10 Horror Movie Endings No One Understands

Released in 1990, the war horror Jacob's Ladder is comfortably the best film from Fatal Attraction helmer Adrian Lyne, a thoughtful slice of psychological horror which follows the troubled later life of a Vietnam veteran played by Andy Dusfrene himself, the reliably great Tim Robbins.

The film's action follows the titular protagonist's life after returning from a tour in Saigon, with the shook, shell-shocked veteran struggling to get through the days in his rainy, dark home city and finding himself plagued by nightmarish visions of blood-soaked hospitals and gruesome demonic apparitions at every turn.

This trippy horror initially seems impossible to parse, but a close reading reveals that the demons Jacob has encountered throughout his journey are actually merely memories he must let go of in order to ascend to Heaven. The flick's bombshell twist reveals that he never left Vietnam, and the action of the preceding movie has actually taken place in the few seconds he spends expiring on an operating table.

Those faceless demon doctors? Actual medics attempting and failing to save him. The twisted demons? Just fragments of a life he's struggled to leave behind.