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).