One of the best horror movies of the 80s and one of the worst date movies of the 80s. On the other hand, your relationship problems might look good next to Sam Neill and Isabelle Adjani’s truly toxic partnership. It’s the worst marriage in film history. He twitches like a raw nerve, she screams more than the singer in a black metal band. He’s jealous, she’s insane. He beats the hell out of her, she cheats on him with a mysterious slime beast in an apartment that looks like the inside of a dumpster. These are not fun frights here. This is a harrowing argument for life as a grim and meaningless experience populated by hopelessly damaged souls. Its home is the arthouse, where depressing movies are allowed. What makes it engrossing is how it’s so powerfully made. Director/co-writer Andrzej Żuławski builds a real nightmare here, icy in approach and nerve-rattling. Every character is strange. We trust no one. At times, Zulawski dares the audience to walk out. See this in a theater and the infamous “miscarriage” scene—three solid minutes of Adjani howling and writhing and throwing herself around a lonely subway tunnel—is an assault that makes your ears ring afterward. Everyone in this movie fires on all cylinders. They’re outrageous and perfect parts of an engine that’s headed straight down to Hell.