Back in 2008, The X-Files had been off the air for six years. So it was a delightful treat for fans when I Want to Believe, the long-anticipated second X-Files feature film, finally arrived in theaters. While the movie more than made back its budget, it wasn’t a smash hit, and critics didn’t offer much praise for its standalone serial-killer story. But now, X-Files creator and I Want to Believe director Chris Carter is getting a very Hollywood rare do-over, releasing a director’s cut that bumps up the horror from PG-13 to R and hews more closely to his original vision for the film.
The new version is titled The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn, a nod to the grim mad scientist case that anchors it. But the “Frankenstein” element isn’t what draws Scully and Mulder, who’ve both left the FBI, back into the fold; it’s the fact that a man with apparently genuine psychic powers has been aiding the investigation. A new trailer is here showcasing Carter’s fresh take on the film, with the creepy tension dialed way up.
“When a group of women is mysteriously abducted, it becomes a case right out of the X-Files,” reads the official synopsis. “Years after walking away from the FBI, Fox Mulder and Dr. Dana Scully are pulled back from the shadows when a federal agent vanishes without a trace. In a case you’d never see on TV, their only lead is a disgraced, defrocked priest claiming to have horrific psychic visions of the crime. Forced to confront the ghosts of their past, the partners must navigate a chilling winter landscape and an even darker human monstrosity. The truth of these crimes is out there somewhere … and it will take Mulder and Scully to find it.”
Billy Connelly plays the pedophile priest trying to get right with God in spite of his awful crimes; the new FBI agents on the case are played by Amanda Peet, whose character reaches out to Mulder in particular to get his “spooky” expertise, and Alvin “Xzibit” Joiner, who in 2008 was making the leap into acting after his MTV Pimp My Ride era.
Mitch Pileggi also reprises his role as FBI assistant director Skinner, who steps in to help his former agents when they need him most, and genre veteran Callum Keith Rennie (Battlestar Galactica, Star Trek: Discovery, The Man in the High Castle, Jessica Jones) pops up in a key role with a thick Russian accent.
“This R-rated version represents the film Chris always envisioned—a darker, frightening thriller exploring a real-life Dr. Frankenstein. The restoration gives fans a chance to experience a side of the film that has never been seen before,” reads a press release.
Are you ready to give I Want to Believe another chance? The X-Files: I Want to Believe – Vrach Frankenshteyn arrives August 14 on Disney+ and Hulu.
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