A Vietnam veteran is haunted by killer hallucinations in this disturbing cult classic.
Jacob Singer is serving in the army in Vietnam. When he comes under fire during a mission, his fellow soldiers start behaving weirdly. Back home in New York, Jacob starts to hallucinate – his consciousness jumping back and forth between present and past, dream and reality. Nothing is what it seems.
Insanity is a key theme in H.P. Lovecraft’s work, making claustrophobic horror classic Jacob’s Ladder a perfect fit for our A Tentacular Touch theme programme. A dark story set in a purgatory between dreams, nightmares and reality, with Tim Robbins exuding pure existential dread as ticking time bomb Jacob Singer. Adrian Lyne’s total mindfuck may not have matched the success of his previous film, Fatal Attraction, but by now its reputation exceeds it. And the original version of what has since become an overused trope, a spine-chilling scene in a squeaky-wheeled hospital bed, will haunt you forever.
The screening of Jacob's Ladder on 31 October will be presented by InScience Festival and introduced by writer and professor Patricia Pisters.
