10 Movies Where The Hero Was Dead All Along

So heroic, and so dead.
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[@kristentaylor5359]

That's a version of Jacob's Ladder I've never seen, I was expecting Tim Robbins

[@TheSupersith707]

They used the footage of the remake I think n not the original. The remake I believe takes place in the afgan war..never watched it myself

[@Tapestry1138]

It's a absolute shit remake. The original is truly terrifying. The remake has none of the the nuance of it's inspiration.

[@DrNothing23]

Holy crap, I can't believe they remade that! The original is amazing in all aspects... I first saw it in its original theatrical release and when I was leaving the theater, I actually felt like I was on a mild hallucinogenic trip. Absolute shite move, again, it was remade, let alone WC didn't use the original. SHAME!

[@dpcnreactions7062]

I was wondering about that as well, why would they not show the original as it is more well known?

[@RAISINSEVERYWHERE]

@@TheSupersith707 oh okay lol I was really confused as to how someone in the Vietnam war had an iPod

[@HVG67]

WTF? You used the shitty Jacob's Ladder remake? Blasphemy!

[@denisebennettahrentzen8340]

That’s what I’m saying!!

[@Dave19812506]

Shame on you for talking about jacobs ladder and useing an inferior remake instead of the Tim Robins classic. Dreadfully shameful!

[@robertsaul234]

Clint Eastwood did it twice..."High Plains Drifter". Original "Jacob's Ladder" should have been here instead of the remake.

[@KernowMan68]

I agree that the Original "Jacob's Ladder" should be on the list.

[@Sacarat]

I love high plains drifter

[@shardsofcontent4829]

No shit!

[@eyeofthescar6890]

Shameful to show the remake instead of the original

[@pirobot668beta]

'High Plains Drifter' was a "dead all along" story as well. Everyone in town recognizes the Drifter...they all watched him die some years before. He's returned as the Spirit of Vengeance; against the men who killed him, and the Townspeople who stood by and watched. It's that rare "everyone knows the Hero is dead, including the Hero" movies...

[@albundy774]

There was an interview with Clint Eastwood where he confirmed that the character was a supernatural force in High Plains Drifter hence why no one in the town recognised him as the previous town marshal and in Pale Rider he was the ghost of the preacher Stockburn murdered years earlier.

[@denisebennettahrentzen8340]

The original version of Jacob’s Ladder with Tim Robbins is better.

[@williamcarlin7915]

Ambrose Bierce - 1890 - An Incident at Owl Creek Bridge - Made a huge impression on me when I was shown a short film adaptation of it in school decades ago. First instance I can recall.

[@DrNothing23]

YES! I saw this in a grade school class in the 70's. Chilling film.

[@plicketyplunk]

The best!

[@sharondornhoff7563]

Pretty sure that one's technically "on the brink of death all along".

[@kimonk]

Same! I cried!

[@jeffreybollman6186]

Shown on USA TV on the Twilight Zone

[@clintmemo]

Pale Rider was 1985, not 1975.

[@paulhunt4690]

Didn’t know they remade Jacob’s ladder

[@whatthefkmate]

For those of you that didn’t feel like watching the video… 10- Jacob’s Ladder (the remake) 9-Source Code, 8- The Others, 7- Last Christmas, 6- Stay, 5-Carnival of Souls, 4- Safe Haven, 3- Point Blank, 2- The Sixth Sense, and 1- Pale Rider

[@8bitpix]

why you use the remake of Jacobs ladder instead of the goated original?

[@necronomiconjones8040]

They remade Jacob's ladder?

[@Kav3h]

I didn't know they remade Jacob's Ladder until now.

[@emanimal728]

My first exposure to this was "The Twilight Zone" episode "The Hitchhiker." Well acted by Inger Stevens.

[@darnice1125]

Clint Eastwood was also dead in High Plains Drifter. He was the sheriff of the town that was whipped to death by the bad guys.

[@SanFranDentist94301]

How dare you post the bootleg version of Jacob's Ladder. And in this version, it's not Vietnam. It's the Middle East🫠

[@philc8703]

Jules comments relate to the 1990 OG Jacob's Ladder, which was set during the Vietnam war, but the clips were from the remake in 2019, which was set in the Gulf war

[@foxlancaster4044]

Why didnt you show the REAL Jacob's Ladder, wokies?

[@PrettyWhenICry83]

Whats with the remake of jacobs ladder? Use the original.

[@numbnutz9398]

Why the fark would they remake Jacobs Ladder? Some movies are perfect when they are made. The original was perfectly disturbing. So well done.

[@alisondenu5317]

In the same year as "Carnival of Souls" there was a short film released called "Incident at Owl Creek." I won't spoil it for you, but I do think you might be interested in viewing it.

[@mariesimbeck9875]

That was an hour long episode of The Twilight Zone. One of the best episodes of the series.

[@garyhoppenjan6258]

Loved " The Others" was one the best twists ever at the end

[@JemJam2976]

"This house is ours"

[@leemarie414]

I always thought that Clint's High Plains Drifter was the only "Ghost Western' that he had made. I never thought of The Pale Rider as a ghost story also. I'll have to go back and watch that again with that perspective. Thanks.

[@Bladerunner4924764]

There were several hints. One was when he's washing up and Hull walks in on him, he has a few bullet scars on his back. Also, Stockburn says he knew someone like that but he was dead.

[@kojikicklighter371]

My favorite dead-all-along movie, is Mulholland Drive. All of Us Strangers is a recent addition. There's a pretty intense submarine flick, called Below, as well.

[@aworkinprogress4387]

Wasn't Eastwood also a ghost in High Planes Drifter?

[@diegovitteri]

I remember a chapter of "The Twilight Zone" when a small passenger boat was pursued by a nazi submarine inside a bank of fog. The captain of the boat looked at the sea with troublesome thinking. The hours pased while each of the crew reveals have actions that regret in their lives, with fear if the submarine decide to sink them, and eventually... it does. While the passengers died, the captain of the boat sees as the submarine emerges to kill any survivors, and then... he see that the nazi captain... is him, and all the crew of the submarine are the same of the boat, the nazi captain looks to the sea commenting to his first officer if they did the right think or if they will be condemned for this crime, and the chapter ends like it started, with the captain of the boat seeing the sea, afraid of the nazi submarine...

[@kjay9821]

Wtf is this Jacob’s ladder edition?!?!

[@danielbussey4394]

Pale Rider was 1985, High Plains Drifter (same idea) was 1973.

[@djmattblack]

How about The Wraith. Charlie Sheen returns from the dead to wreak revenge on the people who murdered him

[@LynetteMarie43]

That's not the version of Jacob's Ladder I recognize. Watch the original with Tim Robbins. I loved seeing it in the theatre back in 1990. Blew my mind. A great film.

[@joncsoriano5163]

Anne Hathaway has one.. movie where she was in a plane crash

[@ericbosken3114]

Passengers - not the Chris Pratt one, but the movie that came out a few years before it

[@ripley33able]

Also don't forget the 1981 film The Survivor. This stars Robert Powell and Jenny Agutter. Based on the novel of the same name by British author James Herbert. Some aspects of the novel were toned down for the film version.

[@user-gp5kh5tu4k]

Some aspects of the novel were toned down for the film version-- this is definitely an understatement...

[@ChristianFabris-km5mp]

Vanilla Sky, The Crow

[@8bitpix]

in vanilla sky the protag was alive just in a coma-dream

[@kurtb8474]

Also with Pale Rider, there are a lot of similarities with it and the classic movie "Shane."

[@rome8180]

The video was fine, but I'm disappointed in the use of the Jacob's Ladder remake. The original is a masterpiece. The remake...not so much.

[@EyeKahnography]

Really loved Source Code unexpectedly and I appreciate that the movie wasn't dependent on the twist at all and was a really interesting piece elsewise too.

[@endorphinzz]

Did WhatCulture not know that the original Jacob's Ladder existed?...Or where they afraid of showing clips from the original? No idea who that first actor was or what that first film is lol...

[@HariSeldon913]

Even though they never tried to hide it, I thought 'Ghost' with Patrick Swayze would be on here.

[@alisdairmckenzie]

I imagine that fact that the hero is dead all along is supposed to be a surprise or shock - hardly the case with Ghost

[@HariSeldon913]

@@alisdairmckenzie It fits with the content, but I was saying that based on the title of the video that Ghost fits and is rather well known.

[@fabrisseterbrugghe8567]

Ship of Fools is an early version of this trope, too.

[@hmart6881]

You say "Jacob's Ladder" and tune in with the horrible remake? -> Turning off.

[@plucas1]

Technically, every Dracula film ever made fits this trope.

[@ЕвгенийРязанов-н5я]

There is few where he is alive at the beginning.

[@NancyPollyCy]

Maybe not a perfect fit, but I'd add "Portrait of Jenny." Eben knows there's something other-worldly about Jenny - she ages from childhood to young womanhood in the span of months for goodness sake - but the revelation that she had died tragically at Land's End Light still comes as a tremendous shock.

[@benaneres3370]

Lost Highway by David Lynch

[@jamesking9807]

I disagree...but that's just according to my interpretation of it. IMHO he doesn't die until the very end as he's driving away and the flashes of light are seen, corresponding to him actually being put to death in the electric chair in prison.

[@nickbrutanna9973]

Back when CSI was still being inventive (like, around the 5th or 6th season), they had one episode where the base story was set in the morgue, with three different bodies detailing how they died -- all in an interconnected way. And yeah, Source Code was awesome. There were a number of little "off kilter" SF pieces around that same time -- Limitless, The Adjustment Bureau, and Source Code all come to mind.

[@reptongeek]

Just for clarification are you referring to CSI: Crime Scene Investigation

[@davidinark]

The thing that sets 6th Sense apart from the others is that only one person ever actually interacts with the dead character. Everything else is carefully crafted to make us THINK there is interaction, but there isn’t.

[@koanikal]

In Source Code, he's not dead all along, though he's very close to dead, and it's not a computer simulation, it's the actual event, but on multiple different timelines. Better to think of it as a time machine of sorts. Also, it's quite the shame that you'd bring up the extremely botched Jacob's Ladder 'remake', and not the masterpiece that is the original Tim Robbins Jacob's Ladder (in which he's not dead either, but very close to dead).

[@nemoatlantis7148]

source code, I think it's simulation, not time travels. In ther story, he's just compatible with the remains of the bomber. he was like a doner motherboard to connect to a dead harddrive, the brain of the bomber. somehow the end just gives us the happy ending with the alternate reality-like scenery.

[@4Mr.Crowley2]

Please do another with the original Jacob’s Ladder plus “An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge,” a French short film based on the famous short story by Ambrose Bierce and used as a one-off Twilight Zone episode. It predates Carnival of Souls by a few years, and is rightly very famous. Original Jacob’s Ladder is not only a far better film than the pointless remake it is also much more philosophically coherent. Jacob is loosely experiencing the spiritual journey of the dead as outlined in the Tibetan Book of the Dead. In Tibetan Buddhism the soul is very reluctant to leave the body and experiences a sort of spiritual journey through a purgatory filled with memories, regrets, losses, loves, angelic and demonic figures, etc - until the dead accepts his/her fate and chooses to pass into the afterlife (little boy with Tim Robbins).

[@harryboyes2812]

That Malcolm died in The Sixth Sense was pretty obvious. The way that nobody except Cole was really interacting with him made it clear.

[@NancySmith-ns1mb]

An Occurrence At Owl Creek - A 1961 short film, almost zero dialog, Rod Serling did several "already dead" Twilight Zone episodes (I know, not movies, but still).

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

SEEN ALL THESE...EXCELLENT!!👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@host_theghost507]

I love Carnival of Souls, but the "dead all along" trope began at least as early as Ambrose Bierce's "An Occurrence of Owl Creek Bridge."

[@carollane8694]

In Jacob's Ladder he wasn't already dead he was still in his death throws while tripping balls.

[@anubusx]

Youre actually right. He dies when he ascends to Heaven.

[@mariesimbeck9875]

I loved the Sixth Sense. The ending was a complete surprise.

[@Thrythlind]

There was another Clint Eastwood western that was more explicitly about a ghost taking revenge on a town. A far more sinister tale than that of Pale Rider, where the ghost is more protective. High Plains Drifter.

[@DanielOrme]

Does the Naomi Watts character in "Mulholland Drive" fit into this? I interpreted most of the movie as her dying fantasy, with the closing section being what she really went through before her death. But it's a David Lynch movie, so I can hardly say for sure that's what's really going on.

[@kojikicklighter371]

Yes, it opens with her shooting herself. Her soul is taken at Club Silencio, and her afterlife fantasy is replaced by the truth of her betrayal of Camilla, and her suicide.

[@rokker101]

not the original jacobs ladder

[@jumpingman8160]

Source Code: the Hero is NOT dead if his brain is ALIVE and on LIFE SUPPORT

[@studiodsr]

The Wham! joke was 10/10. Well played

[@mikeburkhart8336]

What about "High Plains Drifter"? Where the mysterious gunslinger Clint Eastwood played as might have been the vengeful spirit of the marshal shot dead in the streets of the town by outlaws while the residents did nothing to help him.

[@rejiik]

Talking about Jacob's Ladder and not using images of the pictures... you call yourself a journalist?

[@Anthony-zr6pi]

Sunset boulevard! Not on the list? Outrageous. 😉

[@SilentJT3]

That Jacobs ladder literally has a 4% on Rotten Tomatoes.

[@TimothyMusson]

Another is "Impostor" (2001)

[@KingMiles88]

Cloned but yeah same difference.

[@ibhistory106]

TeneT should be here as "protagonist was dead all alone" is quite a valid theory that explains pretty much all time warps shenanigans as just a hallucinations of dying mind

[@ericely3544]

An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge Should get an honorable mention

[@DrNothing23]

Almost surprised Jarmusch's Dead Man isn't on the list, though Depp's protagonist, WIlliam Blake, is actually NOT dead the entire film, rather is tragically wounded very early on and basically on a journey to the afterlife throughout, as he does slowly pass away, thus, effectively IS dead.

[@markwarrensprawson]

That's not "Jacob's Ladder". Same story pretty much, but I saw "Jacob's Ladder", the real "Jacob's Ladder", and it was fantastic. There was absolutely no reason to make it with other people. People do that these days, sure, but Lordy, if you haven't seen the first one, you haven't seen "Jacob's Ladder".

[@lardyboyw]

Good work with "roaring rampage of revenge" but that is very definitely the incorrect Jacob's Ladder.

[@rockero1313]

first of all.... why show the "Jacob's Ladder" when talking about the original??? and second... in "Jacob's Ladder", "Source Code", and "Stay" the hero wasn't "dead all along", he was actually alive and died at the ACTUAL END of the movie. Honorable mention: "The Uninvited", the older sister was dead all along also, there has been a few anthology films like "The Vault of Horror" (1973) that show the main characters telling their scary stories but ending up been dead all along.

[@FatKidWaGun]

You were talking about the Tim Robbins Jacobs Ladder but showing an Iraq/Afghanistan Jacobs Ladder WE NEVE KNEW EXISTED!!!

[@JDODify]

I prefer High Plains Drifter to Pale Rider, they could both be on the list.

[@jessetorres8738]

Suggestion for a video: Top 10 Great TV Shows With Terrible Final Seasons.

[@michallukaszek]

Not to forget the multi-season classic series, Lost...

[@DrNothing23]

The TV show? This is about Movies.... Derp.

[@michallukaszek]

@DrNothing23 sure, I know. But given it's the outcome of the finale I thought it might deserve at least a mention :-)

[@endorphinzz]

- Nobody who we thought was alive on Lost was dead all along during the series, though. They were all alive.

[@cynthiaschultheis1660]

SOURCE CODE IS VERY GOOD!!👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼👍🏼

[@PassiveAgressive319]

Was that Jacob’s Ladder?

[@marilynsparks5931]

Wow, I just realized why Shooter isn't called Point Blank like its book. There was already a movie called Point Blank.. I feel a little silly now

[@herbwitch5681]

Not quite the same trope - it’s nearly everyone else who is actually dead - but I really enjoyed Backtrack (2015) with Adrian Brody and Sam Neill. I also enjoyed Deathwatch (2002) in which everyone is dead and apparently in limbo.

[@StubbyandShifu]

Last Christmas is lovely.

[@tsukishiro70]

Good god, that's Dry-Eye in a rom-com!

[@keskecapeuttefoutre]

huh you must be flying hard to take jacob's ladder remake footage... And surely having poor taste in movies.

[@garypasquill2355]

Reeker follows this ,but instead of one person it's an entire group of friends

[@TheGlssr60]

WTF is THIS"Jacob's Ladder"? Now do a video about the coolest vampires in cinema and then use the remake of "Fright Night" for that. On another topic: "Carnival of Souls" scared the crap out of me watching it as a kid in the 60's. Now I'm in my 60's and I'll still watch it occasionally if I come across it.

[@kathyhuhn9750]

What about "The Other" from 1972, from a Tom Tryon book about the twin boys

[@sixstrings4568]

Source Code is awesome.

[@mimikiryuu]

Omg the older lady in The Others was also in Star Trek!

[@borrago]

What bizzarro world version of Jacobs Ladder is that? I was shocked that it was only in 10th place, but maybe this weird version only rates that.

[@robbinruffino1201]

No offense to Michael Ealy, but the original version is the well known one with Tim Robbins

[@1987phillybilly]

That version of Jacobs ladder was TERRIBLE!!!

[@JozeeWalz]

Pale Rider was great of course, however High Plains Drifter is superior. Pale Rider is in a way a remake.

[@MSheen-ef3ly]

Pale rider was 1985. Great movie!!

[@renzinthewoods]

Siesta. Introduced me to the trope. Ellen Barkin, Gabriel Byrne, Julian Sands, Jodie Foster, and Isabella Rossellini.

[@edwardconkle687]

The Movie Purgatory was excellent and everyone was dead.

[@RyanCarter-MA-XXX]

Jacob's Ladder is an incredible movie!

[@davidponseigo8811]

I have been dead for many years. I'm just waiting for my body to catch up with my soul.

[@williamshea9799]

What about Tom Cruise’s Vanilla Sky, I think it would be included in the top 10.

[@JosephKennedy-bw3pq]

PALE RIDER is a 1985 film, not a 1975 release.

[@nicholashqar1654]

Preacher of pale rider i still dont know if he was dead or alive 😮😮

[@lolat7355]

What about "High Plains Drifter"?

[@marianneplumridge9768]

High Plains Drifter is like Pale Rider and doesn't get a mention here.

[@themercenaryartist]

Fr tho, fk the Jacob's Ladder remake. The original is best.