10 Best Psychological Thrillers Of All Time

A hallucinogenic nightmare that only tightens its grip on viewers as events continue to spiral into insanity, Adriane Lyne’s Jacob’s Ladder still holds a reputation for being a seriously disturbing cinematic experience.

After being discharged from Vietnam after being wounded, Jacob (Tim Robins) finds settling back into normalcy a struggle, especially given he’s still mourning the death of his young son. Things only get harder for Jacob when he starts to see nightmarish visions brought on by his PTSD which only grow more horrific as the film goes on.

Are these monstrous demons the result of a Vietnam veteran’s PTSD, or is it a serious side effect of an experimental drug Jacob and his platoon were involuntarily subjected to? The ending, it turns out, is a lot more tragic than both of those possibilities combined.

What this film is arguably best remembered for, though, is its grotesque hospital sequence in which Jacob is wheeled though corridors of dismembered limbs, screaming patients, and various other monstrosities that have doubtlessly traumatised many viewers.

There was a remake made in 2019 helmed by A Single Shot director David M. Rosenthal, however that was met with far less enthusiasm than its predecessor.