10 Most Confusing Horror Movies You'll Ever Watch

Considering Jacob's Ladder directly inspired the Silent Hill video game series, it's no surprise Adrian Lyne's film is deeply unsettling.

The psychological drama follows Vietnam veteran Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins), who's trying to deal with his PTSD. After he starts experiencing petrifying hallucinations and flashbacks, Jacob feels like he's losing his mind.

Jacob's Ladder is a film that's not just designed to scare, but to disorient. There's a deluge of haunting imagery, but it's the way these visual techniques are employed that keep viewers on edge. The most disturbing moments are regularly accompanied with flickering lights, distorted sounds, and jittery edits, leaving the audience feeling uneasy long after the scene ends.

The story explores religious symbolism, folkloric allusions, and philosophical concepts, further amplifying its surreal nature. Jacob's inconsistent memories of a secret experiment inject another sense of otherworldliness into the already chaotic narrative.

The film also meshes together the past with the present, and hallucinations with reality, so it's difficult to tell where one ends and one begins. These techniques effectively mirror Jacob's fractured psyche, making it impossible for viewers to tell what's real and what isn't.