Jacob's Ladder

Adrian Lyne's Jacob's Ladder is one of the most psychologically disturbing horror films ever made — a labyrinthine nightmare about a Vietnam veteran experiencing increasingly terrifying hallucinations that blur the boundary between life, death, and purgatory. Tim Robbins delivers a performance of bewildered, desperate humanity as Jacob Singer, a man who cannot trust his own reality. The 'head shake' effect — achieved by filming actors vibrating their heads at high speed, then underexposing the film — has been imitated by every horror filmmaker since, most notably in the Silent Hill video games, which were directly inspired by the film. The final reveal recontextualizes everything and is genuinely moving.