Jacob's Ladder Page #2

Synopsis: Jacob's Ladder is a 1990 American psychological horror film directed by Adrian Lyne, written and produced by Bruce Joel Rubin and starring Tim Robbins, Elizabeth Peña, and Danny Aiello. The film's protagonist, Jacob, is a Vietnam veteran whose experiences prior to and during the war result in strange, fragmentary flashbacks and bizarre hallucinations that continue to haunt him. As his ordeal worsens, Jacob desperately attempts to figure out the truth.
Genre: Drama, Horror, Mystery
Production: Tri Star
  3 wins.
 
IMDB:
7.5
Metacritic:
62
Rotten Tomatoes:
69%
R
Year:
1990
113 min
534 Views


A look of disgust crosses JACOB's face. He kicks the door.

It slides open. The WOMAN seems frightened as he approaches

her.

JACOB:

Excuse me, do you know if we've

passed Nostrand Avenue yet?

(she doesn't answer)

Excuse me.

(she does not

acknowledge his

existence)

Look, I'm asking a simple question.

Have we hit Nostrand Avenue? I fell

asleep.

WOMAN:

(speaking with a Puerto

Rican accent)

I no from around here.

JACOB:

(glad for a response)

Yeah, you and everyone else.

JACOB walks to the other end of the car and sits down. The

only other passenger is an OLD MAN lying asleep on the

fiberglass bench. Occasionally his body shudders. It is the

only sign of life in him.

The train begins to slow down. JACOB peers out of the

window. Nostrand Avenue signs appear. He is relieved. He

gets up and grabs hold of the overhead bar.

The OLD MAN shudders and stretches out on the seat. As he

adjusts his position, tugging at his coat, JACOB catches a

brief glimpse of something protruding from beneath the

coat's hem. His eyes fixate on the spot, waiting for another

look. There is a slight movement and it appears - a long,

red, fleshy protuberance. The sight of it sends shivers up

JACOB's spine. It looks strangely like a tail. Only the

stopping of the train breaks JACOB's stare.

INT. SUBWAY STATION - NIGHT

JACOB is the only passenger getting off. The doors close

quickly behind him. He glances at the LADY sitting by the

window. There is a fearful expression on her face as the

train carries her back into the dark tunnel, out of his

sight.

JACOB reaches the exit, a huge metal revolving door

surrounded by floor to ceiling gates. He is about to push

when he notices a chain locking it shut. He stares at it in

disbelief.

JACOB:

Goddam it.

He turns in a huff and hikes to the other end of the

platform. As he approaches the far exit, his eyes widen. The

gate there is also locked. His hands reach for his hips as

he studies an impossible situation.

CUT TO JACOB stepping cautiously onto the ladder going down

to the tracks. A rat scampers by and he gasps.

JACOB:

No way!

He starts to climb back up the ladder but sees that there is

nowhere else to go. He juts out his jaw and steps back down.

JACOB is not comfortable on the tracks. He cannot see where

he is stepping. His shoes slpash in unseen liquid which

makes him grimace. The steel girders are coated in subway

grime. The oily substance coats his hands as he reaches for

support.

JACOB:

Goddam f***ing city!

He wipes the grime on his postal uniform as he steps toward

the center track. He reaches for another girder when it

begins to vibrate. Two pinpoints of light hurl toward him.

Then the noise arrives confirming his fear. A train is

bearing down on him. JACOB looks frightened, not sure which

way to go. He steps forward, up to his ankle in slime. He

cannot tell which track the train is on. It is moving at

phenomenal speed. The station is spinning. The train's

lights merge into one brilliant intensity.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

Bruce Joel Rubin

Bruce Joel Rubin is an American screenwriter best known for the supernatural romance Ghost, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He also wrote the screenplay for the 1990 psychological thriller Jacob's Ladder. more…

All Bruce Joel Rubin scripts | Bruce Joel Rubin Scripts

0 fans

Submitted by aviv on January 29, 2017

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Jacob's Ladder" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 28 Mar. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/jacob's_ladder_876>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Jacob's Ladder

    Browse Scripts.com

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.