Jacob’s Ladder: Silent Hill Meets Slaughterhouse-Five

Kathryn joins Melvin to discuss an early 1990s horror feature, Jacob’s Ladder! That’s right, the gang heads back to the 90s to discuss another cult-classic horror feature, and the two get into all its metaphors, scares, and the joy of having changed opinions on rewatched movies. 

Topics:

• (PATREON EXCLUSIVE) 23-minutes discussing Martin Shore’s write-up on WhatToWatch titled, “Are movies really getting longer? Were films in the 1980s really shorter? We test the data…” and exploring why that may be. (PATREON EXCLUSIVE)
• Jacob and Jacob’s Ladder as a movie are both very holistic; the whole film explores the whole-person of Jacob.
• Melvin was caught off guard with how emotional he found the film, especially as this was his second watch, and he shares why he thinks that is.
• Melvin yells at cloud and wants more movies about adults, and he praises Jacob’s Ladder for exploring adult experiences.
• Exploring the various metaphors at play within the film.
• Ruminations on memento mori.
• Jacob cries a lot in the movie which is a nice depiction of manhood. 
• Understanding the ending as a representation of tragic classism, and the death of the American Dream.
  

Recommendations:

• King of the Hill (1997-X) (TV Show)
• Labyrinth (1986) (Movie)

Jacob’s Ladder is Rated R. It features Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, Danny Aiello, Matt Craven, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Jason Alexander, Patricia Kalember, Eriq La Salle, Ving Rhames, Brian Tarantina, Anthony Alessandro, Brent Hinkley, and S. Epatha Merkerson. Directed by Adrian Lyne. Jacob’s Ladder is available here.

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Melvin Benson is the Founder, Editor-In-Chief, and Lead Host of Cinematic Doctrine. Whether it’s a movie, show, game, comic, or novel, it doesn’t matter. As long as it’s rich, he’s ready and willing to give it a try! His hope is to see King Jesus glorified as far as the east is from the west!

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