’s Ladder.

There is a remake slated for 2019 release.

I like to pair it in a double feature with Angel Heart.