Jacob's Ladder 4K (1991)

 

"Worth Watching at Least Twice"

Studio Canal are releasing, on UHD, Blu-ray and Digital, a new 4K restoration of writer Bruce Joel Rubin and director Adrian Lyne's 1990 hallucinatory tale of one man's attempt to come to terms with what has happened to him.

The Mekong Delta 1971. A platoon of US infantry are preparing for an incoming attack when something even more terrible seems to take place. Private Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) receives a bayonet in the guts and the next we see he's waking up on the New York subway with a copy of Albert Camus' The Stranger in his hands. The people on the train behave strangely and when he gets off there seems to be no way out. But he must eventually get out because we then see him in his New York apartment with his girlfriend Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña) and the following day he goes to work at his job with the postal service. 

But strange things are happening to Jacob. One the way home he is chased by a car filled with creatures with misshapen faces. At a party with Elizabeth he believes he sees strange demon-like creatures and at one point he wakes up to find he is home with his ex-wife and his three children, one of whom we have been told died some time ago.

What is going on? And is it linked to his experiences in Vietnam? If you don't know the film (or the short story some have said it's similar to) I'm not going to spoil it for you, suffice to say JACOB'S LADDER is effectively and cleverly enough made that as the credits roll you'll be asking all the right kinds of questions.

Studio Canal's 4K upgrade looks excellent, maintaining a good amount of grain without any undue picture noise or image smoothing, allowing the chilly, grim New York locations to feel appropriately grungy and unpleasant. Extras consist of a trailer and a new 30 minute featurette that includes interviews with Tim Robbins, Adrian Lyne and Bruce Joel Rubin, who expands more on how he got the idea for the story in the first place.

JACOB'S LADDER didn't do terribly well when it was released and didn't get especially good notices either, but it has stood the test of time well and is worth discovering now and, if you first saw back in 1990 as I did, it's definitely worth revisiting. Studio Canal's disc also comes with four art cards. 

Adrian Lyne's JACOB'S LADDER is out from Studio Canal in a 4K restoration on UHD steelbook, Blu-ray and digital formats on Monday 13th October 2025