Jacob’s Ladder is a 1990 horror film directed by Adrian Lyne, based on a screenplay by Bruce Joel Rubin. It stars Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, and Jason Alexander. Actor Macaulay Culkin appears briefly in an uncredited performance.

Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) is a U.S. soldier in the Mekong Delta, Vietnam. Helicopters pass overhead, carrying supplies for what appears to be preparation for a big Viet Cong offensive. Without any warning, Jacob’s unit comes under fire. The soldiers try to take cover, but begin to exhibit strange behavior for no apparent reason. Jacob tries to escape the unexplained insanity, only to be bayonetted by an unseen enemy.

The film shifts between Vietnam, to Jacob’s memories (and hallucinations) of his son Gabe (Macaulay Culkin, uncredited) and former wife Sarah (Patricia Kalember), to his present (this timeframe is set in 1977) relationship with a woman named Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña) in New York City. During this time, Jacob faces several threats to his life and has severe hallucinatory experiences. It is revealed that his son Gabe was hit by a car and killed while Jacob was in Vietnam.

Variety magazine wrote that producer Alison Rosenzweig is at work with New Line Cinema on developing a remake of Jacob’s Ladder, with a possible release in 2010.

The same basic idea of a whole plotline that is revealed to be a dying man’s agonizing vision has been used extensively in recent time cinema. Examples are: “The I Inside”, “Stay” and “November”(in this case a dying woman).

The Warriors is a 1979 cult action/thriller film directed by Walter Hill and based on the 1965 novel by Sol Yurick. Much like the novel, the film borrows certain elements from the Anabasis by Xenophon.

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Up in Smoke, directed by Lou Adler, is Cheech and Chong’s first feature-length film, released in 1978 by Paramount Pictures. It stars Cheech Marin, Tommy Chong, Edie Adams, Strother Martin and Stacy Keach. Grossing $41,590,893, it was the 12th highest-grossing film of 1978.

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Fritz the Cat was an underground comic book fictional character created by Robert Crumb. The character first appeared in printed form during the height of the underground comix movement of the 1960s and has since appeared in two films inspired by Crumb’s comics.

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The Toxic Avenger is an American cult classic comedy horror film first released in 1984 by Troma Entertainment, known for producing low budget B-movies with campy concepts. Virtually ignored upon its first release, The Toxic Avenger caught on with moviegoers after a long and successful midnight movie engagement at the famed Bleecker Street Cinemas in New York City in late 1985.

The film has generated three film sequels, a stage production, and a children’s TV cartoon. Two less successful sequels: The Toxic Avenger Part II and The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie were filmed as one movie. Director Lloyd Kaufman realized that he had shot far too much footage for one movie, and reedited it into two. A third independent sequel was also released, entitled Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV. An animated children’s TV series spin-off, Toxic Crusaders, featured Toxie as the leader of a team of mutated superheroes who fought against evil alien polluters. The cartoon series was short-lived and it was quickly canceled. New Line Cinema had planned a live action movie based on the cartoon, but the deal fell through.

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Class of Nuke ‘Em High, (known as Atomic High School in countries other than the United States and the United Kingdom), is a 1986 film made by cult classic B-movie production group Troma Entertainment. It was directed by Richard W. Haines and Lloyd Kaufman. New York holographer Jason Sapan created the laser effects.

Tagline: Readin’, Writin’, and Radiation!

Plot

The film is about a New Jersey high school (Tromaville High School), which is conveniently located adjacent to a nuclear power plant. The facility is seeping radioactive waste, which leads inevitably to rapid and dramatic mutations amongst the student population.

Sequels

The film spawned two sequels, 1991’s Class of Nuke ‘Em High 2: Subhumanoid Meltdown and 1994’s Class of Nuke ‘Em High 3: The Good, the Bad and the Subhumanoid. A fourth movie was announced in 2000, but it never got past the pre-production stage.

Links:  www.imdb.com/title/tt0090849, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Class_of_Nuke_%27Em_High