The X-Files creator Chris Carter has revisited his 2008 film, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, to restore its intended horror elements and has retitled it The X-Files: I Want to Believe - Vrach Frankenshteyn. This director's cut is set to arrive on Hulu and Disney Plus on August 14. Carter spoke with Polygon about the decision to rework the film, the inspiration behind its new title, and the changes made.
The original film, released in 2008, was a standalone story separate from the overarching alien conspiracy mythology of The X-Files. It focused on a paranormal case involving a former FBI agent, Fox Mulder, who comes out of hiding to assist in the investigation of missing persons in West Virginia. The plot involved a psychic and a killer experimenting with organ harvesting and mutilation.
Carter explained that the studio at the time demanded a PG-13 rating, forcing multiple rounds of cuts to the film. He felt that the original vision was compromised and the movie did not fully achieve its potential. "I always felt like we didn't get to show the movie that we set out to make," Carter stated. He also noted that the film's remote, icy setting, while visually striking, presented significant production challenges.
The inspiration for the film's narrative elements, and subsequently the new title, comes from a bizarre true story. Carter recounted visiting a doctor in Cleveland who had successfully transplanted the head of a monkey onto another monkey. "That was a Frankenstein story, and the movie is a Frankenstein story," Carter said. He believes that hinting at the Frankenstein theme from the outset will enhance the film's scariness and impact.
This new version emerged from a casual conversation with the head of 20th Television. When asked about the possibility of a director's cut, the response was positive, leading to the project.
Interestingly, the director's cut is a few minutes shorter than the original. Carter made this decision because the two X-Files reboots released after 2008 had already provided significant development of Mulder and Scully's emotional relationship. Feeling that aspect had been explored, Carter chose to remove some of their relationship scenes to heighten the film's horror and pace.
"The most important change for me was just the elements of horror, the graphic quality," Carter said. "Now the movie plays at the pace that I originally imagined. I think it's a much scarier movie now." The updated title, "Vrach Frankenshteyn," serves to immediately signal the film's intended tone and horror-driven narrative, akin to classic Frankenstein tales.