Jacob's Ladder (1990)/ Silent Hill Connection

[Bobtheduck]

WARNING: This movie is R rated for very good reason... I'll be discussing things in this post that live up to that, at least in terms of the violence... (I'll further hide some other things)

I had watched this movie on TV when I was in Texas. I loved it, and that was before I really got into the Silent Hill games. It was one of the most interesting things I'd ever seen. I figured out the ending a few minutes into it, but somehow I forgot about it... (I don't think I'm the only one who experienced that)

Well, I read that the Silent Hill series was greatly inspired by this movie. I got into SH a few months ago, and so I thought I'd give it another chance. I'm now watching the uncut version... Besides the many things I just wasn't paying close enough attention and didn't notice the first time, there was a LOT cut out of the TV version... I was rather surprised as I watched the uncut version. Besides the "Private Ryan" type war violence, the scene in the subway [button=nasty warning]had a demon with a distinct... Phallus[/button] This isn't something that I just thought I saw, but the creators said that's exactly what it was... There is also a lot of nudity. Jez is almost topless in more than half of her scenes. There was also a particularly nasty scene at a party... Despite this stuff, I still love most of this movie. I don't know why... It's not something I would recommend openly, but I would recommend seeing it if you could see the edited version, though some important things are cut out...

Ok... Now, if you haven't seen JL, but have played SH, you will be in delight with some of the scenes (you know, after you get over the nasty stuff.) A LOT of the cool things in SH started in Jacob's Ladder. The movie opens up in a Subway (well, after the Vietnam scene.) Silent Hill 3 took this scene and used it for their own subway scene. The subway is locked, and there is graffiti on the wall... I mean, I know it's pretty generic, but it looked just like SH3 (well, the other way around, really) and it's called "Bergen Street." Another thing in the subway scene is that there are barred gates that are held shut with a chain and lock. It looked exactly like the scene in SH3.

There is a thing with fans through both the Silent Hill series and in Jacob's Ladder. One major scene in particular, a scene in the hospital, seems to be the major influence in the "Dark Side" silent hill. They left the clean hospital to a dirty, old, unkept hospital where patients were staring at Jacob as he was being wheeled in, and every turn they took, the scenery got worse. First it was just old, then it was sort of infested, then it got all bloody and there were body parts lying all over the ground... Though the gore didn't happen in SH, the general feel of the Hospital was the sort of feel they recreated for much of the "Dark Side" silent hill. In one part of the hospital, there were metal grates above Jacob, with patients scurrying like animals over the grating. There are faceless monsters that show up all over, and a reoccuring theme of these twitching monsters (the Silent Hill creators used this one a lot)

Much like why I love Silent Hill, besides the atmosphere which has this movie as its base, I love this movie for the symbolism, which was NOT "copied" from this movie and put in Silent Hill... Thankfully, they got enough of their own. The names of many of the characters (Jacob, Eli, Sarah, Jezebel, Gabriel) are all Biblical names. There are a lot of Biblical allusions, though the conclusion is definately not in line with the Biblical view... If you'd been a Silent Hill fan but just thought the twitchy thing was a cool effect, you may be pleasently surprised to find out that that had a meaning when it was first made. Yeah, that's right. It was the defining thing in Jacob's ladder, so of course it was included in SH both because it looked cool and it is good to acknowledge your origins.

If you haven't seen it, I'd probably wait for it to come on TV... There is a good deal of nudity and one really nasty scene that I won't even describe that bordered on x-rated, except they only showed it for like a few frames at a time. If you can catch it edited, though, it is a very interesting movie. Maybe a bit confusing for some, but very interesting. It would be good for SH fans to check out, anyhow. I mean, it's sorta like watching "Night of the Living Dead" if you're a Resident Evil fan, I suppose.

Much like the "Mannequin" scene in SH3, there was just ONE scene in Jacob's Ladder that scares the crap out of me... I won't tell you what it is. It will most likely NOT be cut out of the TV version because it's not gory or sexual. It's just a good old fashion scare.

Anyhow... Um... I'll look it up occasionally to see if it's going to be shown on network or basic cable TV. I'll let you all know so you can see it without the "extras"