I think chris carter wasted a lot of good ideas and the humour episodes wete totally misplaved. He should had hired more screenplay authors and cut seasons from 23 to 15 episodes.
I absolutely loved X-Files. Its was def my favorite show growing up. Then when the show “Fringe” came out, Fringe reminded me a lot of X-files and unfortunately they should have had more seasons
I can still remember going to school the next day after an X-Files episode and the majority of people would have also watched it and talked about it. Nothing on TV compared to it at that time. I can’t praise it enough
I was so traumatized by Tooms as a child. I was terrified to sleep in rooms that had vents in the walls and always had to keep checking to make sure the screws were still in place. And I couldn't sleep without holding a stuffed animal, to protect my liver (kid logic).
The episode "Badlaa" scared the crap out of me! I met Deep Roy, the man who was on the cart, a few years ago. He was at a horror convention. He was super-nice and friendly.
One of my favorites was when they were stuck on a ghost ship and they were aging rapidly bc there wasnt a main villain per se just a race against time to keep from dying of old age. The other big one is when they were stuck in an arctic base ("Remember, we are in the arctic"👍😂) basically an homage to The Thing.
From what I remember, in "DoD Kalm," the John Savage character who ferries Mulder and Scully out to the sub gradually becomes the villain of the piece. I also remember "Ice" being less like The Thing than it appeared in the previews. Anybody else think the Glen Morgan/James Wong episodes and the episodes Carter wrote with Frank what's-his-name are generally better than the episodes Chris Carter wrote by himself?
I loved the episode in lumberjack camp, where main vilains are little fireflies, or bugs or something. They are only afraid of the light so heroes are slowly loosing light source and go into madness
@@auGigaShawI think it left an impression because of the time it was released. Nowadays, we’ve been exposed to way more, and in way worse ways. There is no way to compare it to now
I'd enjoy killing that family. I'd walk in with a automatic shotgun and some explosives and do the earth a favor and wipe them out. Lmfao. I'd really enjoy it. T-bag'm
One of the only episodes to get pulled from airing on cable T.V. too, I guess what's so creepy about it is.. it's *possible* this family could exist somewhere.
And also one of the saddest episodes... to think bigoted forebear that doomed entire bloodline to be inbred horrors. There's grief that felt genuine when the brothers buried more of the stillborn brother/son. That episode is really well done.
@@celticfox Historical facts are full of that horror story. I remember a story about a family in England hundreds of years ago. Cannibalistic and incestuous family living in a secluded gorge.
There are three two creatures in X-Files that haunt me to this day (28 now). The sewer monster that leaves 4 marks on your back (The Host), the thing that comes though kipped windows and eats your guts and the giant bat monster. First made me scared of toilets, second made me scare of bathrooms and the third still makes me look into canopies and see shapes. X-Files knew what horror is, something 99% of horror movies/shows doesn't know.
Creep is what's missing. Too many jump scares now. Jump scares are not a bad device, but like all craft beers are now IPAs, all scares being jump cuts kinda ruins the magic due to over exposure.
How far we’ve come from an x files episode being “too much” to everyone and their mother watching the red wedding and immediately sharing the scene on Facebook
I can’t get past season 1 of GOT because of how disturbing and violent the series is. The X Files is a completely different genre, I know, but it has just enough violence and gore for me to keep watching. This is coming from me who doesn’t like horror movies. The storylines and the relationship of M&S are the hooks that keep pulling me to watch the series.
The only episode of The X-Files that I've ever seen was the one that involved the search for a murderer at a circus, where it turned out that the killer was- well, I don't want to spoil it in case you want to see it for yourself but the last line of the episode sticks with me- "Maybe it was something he ate."
The Fiji Mermaid used to scare the hell out of me when I was a kid, it was that one thing that made me anxious about turning out the light when going to bed every night.
I binge the entire series every year or so, and I genuinely have to say this is one of my all time favorite series. The storyline episodes are just so awesome. And the Smoking Man is just such a cool "bad guy" hidden in the background, with the Syndicate. I love that they only address him as such even in the credits.
Heidi Heidiho Cranston is nearly unrecognizable in that ep, what a chameleon and master actor! Difficult to believe it aired just before Malcolm in the Middle premiered.
I thought the horror of Toom's come from how normal he acted. Like in Squeeze where he has his day in court and the doctor was going on and on about how he is the most gentle person in the world. It just shows how the most gently perceived can be the most murderous and deadly...
The one with the glow in the dark bugs and the one with the numbered Eves were also pretty damn unsettling... It's where I learned the word "exsanguinate" as a youngster haha
StKatiThePaganSaint I definitely agree with you on "Eve", which I find to be the most believably chilling episode since many people mistakenly believe that children are innately good and innocent. As any psychiatrist or criminologist will attest to, human nature in general is not benevolent at all.
the "secret" that makes even not so scary episodes terrifying and, in the "worst" cases, uncanny, is the excellent storytelling, that takes time for it's characters, revealing them to us episode by episode. Masterfully done.
I gotta say the episode where Mulder found our what happened to his sister really hit me more than any other episode. The episode's called "Closure" for whoever interested.
That fluke-man thing scared the hell out of me when I was a kid... when I re-watched the episode I had to cover my eyes in the final shot when it shows you what it looks like
This is a weird one, but 2Shy from Season 3 was really scary. It wasn't scary for what the the monster actually was, but it was scary for highlighting the concept of predators utilizing the internet. It seems like a silly concept now, but transport yourself back to 1995 when the internet was still kind of a new thing.
BTW "grotesque" is the correct name for the ornament we typically call "gargoyle" gargoyle is any ornament that is used for water disposal, it can be just a drainage pipe, while grotesque is the specific statue shaped like a demon and may or may not be used for water disposal. Props to the show for using the correct term for the title.
I’m surprised you didn’t include any episodes with the black goo, I vaguely remember those being frightening. Also found the one with the giant fungus unsettling, catching glimpses of reality as you’re slowly being digested.
The Peacocks are always on everyones top. Its the most realistic, weird and unsettling episode. The reality of knowing similar things are happening somewhere at this minute is unnerving
max fenig getting abducted at 29,000 feet from an airliner and being returned before a military jet shot down the ufo before max got back in the plane causimg the plane to crash was a fantastic iconic episode... have to say robert patrick was a fantastic addition to the cadt as john doggett.
I watched the X-Files as a kid when it first aired. "Home" was always my favorite episode of all time. I was actually surprised to discover that people were upset about it. My second favorite episode was a really funny one that involved Mulder lying on the floor of a motel in a drugged state and singing the theme to Shaft.
Squeeze and Tooms are my favorite episodes. When I was 12, a Squeeze episode started on the air and I watched it and it scared the crap out of me in 1993.
This is mad timing. Literally two days ago I started rewatching x files on amazon prime. The quality is awesome, and I even searched scariest episodes just yesterday!
I started watching it last year but it stopped coming for free with prime this year. I was in the middle of season 9 when I stopped so luckily I saw most of the good stuff.
He's astonishingly good in his X-Files episode. He says nothing, but is absolutely terrifying. Deep Roy is a stuntman, who appears in the new Star Trek movies, as Scotty's assistant, Keenser, and appeared in the classic Doctor Who story, 'The Talons Of Weng Chiang', as the lethal Mr Sin, the Peking Homunculus.
I feel like the internet has removed the mystery and unknown from the world the pre-internet had, part of your believed that some of this stuff could be out there.
Yes. This makes perfect sense. The reason x-files was so popular is because of the mystery of the unknown. We didn’t have the luxury of google at our fingertips, we just had to wonder
X-files is a great show no matter if you have access to the truth. I watched X-files as a kid and as a grown-up but I never believed in ghosts or demons or magic and me being skeptical never ruined the show for me. It's my all time favorite show.
The 'earlier' internet of the mid-1990s....X-Files fandom (X-Philes) kinda set how fandoms and the internet would work and develop. I remember going onto early posting boards every Monday (after the move to Sunday's on Fox) and just diving into discussions. Pre twitter/pre Facebook and even pre-My Space.
There was an episode about a serial killer with an ocular probe who was causing psychic photography, they caught him because he’s wearing stilts... that was a scary one
For me, literally the scariest thing I ever saw on television was that one scene where Scully sees the ghost girl with the slit neck in the bathroom. That wasn't just a jumpscare, it was a SLOW SCARE. The whole world just stopped when you saw her. That....actually still messes with me now. That was fucking terrifying. I forget the name but it was about a sad-scary story about a severely autistic guy who worked at a bowling alley, and he could see the ghosts. He was a suspect for a lot of murders even though he was a good person, and one of his mentors was taking advantage of him and putting the blame on him.
The episode Home, The Host and Jersey devil gave me nightmares when I was a kid. I did love watching them though because of how good they are. I can't agree with Tooms being the number one spot, but he definitely deserved a place on this list.
While not the scariest episode for me, I find Zero Sum to be the darkest episode in the series. It shows just how evil the Syndicate is and what great lengths they'll go to get what they want.
Man, this show could vary so much in tone, from charming B-movie premises to truly terrifying psychological horror. I can't imagine each episode had much of a budget but what they accomplished with it is quite impressive. I really wanna rewatch Folie a deux, I always remembered that creepy insect boss in the office episode
The fluke man was played by Darin Morgan, the same guy who played Eddie Van Blundht (the H is silent). Morgan also wrote 5 episodes of The X Files (credited for 4 of them because one was a rewrite that had some of his "signature" in it). He also wrote 2 really nutty Millennium episodes. The guy became a legendary X Files writer with just 4 episodes to his name.
Season one's, Fire, episode was the first episode of The X-Files that I watched when I was a kid. To this day, it still scares the shit out of me! The scene at the end, where the guy is on fire and screaming out, "You can't stop me," is burned into my memory. That's the episode that got me hooked and made me a fan. I think its time to binge the entire series all over again.
A classic series, about every 5 years or so I go back and watch them. I remember just about everyone talked about the episodes. It was truly a amazing show back then. Still is!
I remember every single episode. You missed one on the list though. It's the one with the bugs that cocoon and consume humans. They where released in the forest from loggers cutting down trees marked that they where not suppose to be cutting down. And the only thing that keeps the bugs at bay is light.
I saw the episode of the two teenage witches when I was young. So the part where the boy gets crushed in the gymnasium bleachers...to this day I don’t sit on them or go near them haha
Not only does Detour still scare me more than anything else in the series but it predated a lot of the so-called "cloaked predator" beings that some people think are responsible for a lot of the Missing 411 cases.
@@fredmorrison2635 I don't believe in the crazy shit but Steven Miller, Kusher and some of the very rich guys (Elon Musk) look like they might be thinly disguised aliens or lizard people.
"The Walk" where the quadruple amputee could leave his body and tortured those who had wronged him by killing their families gave my nightmares when I first saw it.
Another underrated episode is from Season 8, "The Gift." The whole Soul Eater creature that devours a person to throw them back up was surprisingly graphic & terrifying because I didn't initially suspect it was eating the "victims" as a means to heal them. Also from Season 8, "Roadrunners"; the overall tone, the cult, & that worm being cut from the back of Scully's neck was some pretty jaw dropping stuff for primetime television back then Great picks for this list though. Day One fan here & The X-Files will always be a MOOD. Classic series
Roadrunners! I scrolled through the comments looking to see if anyone mentioned it. I was totally shocked that wasn't in the list. Personally, I would have it as #2 and Home as #1.
"Home" became a running joke for my brother and I because of the scene where there was a murder going on while the camera stays on the car that was playing a happy song. This was Carter's style and we loved it. Tooms was really terrifying, nightmare stuff. IDK why our parents would let us watch that series, but bless them.
That serial killer was not a hallucination...In a later episode he appears as a devil again, and it is heavily implied he is an actual devil unique in his family, and even testing or sabotaging Scully's faith by making her in a future episode shoot the "man". No...It is X-Files, and this one is definitely supernatural. My parents told legends of how nasty that inbred episode was. Tasteless indeed, and pointless. There is a reason those kind of movies and episodes end up rejected. It is just immoral and dumb, not as scary as...A great gargoyle episode, I agree. I felt like the later mutant episode from their POV was absolutely frightening too.
Tooms and sqeez... Oh BOY! This episode terrified me for years 🤣 the funny thing is, that I coudnt really remmember anything about it, except the last shot of the hand and those crazy long fingers.
Gargoyle = monstrous statue that allows water to flow from its mouth (like gargling) Grotesque = monstrous statue that doesnt allow water to flow from its mouth.
I don't know which scene was the scariest but the funniest thing was transporting the Fluke with ambulance to the psychiatric hospital . It was so stupid! :D
Who besides me thought that Scully's dad's ghost was one of the creepiest parts in The X-Files? Then the serial murderer took advantage of that unsettling moment (shiver).
Although there were plenty of creepy and/or scary episodes, the one that I found the most terrifying was F. Emasculata (S2, E22, 28 April 1995). Basically, it's about an especially virulent contagion that causes its victims to die from exploding pustules. It primarily takes place in a prison, where Scully spends most of the episode. But a couple of the prisoners escape, and Mulder has to find them, all while the CSM is trying to keep a lid on things. So yeah, no violent inbred families or liver-eating mutants or literal subs from hell. But a relatively grounded episode that seems especially relevant now.
"People loved the monster of the week episodes, but the alien main plot was given a thumbs down" Sounds like me with the original X-Files... Also the Robert Patrick seasons were just as good as the David Duchovney seasons... it's just the main plot still sucked and sucked way harder without Mulder.
No. 7 Our town, Mr. Ballen here on YT actually covered a story that was similar to this that happened in real life. Unfortunately I do not remember the title of the video.
I remember watching Home with my mom that night on Fox. My younger sister, mom and brother we would all watch X-Files every Sunday. Mind you, I was 11 when Home aired and I was freaked out by it but I don't think I was old enough to appreciate how creepy it was until a couple years later. My mom was very anti-censorship and figured if i didn't like watching it, I could go upstairs...lol. Good memories though!
"Folie a Deux" had me freaked out, but I watched season 8's "Within" last night. The stuttering "Jacob's Ladder" alien effect used in the first season were amped up and made me SCREAM. It gave me nightmares that Mark Zuckerberg was an alien with no legs and moved with the same blurry, twitchy, effect, lol.😂
Its hard to state the impact and importance The X Files had once it landed in the early 90s. A cult following in season 1, but by the second season, it was one of the most rightfully talked about and hyped shows of the day. Taking some atmospheric cues from the amazing Twin Peaks, and making sci-fi and B-movie horror into utterly irresistible, and plausible storylines. Being a teenager in the mid 90s when this was on was great. It was everywhere. The X Files paved the way for may a paranormal TV show in its wake. Buffy, Fringe, Lost , and so many other shows owe a lot to it. I still rate the first 5 seasons as my favoutite Telly ever But....I have always felt that, from season 6 onward, it was going downhill. Seasons 6 and 7 had Far too many comedic episodes that spoiled the momentum and mood that the X Files Movie set previously, and the Alien mythology story spiraled completely outta control losting steam and interest in people. I will always like season 8 for trying to go "back to its roots", bringing back the Horror. But by then it was too late, with rating and fanship dwindling . By the time season 9 ended things, it was an anti climax and past its peak. That all said! It overall is still my favourite show ever. Great list of episodes here that I will watch again very soon!
kylereece1979 Well explained. Show actually ran for about 2-3 seasons longer than it should’ve, and I’m not even counting the revival season from a couple years back. Duchovny basically leaving but his character still being “out there” was a big red flag, and the alien conspiracy kinda became a pretzel. Regardless, I loved most everything X-Files up through the ‘98 movie.
My aunty to 10 years old me : did the monster died?did the monster died? behind blanket ,as i watch it between my finger and i said idk.we both terrified.Those were the days.
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X Files was truly iconic. They were never able to capture that initial charm in later seasons but I still love this show
I think the later seasons were good, too. They just spent more time building on the alien conspiracy, but the storyline was interesting
I think chris carter wasted a lot of good ideas and the humour episodes wete totally misplaved. He should had hired more screenplay authors and cut seasons from 23 to 15 episodes.
@@AndreaBorto only HBO has short seasons 6-14 eps. Most series have between 20 and 25 eps per season
I absolutely loved X-Files. Its was def my favorite show growing up. Then when the show “Fringe” came out, Fringe reminded me a lot of X-files and unfortunately they should have had more seasons
@@Keyser___Soze same for me as well. I really enjoyed Fringe too
I can still remember going to school the next day after an X-Files episode and the majority of people would have also watched it and talked about it. Nothing on TV compared to it at that time. I can’t praise it enough
I was in elementary at the time and agree, nothing better in the good ol' days than X-Files and Simpsons
Yeah, it wasn't a tv show, it was a weekly cultural event
Astronopolis perfect discription
but in the golden ages X files was broadcasting at friday
Rossa4 Agreed
I was so traumatized by Tooms as a child. I was terrified to sleep in rooms that had vents in the walls and always had to keep checking to make sure the screws were still in place. And I couldn't sleep without holding a stuffed animal, to protect my liver (kid logic).
I was JUST getting over my fear that Pennywise was going squeeze through my shower drain and get me, and then I saw Tooms. 😑
Haha! This is just soooo like me :D
Jessica Conklin What were you doing watching the X-Files at that age?! 😳😆
My kid is finally old enough for xfiles. We saw the first episode Tooms is in a few days ago...she asked if maybe we should close the vents lol
@@austintrousdale2397you mean you didn't?!
The episode "Badlaa" scared the crap out of me! I met Deep Roy, the man who was on the cart, a few years ago. He was at a horror convention. He was super-nice and friendly.
Totally. That episode made it hard to sleep for a few nights when I first saw it as a kid.
"Badlaa" is a hindi word which literally means revenge. Revenge served in a scary fashion in this episode. 😳 😬
It terrified me as a child, I rewatched it the other day and it still scares me lol
One of my favorites was when they were stuck on a ghost ship and they were aging rapidly bc there wasnt a main villain per se just a race against time to keep from dying of old age. The other big one is when they were stuck in an arctic base ("Remember, we are in the arctic"👍😂) basically an homage to The Thing.
From what I remember, in "DoD Kalm," the John Savage character who ferries Mulder and Scully out to the sub gradually becomes the villain of the piece. I also remember "Ice" being less like The Thing than it appeared in the previews. Anybody else think the Glen Morgan/James Wong episodes and the episodes Carter wrote with Frank what's-his-name are generally better than the episodes Chris Carter wrote by himself?
CleetusVanDamme530 yes just rewatched them on Hulu my favorite show of all time what is your favorite episode??
I love the story about the Norse end of the world that Scully reads in this episode.
what eppisode was that ghost ship one? that was great.
@@garycooper8130 don't remember which exactly, but it was second season.
Before I even start the video, the answer is 'Home'.
No1Viper Watch Reviews 💯
My thought exactly.
When they find that lady under the bed😫
Is that the one with those three "guys" and their Mom living in a cabin in the middle of nowhere?
If that's the one with the The hills have eyes-family then yes.
I loved the episode in lumberjack camp, where main vilains are little fireflies, or bugs or something. They are only afraid of the light so heroes are slowly loosing light source and go into madness
Yes! My favorite and scariest episode of the show by a landslide for me 🙂
Yeah that episode really stuck with me too. Great stuff.
Right with ya, it was definitely worthy of being on this list
YES that's one i can remind when i was kid.. Damn episode, the best ! This and Tooms are my favorites
that one made me afraid to go outside in the dark alone for weeks D:
Home was actually banned from being broadcast again for awhile because of the murder scene being so brutal.
I don't like gore, I watched Home cause of this Vid, and it wasn't even bad or scary to me, there is creepy x files episode this wasn't 1 imo
@@auGigaShaw Tbh the pilot episode was one of the most disturbing.
@@auGigaShawI think it left an impression because of the time it was released. Nowadays, we’ve been exposed to way more, and in way worse ways. There is no way to compare it to now
It is still my favorite episode.
@@mollycottontail Mama Peacock is one of the most grotesque creatures to grace the screen.
The mutant incestuous family was the scariest/creepiest episode for me.
I'd enjoy killing that family. I'd walk in with a automatic shotgun and some explosives and do the earth a favor and wipe them out. Lmfao. I'd really enjoy it. T-bag'm
One of the only episodes to get pulled from airing on cable T.V. too, I guess what's so creepy about it is.. it's *possible* this family could exist somewhere.
And also one of the saddest episodes... to think bigoted forebear that doomed entire bloodline to be inbred horrors. There's grief that felt genuine when the brothers buried more of the stillborn brother/son. That episode is really well done.
@@celticfox Historical facts are full of that horror story. I remember a story about a family in England hundreds of years ago. Cannibalistic and incestuous family living in a secluded gorge.
I very vividly remember being a young child and crying myself to sleep the night that aired in pure dread.
There are three two creatures in X-Files that haunt me to this day (28 now). The sewer monster that leaves 4 marks on your back (The Host), the thing that comes though kipped windows and eats your guts and the giant bat monster. First made me scared of toilets, second made me scare of bathrooms and the third still makes me look into canopies and see shapes. X-Files knew what horror is, something 99% of horror movies/shows doesn't know.
Creep is what's missing. Too many jump scares now. Jump scares are not a bad device, but like all craft beers are now IPAs, all scares being jump cuts kinda ruins the magic due to over exposure.
How far we’ve come from an x files episode being “too much” to everyone and their mother watching the red wedding and immediately sharing the scene on Facebook
I can’t get past season 1 of GOT because of how disturbing and violent the series is. The X Files is a completely different genre, I know, but it has just enough violence and gore for me to keep watching. This is coming from me who doesn’t like horror movies. The storylines and the relationship of M&S are the hooks that keep pulling me to watch the series.
The only episode of The X-Files that I've ever seen was the one that involved the search for a murderer at a circus, where it turned out that the killer was- well, I don't want to spoil it in case you want to see it for yourself but the last line of the episode sticks with me- "Maybe it was something he ate."
That episode was called Humbug. I loved that episode.
That's the only episode? I strongly suggest you binge watch the series immediately.
Humbug is my all time favourite episode. The Jim Rose Circus Side Show! Enigma! Oh, I loved it! 🖤
Definitely listen to BM Seven, but stick with the early stuff. When the show goes full on story mode and ditches the monsters it's horrible.
The Fiji Mermaid used to scare the hell out of me when I was a kid, it was that one thing that made me anxious about turning out the light when going to bed every night.
I binge the entire series every year or so, and I genuinely have to say this is one of my all time favorite series. The storyline episodes are just so awesome. And the Smoking Man is just such a cool "bad guy" hidden in the background, with the Syndicate. I love that they only address him as such even in the credits.
I love x files as well , the atmosphere and feel of it is just unique
@@opicasunka2033 Yes! It has really withstood the test of time, it's still just one of the best television programs I've ever seen.
Me too! I actually binge the entire series once a year, every year!
even if an episode isn't scary, if you're watching at night, the theme song alone can give you nightmares.. or was that just me?
MisterLou420 I used to be afraid to take out my dog after dark after watching an episode of The X-Files.
Watching x-files with the lights off-barenaked ladies
I can't watch x files at day, only night
du du du dun da dun dadun daduuun...
That song still freaks me out
Not a super-scary episode but Drive was both unsettling and heartbreaking. It was also the episode that introduced Vince Gilligan to Bryan Cranston.
Heidi Heidiho Cranston is nearly unrecognizable in that ep, what a chameleon and master actor! Difficult to believe it aired just before Malcolm in the Middle premiered.
I thought the horror of Toom's come from how normal he acted. Like in Squeeze where he has his day in court and the doctor was going on and on about how he is the most gentle person in the world. It just shows how the most gently perceived can be the most murderous and deadly...
The one with the glow in the dark bugs and the one with the numbered Eves were also pretty damn unsettling... It's where I learned the word "exsanguinate" as a youngster haha
I was actually really disappointed that Darkness Falls didn't make the list. That one gave me nightmares as a kid
StKatiThePaganSaint I learnt the word Autopsy as a teenager.
StKatiThePaganSaint
I definitely agree with you on "Eve", which I find to be the most believably chilling episode since many people mistakenly believe that children are innately good and innocent. As any psychiatrist or criminologist will attest to, human nature in general is not benevolent at all.
StKatiThePaganSaint “darkness falls” (the glowy-bugs episode) is legendary. Gave me nightmares for weeks as a kid🙂
the "secret" that makes even not so scary episodes terrifying and, in the "worst" cases, uncanny, is the excellent storytelling, that takes time for it's characters, revealing them to us episode by episode. Masterfully done.
I gotta say the episode where Mulder found our what happened to his sister really hit me more than any other episode. The episode's called "Closure" for whoever interested.
That fluke-man thing scared the hell out of me when I was a kid... when I re-watched the episode I had to cover my eyes in the final shot when it shows you what it looks like
Ok boomer.
@@theenzoferrari458 Eh?
@@theenzoferrari458 that wasn't even a boomer thing to say? -i
The funniest episode was Bad Blood, with the vampires, the sexy sheriff and the trailer court.
Watched it like two days ago . That was funny as hell . Luke wilson made that episode a thousand times better
That episode actually scared me as a kid.
OMG LITERALLY ONE LF THE BEST😂😂😂
"This cow was meant for me, Scully !"
- The Rain King -
@@DrFrankNStein-sf2ww Hahahaha!!
Mulder line dancing whilst tripping on magic mushrooms (which turned out to be a placebo )was the scariest thing in The X-Files I ever saw...
Yes, and the most embarrassing.
This is a weird one, but 2Shy from Season 3 was really scary. It wasn't scary for what the the monster actually was, but it was scary for highlighting the concept of predators utilizing the internet. It seems like a silly concept now, but transport yourself back to 1995 when the internet was still kind of a new thing.
I totally agree.
I don't know about you I found Virgil Incanto to both be a creepy and disgusting antagonist.
Meh.
This was the first episode that I ever saw of the x files and it got me hooked! So good and so terrifying!!
BTW "grotesque" is the correct name for the ornament we typically call "gargoyle" gargoyle is any ornament that is used for water disposal, it can be just a drainage pipe, while grotesque is the specific statue shaped like a demon and may or may not be used for water disposal. Props to the show for using the correct term for the title.
"Grotesque" mainly reminded me of the Boris Karloff movie The Haunted Strangler.
A Grotesque and a Gargoyle are two different things, the difference being that a grotesque is purely ornamental and does nothing for water drainage.
I’m surprised you didn’t include any episodes with the black goo, I vaguely remember those being frightening.
Also found the one with the giant fungus unsettling, catching glimpses of reality as you’re slowly being digested.
The Peacocks are always on everyones top. Its the most realistic, weird and unsettling episode.
The reality of knowing similar things are happening somewhere at this minute is unnerving
Leave Alabama alone !
@@Azazel2024 I thought it was east Tennessee.
@mollycottontail Oh it’s based in Pennsylvania
Thought for sure "Ice" would have made it onto here!
Yeah, a very nice one. Claustrophobic paranoia psycho horror. With clear references to The Thing.
@@schlumbl84 I'd say it was too clearly a Thing rip off
Not a bad episode, but the crappy graphics of the worm really killed the vibe of it.
@Discipline Daddy: Ice, absolutely. The claustrophobia and paranoia was off the charts.
max fenig getting abducted at 29,000 feet from an airliner and being returned before a military jet shot down the ufo before max got back in the plane causimg the plane to crash was a fantastic iconic episode... have to say robert patrick was a fantastic addition to the cadt as john doggett.
I watched the X-Files as a kid when it first aired. "Home" was always my favorite episode of all time. I was actually surprised to discover that people were upset about it. My second favorite episode was a really funny one that involved Mulder lying on the floor of a motel in a drugged state and singing the theme to Shaft.
“Bad blood.” That episode actually did something a bit new with vampires, at least, that I’ve seen.
Tooms & Squeeze, Detour and The Host are brilliant episodes. Not to mention creepy as hell. I adore this legendary tv show
irina1296 Greatest TV Show in history in my opinion👽❤️
The Host was a human who mutated into a Flukeman.
Tooms scared the shit outta me.
Squeeze and Tooms are my favorite episodes. When I was 12, a Squeeze episode started on the air and I watched it and it scared the crap out of me in 1993.
Squeeze is the best episode in the series.
Home was by far the scariest episode. Definitely deserved to be number one.
This is mad timing. Literally two days ago I started rewatching x files on amazon prime. The quality is awesome, and I even searched scariest episodes just yesterday!
i have literally started doing the same thing since this self isolation started! up to season 4 already
I started watching it last year but it stopped coming for free with prime this year. I was in the middle of season 9 when I stopped so luckily I saw most of the good stuff.
Never had watched before, but currently on season 5 right now...my god, I never knew how amazing this show is.
I was required to watch a few episodes for a class in college and I went beyond the required episodes because it was so good!
"Home" scared the shit out of me as a kid. I was just terrified of the whole scene where they killed the cop in his home and then his wife.
That episode was banned from ever being shown again
RIP Commodore Ross
The amputee beggar. Is he the same guy who played the Oompa Loompas in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?
Yes. His name is Deep Roy.
He's astonishingly good in his X-Files episode. He says nothing, but is absolutely terrifying. Deep Roy is a stuntman, who appears in the new Star Trek movies, as Scotty's assistant, Keenser, and appeared in the classic Doctor Who story, 'The Talons Of Weng Chiang', as the lethal Mr Sin, the Peking Homunculus.
He's also in neverending story
'Badlaa' means 'revenge' in hindi.😐
He also played Aaron in Eastbound & Down
I feel like the internet has removed the mystery and unknown from the world the pre-internet had, part of your believed that some of this stuff could be out there.
Yes. This makes perfect sense. The reason x-files was so popular is because of the mystery of the unknown. We didn’t have the luxury of google at our fingertips, we just had to wonder
X-files is a great show no matter if you have access to the truth. I watched X-files as a kid and as a grown-up but I never believed in ghosts or demons or magic and me being skeptical never ruined the show for me. It's my all time favorite show.
Yeah now that we actually know the world is run by satanic pedos who worship Moloch, x files just feels like a documentary
The 'earlier' internet of the mid-1990s....X-Files fandom (X-Philes) kinda set how fandoms and the internet would work and develop. I remember going onto early posting boards every Monday (after the move to Sunday's on Fox) and just diving into discussions. Pre twitter/pre Facebook and even pre-My Space.
There was an episode about a serial killer with an ocular probe who was causing psychic photography, they caught him because he’s wearing stilts... that was a scary one
That’s “Unruhe”, an episode that definitely should have made the list!
For me, literally the scariest thing I ever saw on television was that one scene where Scully sees the ghost girl with the slit neck in the bathroom. That wasn't just a jumpscare, it was a SLOW SCARE. The whole world just stopped when you saw her. That....actually still messes with me now. That was fucking terrifying.
I forget the name but it was about a sad-scary story about a severely autistic guy who worked at a bowling alley, and he could see the ghosts. He was a suspect for a lot of murders even though he was a good person, and one of his mentors was taking advantage of him and putting the blame on him.
Name of that episode is Elegy, and it is severly underrated.
Facts
The episode Home, The Host and Jersey devil gave me nightmares when I was a kid. I did love watching them though because of how good they are. I can't agree with Tooms being the number one spot, but he definitely deserved a place on this list.
Danish Fridge what is your favorite episode?
Home all time favorite hands down
Drive was great
While not the scariest episode for me, I find Zero Sum to be the darkest episode in the series. It shows just how evil the Syndicate is and what great lengths they'll go to get what they want.
X-Files was very succesful in creeping you out. The concepts, atmosphere, the music..A brilliant show.
Man, this show could vary so much in tone, from charming B-movie premises to truly terrifying psychological horror. I can't imagine each episode had much of a budget but what they accomplished with it is quite impressive. I really wanna rewatch Folie a deux, I always remembered that creepy insect boss in the office episode
The fluke man was played by Darin Morgan, the same guy who played Eddie Van Blundht (the H is silent). Morgan also wrote 5 episodes of The X Files (credited for 4 of them because one was a rewrite that had some of his "signature" in it). He also wrote 2 really nutty Millennium episodes. The guy became a legendary X Files writer with just 4 episodes to his name.
Season one's, Fire, episode was the first episode of The X-Files that I watched when I was a kid. To this day, it still scares the shit out of me! The scene at the end, where the guy is on fire and screaming out, "You can't stop me," is burned into my memory. That's the episode that got me hooked and made me a fan. I think its time to binge the entire series all over again.
These are the episodes mentioned:
10. Irresistible (season 2 episode 13)
9. Die Hand Die Verletzt (season 2 episode 14)
8. Badlaa (season 8 episode 10)
7. Our Town (season 2 episode 24)
6. Folie a Deux (season 5 episode 19)
5. Detour (season 5 episode 4)
4. The Host (season 2 episode 2)
3. Grotesque (season 3 episode 14)
2. Home (season 4 episode 2)
1. Tooms & Squeeze (season 1 episodes 3 and 21)
Thank you!
"It posed the question 'How do you stop a predator that you can't see?'"
Dutch from the movie "Predator": "If you know a bettah way, please tell me."
Great trip down memory lane. Scully just kept getting hotter!
2:57 pretty sure he went on to be an oompa loompa...
to sing about children being horiffically tortured and mentally scarred for life.
Deep Roy is the actor, and yes he was.
A classic series, about every 5 years or so I go back and watch them. I remember just about everyone talked about the episodes. It was truly a amazing show back then. Still is!
there were a lot of good episodes you missed, the scariest ones for me was darkness falls and ice.
I remember every single episode. You missed one on the list though. It's the one with the bugs that cocoon and consume humans. They where released in the forest from loggers cutting down trees marked that they where not suppose to be cutting down. And the only thing that keeps the bugs at bay is light.
Darkness Falls.
I'm the only one who wants another season, but only with monsters of the week and a new big conspiresy ?
No conspiracy, more monsters.
who else noticed the guy on a roller was Gurdeep Roy, the actor of the oompa loompas in the 2005 charlie and the chocolate factory
Coincidence? I Think Not!
I remember running to my bedroom and closing my door before the opening music would start. Scared the shit out of me
🤣🤣🤣😂
Chinga the doll episode had traumatised me as kid; thats the episode that I most vividly remember.
After all, Stephen King wrote it for the series.
I saw the episode of the two teenage witches when I was young. So the part where the boy gets crushed in the gymnasium bleachers...to this day I don’t sit on them or go near them haha
JessiSZK I liked that episode... aired around the same time The Craft was released 😏
Hate him, hate him, wouldn't want to date him.
Syzygy
Not only does Detour still scare me more than anything else in the series but it predated a lot of the so-called "cloaked predator" beings that some people think are responsible for a lot of the Missing 411 cases.
Jared Kushner looks like Tooms.
But Kushner looks less human.
@@fredmorrison2635 I don't believe in the crazy shit but Steven Miller, Kusher and some of the very rich guys (Elon Musk) look like they might be thinly disguised aliens or lizard people.
@@jennylee9278 YES! I think we have both major species in the Shitehouse: Trump is a reptilian and Pence is a grey.
Home is the most disturbing ep of the show. But as a child, that amputee guy from the Badla ep really gave me the creeps. I couldnt even look at him.
"The Walk" where the quadruple amputee could leave his body and tortured those who had wronged him by killing their families gave my nightmares when I first saw it.
Another underrated episode is from Season 8, "The Gift." The whole Soul Eater creature that devours a person to throw them back up was surprisingly graphic & terrifying because I didn't initially suspect it was eating the "victims" as a means to heal them.
Also from Season 8, "Roadrunners"; the overall tone, the cult, & that worm being cut from the back of Scully's neck was some pretty jaw dropping stuff for primetime television back then
Great picks for this list though. Day One fan here & The X-Files will always be a MOOD. Classic series
Roadrunners! I scrolled through the comments looking to see if anyone mentioned it. I was totally shocked that wasn't in the list. Personally, I would have it as #2 and Home as #1.
"Fresh Bones" had a great scene where the voodoo curse guy comes out of Scully's own hand and tries to choke her. Good stuff.
I work in a call centre part time and my boss is accurately depicted here....
"Home" became a running joke for my brother and I because of the scene where there was a murder going on while the camera stays on the car that was playing a happy song. This was Carter's style and we loved it. Tooms was really terrifying, nightmare stuff. IDK why our parents would let us watch that series, but bless them.
That serial killer was not a hallucination...In a later episode he appears as a devil again, and it is heavily implied he is an actual devil unique in his family, and even testing or sabotaging Scully's faith by making her in a future episode shoot the "man". No...It is X-Files, and this one is definitely supernatural.
My parents told legends of how nasty that inbred episode was. Tasteless indeed, and pointless. There is a reason those kind of movies and episodes end up rejected. It is just immoral and dumb, not as scary as...A great gargoyle episode, I agree. I felt like the later mutant episode from their POV was absolutely frightening too.
Tooms and sqeez... Oh BOY! This episode terrified me for years 🤣 the funny thing is, that I coudnt really remmember anything about it, except the last shot of the hand and those crazy long fingers.
Gargoyle = monstrous statue that allows water to flow from its mouth (like gargling)
Grotesque = monstrous statue that doesnt allow water to flow from its mouth.
I honestly never knew this. I have learned something today.
My scariest episodes were the one with Polly the doll and the episode possesed where this NASA employee was haunted by the face on mars.
That episode with the girl ghost at the bowling alley. Scared me for days.
I don't know which scene was the scariest but the funniest thing was transporting the Fluke with ambulance to the psychiatric hospital
. It was so stupid! :D
The episodes of Squeeze/Tooms still frighten me to this day.
Who besides me thought that Scully's dad's ghost was one of the creepiest parts in The X-Files? Then the serial murderer took advantage of that unsettling moment (shiver).
Although there were plenty of creepy and/or scary episodes, the one that I found the most terrifying was F. Emasculata (S2, E22, 28 April 1995). Basically, it's about an especially virulent contagion that causes its victims to die from exploding pustules. It primarily takes place in a prison, where Scully spends most of the episode. But a couple of the prisoners escape, and Mulder has to find them, all while the CSM is trying to keep a lid on things. So yeah, no violent inbred families or liver-eating mutants or literal subs from hell. But a relatively grounded episode that seems especially relevant now.
It is also the most disgusting one lol
My sister was about to eat a doughnut when that episode came on. She did not eat it.
We're binge watching X Files on Hulu & get addicted to it. It's scary yet we like watching it.
The Calusari - that's a scary X-Files episode!
That's another of my faves.
With the jewish excorcists?
@@remc0s the Romanian grandma that thinks that her grandchild is the devil
@@ralucacsibi9567 Ah yes, i remember now.
Yeah that one is creepy! *shudders*
Scully didn't hallucinate anything either his soul or was a demon.
The one that gave me nightmares as a kid was Darkness Falls, the one in the forest with bugs that will get you if the lights go out.
*Folie a duex* was hands down my favorite X-files episode.
This show introduced me to one of the best songs ever. Now being used as the theme song to Peaky Blinders....Red Right Hand.
Belle Serra Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds 🍻
Arctic monkeys do a great cover of it, fyi
Dumb & Dumber introduced me to that song.
"People loved the monster of the week episodes, but the alien main plot was given a thumbs down"
Sounds like me with the original X-Files... Also the Robert Patrick seasons were just as good as the David Duchovney seasons... it's just the main plot still sucked and sucked way harder without Mulder.
What about the one with the Fiji mermaid?
Humbug
That's a classic!
Hunting an invisible predator in a forest - where've I heard that one before....at least Mulder wasn't yelling "Get to da choppa!".
The sewer monster episode still scars me
They have the camera lingers a little too long on that monster! Yikes.
Drive featuring Bryan Cranston messed me up as a kid. Every time my ear would ring I was afraid my head would explode.
I think the most scariest and jacked up is the episode called Home. If you've seen it you get what I'm cookin👍👍
Thanks for this video, makes me want to rewatch the X-Files while in lockdown.
I’m seriously disappointed that Eve wasn’t on this list. That episode is (in my opinion) one of the best and most frightening out there.
No. 7 Our town, Mr. Ballen here on YT actually covered a story that was similar to this that happened in real life. Unfortunately I do not remember the title of the video.
Lol that guy is the oompa loompa
MY ALL TIME FAVORITE EPISODE:
Folie a deux
I remember watching Home with my mom that night on Fox. My younger sister, mom and brother we would all watch X-Files every Sunday. Mind you, I was 11 when Home aired and I was freaked out by it but I don't think I was old enough to appreciate how creepy it was until a couple years later. My mom was very anti-censorship and figured if i didn't like watching it, I could go upstairs...lol. Good memories though!
Based Mom ❤
Joke aside, this is surprisingly wholesome
"Folie a Deux" had me freaked out, but I watched season 8's "Within" last night. The stuttering "Jacob's Ladder" alien effect used in the first season were amped up and made me SCREAM. It gave me nightmares that Mark Zuckerberg was an alien with no legs and moved with the same blurry, twitchy, effect, lol.😂
Its hard to state the impact and importance The X Files had once it landed in the early 90s. A cult following in season 1, but by the second season, it was one of the most rightfully talked about and hyped shows of the day. Taking some atmospheric cues from the amazing Twin Peaks, and making sci-fi and B-movie horror into utterly irresistible, and plausible storylines. Being a teenager in the mid 90s when this was on was great. It was everywhere. The X Files paved the way for may a paranormal TV show in its wake. Buffy, Fringe, Lost , and so many other shows owe a lot to it. I still rate the first 5 seasons as my favoutite Telly ever But....I have always felt that, from season 6 onward, it was going downhill. Seasons 6 and 7 had Far too many comedic episodes that spoiled the momentum and mood that the X Files Movie set previously, and the Alien mythology story spiraled completely outta control losting steam and interest in people. I will always like season 8 for trying to go "back to its roots", bringing back the Horror. But by then it was too late, with rating and fanship dwindling . By the time season 9 ended things, it was an anti climax and past its peak. That all said! It overall is still my favourite show ever. Great list of episodes here that I will watch again very soon!
kylereece1979 Well explained. Show actually ran for about 2-3 seasons longer than it should’ve, and I’m not even counting the revival season from a couple years back. Duchovny basically leaving but his character still being “out there” was a big red flag, and the alien conspiracy kinda became a pretzel. Regardless, I loved most everything X-Files up through the ‘98 movie.
Tooms haunts me to this day. I was the only one in my neighborhood who loved x files and it was frustrating not to discuss each episode with someone.
Grotesque is still my all time favorite episode but the episode where they are being slowly digested by that fungus is another great one.
Brett W Firewalker is the fungus one
Casey King that is a good one but the one I was talking about was Field Trip. Season 6. Episode 21.
Folie A Deux will always be the scariest episode for me. The buzzing and the horrible glimpses of the giant bug made it almost unwatchable for me.
You forgot THE CALUSARI...
That one scared me so much!!
My aunty to 10 years old me : did the monster died?did the monster died? behind blanket ,as i watch it between my finger and i said idk.we both terrified.Those were the days.
What about the kid with the POSSESSED DOLL that made people hurt themselves