{"id":5510,"date":"2026-08-14T18:29:01","date_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:29:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=5510"},"modified":"2026-08-14T18:29:01","modified_gmt":"2026-08-14T18:29:01","slug":"the-x-files-chris-carter-vrach-frankenshteyn-interview-hulu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=5510","title":{"rendered":"The X-Files creator Chris Carter wanted to make a more horrific movie"},"content":{"rendered":"


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The version of The X-Files: I Want to Believe <\/em>that premiered in 2008 was not exactly the movie co-writer \/ director Chris Carter intended to make. Carter wanted to bring agents Mulder and Scully back to the big screen with a grisly story about faith and the supernatural. But executives at 20th Century Fox felt that Carter\u2019s ideas were too dark, and he was pushed to turn the project into a PG-13 feature. Now, almost two decades after I Want to Believe<\/em>\u2019s theatrical debut, Carter is back with a new director\u2019s cut of the film for Hulu that\u2019s much closer to his original vision.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe got to tell a good X-Files<\/em> story,\u201d Carter said of the original cut during a recent conversation we had about the new release. \u201dWe just didn\u2019t get to tell it in the way that we had intended.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The X-Files: I Want to Believe \u2013 Vrach Frankenshteyn<\/em>\u2019s Russian subtitle is meant to clue you into how heavily the movie leans into the series\u2019 monster of the week-style storytelling. Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) find themselves unwittingly investigating a string of gruesome kidnappings with the help of a predatory priest (Sir William Connolly) who claims to have psychic visions. Neither of the agents know what to make of the man\u2019s supposed abilities, but they can\u2019t ignore the way he consistently leads the FBI to dismembered body parts hidden in the frozen, West Virginian wilderness.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The new cut of I Want to Believe<\/em> puts an emphasis on its Frankenstein <\/em>elements that almost makes it feel like 20th Century Studios wanted to tap into Hollywood\u2019s recent<\/a> fascination with<\/a> reimagining Mary Shelley\u2019s<\/a> seminal sci-fi novel<\/a>. But Carter told me that he thinks his version is actually exploring some of the real world horrors that are woven into people\u2019s desperate searches<\/a> for youth and immortality.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s this tech bro idea that if you do the right things and eat the right things, you might be able to live forever and ever,\u201d Carter explained. \u201cBut if you\u2019re able to transplant your head successfully onto younger and younger bodies, who\u2019s to say that\u2019s not everlasting life?\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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While writing I Want to Believe <\/em>back in the early aughts, Carter was inspired by the work of Robert J. White<\/a> \u2014 a neurosurgeon and bioethicist who successfully managed to transplant the head of one living monkey onto another\u2019s body in the 1970s. Before White\u2019s death in 2010, Carter met with him in Ohio to speak about his work, and their conversation informed some of I Want to Believe<\/em>\u2019s beats. With Vrach Frankenshteyn<\/em>, Carter wanted to highlight the visceral sense of fear that might be felt by someone undergoing experiments similar to White\u2019s. The new cut spends less time focusing on Mulder and Scully\u2019s personal relationship, and puts more of its energy into making you feel the terror of its victim characters.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cYou have these women who have been stalked, violently taken from their cars, and then trapped in boxes, where they witness these terrible medical procedures they\u2019re going to be subjected to,\u201d Carter said. \u201cIf the audience now comes into this movie thinking about head transplants and this title, plot details like finding an arm in the ice and snow brings them into this story in a different way.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"David<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, and Chris Carter on the set of The X-Files: I Want to Believe.<\/figcaption>Image: Hulu \/ 20th Century Studios<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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Though I Want to Believe <\/em>was met with mixed reviews when it first hit theaters, the series continued with two revival seasons on Fox that ran from 2016 to 2018. Those seasons and the rise of digital streaming brought a new generation of viewers into the X-Files <\/em>fandom. Carter told me that he\u2019s regularly surprised to meet young people who feel a deep connection to the world he created even though they weren\u2019t alive when the show was originally airing. Carter appreciates that, for those fans, The X-Files <\/em>is something they\u2019re experiencing for the first time, and it\u2019s markedly different from the new generation of streaming sci-fi series<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Carter \u2014 who\u2019s currently working with his wife, Dori, on a movie about a woman forced to live her mother\u2019s life in the 1950s titled Queens for a Day<\/em><\/a> \u2014 knows the pleasure of watching truly original and distinct stories unfold. That\u2019s why he has tried to keep himself in the dark about what Ryan Coogler is cooking up<\/a> with his own upcoming spin on The X-Files. <\/em>That said, while shooting Queens for a Day <\/em>in Vancouver, Carter couldn\u2019t stop some of the members from his production crew from visiting Coogler\u2019s nearby set. And while Carter insisted about being kept in the dark about any \u201csecret inside information,\u201d he has faith that Coogler is going to \u201cbring his stamp\u201d to the franchise.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cRyan is a filmmaker I completely respect,\u201d Carter said. \u201cI\u2019ve made a point of not reading [his script] because\u2029I want to watch it like everyone else. But I\u2019ve got an inkling about what he\u2019s doing with his approach and this diverse cast, and it\u2019s very exciting to me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The X-Files: I Want to Believe \u2013 Vrach Frankenshteyn <\/em>is now streaming on Hulu.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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