Lionsgate has sent out the word Adrian Lyne’s sole tango with psychological horror, Jacob’s Ladder, will be arriving onto Blu-ray this September 14th.
Jacob Singer (Tim Robbins) awakes from a nightmare of his time in Vietnam to his present life as a New York mailman with his girlfriend Jezebel (Elizabeth Peña). As Jacob goes about his workaday life, he begins having unsettling encounters with hints of inhuman deformity and impossibly demonic visions. With the help of his only confidant and chiropractor, Louis (Danny Aiello), Jacob sets forth in discovering the truth only to find his fellow ‘Nam veterans also share his personal horror…
Lyne’s 1990 feature has the hallmark of a director given the freedom to pursue a more personal project after a proven success (Fatal Attraction). After being mostly underappreciated by critics and barely breaking even at the box office, Jacob’s Ladder went on to attract a well deserved cult following on home video. I personally consider the film to be one of the most truly frightening films ever made. In a bit of trivia, it’s one of Tobin Bell’s favorite horror films and a strong inspiration for the Silent Hill franchise’s dilapidated atmosphere.
Lionsgate’s Blu-ray will feature a 1080p HD transfer, presumably lossless 5.1 audio, commentary with director Adrian Lyne, making-of featurette, deleted scenes, and theatrical trailer. I’m assuming the featurette is the nearly 30 minute making-of found on Artisan’s 1998 DVD. The DVD also included Lyne commentary on several deleted scenes and a TV spot. It remains to be seen whether these also make it to the Blu-ray. Jacob’s Ladder has already been released on a Region B BD in Britain by Optimum Releasing, but the image quality is hampered by clumpy noise reduction and the inclusion of zero supplements. Fingers crossed until mid-September…