Stay vs. Jacob's Ladder

SPOILERS..........

Stay was definately better thought of - in your words partly. I felt that so many scenes remind me of my dreams, where my dreams are affected by the sounds around me while I sleep. Once it all falls into place, the overall effect of the movie means so much

But it isn't correct to say that Jacobs ladder is not well thought of. In comparison to Stay, I think it moves ahead because of the last 2 scenes - Jacobs child coming to him in the light, and Jacobs body in the hospital. I did not know weather to feel very happy or very sad - it was a mix of intense emotions - which Stay cannot give you.

I like to tell people to watch Jacobs ladder - for the first 90 % of the movie you may wonder - why is this a masterpiece ? When you see the last 2 scenes - its like your hit with a punch and a counter Punch. Your knocked out.

In my opinion Jacobs Ladder is the best movie ever made


Darkness lies an inch ahead

Honestly, I think that while the concepts are the same, the execution is extraordinarily different. My preference really depends on my mood.

Jacob's Ladder thrives on realism. Or more particularly, how that realism quickly devolves in many scenes into the terrifying. You know what I'm referring to; the dance hall scene, the hospital scene, etc. The jolt at the end occurs because, honestly, despite the clues, it's somewhat of a surprise to learn that the clues actually have a reason for being there.

Stay, on the other hand, is completely, 100% a work of surrealism. You should know within five minutes that this takes place between life and death. The ending should not be a surprise. This knowledge (which seems to have escaped critics, looking at their reviews) allows you to just simply sit back, understand, and appreciate the vast, rich symbolism, almost all of it stemming from psychological theories of dreams, including Freud.

The two movies are so similar, and yet so different.

I agree with mcleburn45.

To throw a red herring into the debate, I think Carlito's Way http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0106519 is another film on this continuum and that it sits between the other two films. It's tragic than Stay (but not Hamlet) and more down to earth (less hevenly) than Jacob's Ladder.

Stay was excellent, but Jacobs Ladder is a masterpiece!

I like both of them.

Schrodinger's cat walks into a bar, and / or doesn't.

I just watched Stay for the first time and while I thought it was very good, I would say Jacob's Ladder is much better. Stay had the unfortunate timing of being after films like Jacob's Ladder, Angel Heart, The Machinist, and was released shortly after The Jacket. Those are all very similar films with similar endings so I kind of felt the ending coming but it was still very well executed and didn't really effect my like for the film. Those other films are also more chilling in my book. I would also say Jacob's Ladder had quite the amount of originality in my opinion, the reveal was certainly interesting and I found Jacob's Ladder slightly more captivating.

Stay was still very good, it's not on the level of Jacob's Ladder, Angel Heart, or The Machinist but right there with The Jacket and Triangle...not bad company to be lumped with.