Reviews

OK back in 90whatever in the UK,the episodes of different series were not shown a year apart in order to catch up with the years and also since I didn't have a TV for most of 94/95 I ended up seeing episodes either on video or in whatever order they were on TV,so I saw them in totally the wrong order and never knew which ones were series 1,2,3 or 4 until 10 years later when I found an episode guide online. I say that because the order in which people see episodes generally determines how good,scary,dark and maybe life-changing each one was.Also because all those episodes were filmed around Vancouver in the same forests,fields,villages etc they looked so alike visually that it might as well all have been one continuous series to me. So different fans have their different favourite episodes for whatever reason.This is one of mine. Its the only one that ever scared me during and especially after,for...OK weeks.The eye effects have been used in things since but at the time they did freak me out.The child abuse stuff is damaging.The satanic ritual stuff,even though its been the reason it seems that oh so Christian Americans like to believe that true evil in their country exists for the last few centuries and is thus THE stereotypical scapegoat,and even though it's as unbelievable as any other religion,well it is scary anyway.After all it's TV so a level of disbelief must be maintained.I think a major reason it scared me was the concepts,if they were true just feel more fear inducing than an individual who kills with electricity (DPO) or inbreds(Home) or any of the many reincarnation ones. The only problem I have with it is that it has Bulldog from Fraiser in as an evil,scary non-Christian type and I just kept seeing Bulldog and his gong and sports crap...But thats just having to deal with people from other roles being someone else so it shouldn't really detract from believing in a programme..except it did which is why I give it 9/10 instead of full marks,which is what it should get from someone who doesn't know who Bulldog is/was.

The first time I watched this in the 90's I didn't think much of it.I didn't find it scary at all.And it ripped off so many previous ideas as well. It says a lot about the US audience that it is considered the most disturbing,dark and scary episode.I think there are way more scary and disturbing episodes. However in the last year since getting online DVD rentals I decided to catch up on x files episodes that I had never seen originally or not seen for 10+ years.Home was one that I thought should be watched again as it seems online to be considered this big deal as being banned and offensive and I never remembered it like that. Well I watched it and I thought the exact same thing as when I saw it on TV in the 90's.Its a good episode,but derivative and not very scary. First of all since seeing it I have seen Deliverance,Texas Chainsaw Massacre,The Hills have Eyes and Wrong Turn a bunch of times and the episode plays like soft-core versions of elements of all them.Also it takes the Blue Velvet concept of turning idyllic small town life upside down,like most Stephen King stories do as well...and so do many previous x files episodes.Also considering I've always been lead to believe that many backwoods Americans are inbred and incestuous,the concepts involved aren't shocking to me.People in all parts of the world,in cities and villages have been doing that stuff since day one of human life.And genetically similar DNA when mixed causes illness and deformity in animals and humans,which would be a good example of why not to do it. I think that people who have been shocked by it must have seen it as one of their first episodes.If someone had seen all the first and second series and then said that any episodes from the following series were too dark or scary then I wouldn't believe them. Since I was always more interested in the monster episodes than the mytharc ones I would put it in a top ten of episodes to recommend,but not top five.

There are films where things happen that at first do not make sense.So you think about it all during and maybe after.Maybe you watch it again.Now MEMENTO would be one of those films.Then there would be DEATH IN A FRENCH GARDEN.Almost every aspect of the plot makes no conventional sense.There are some seriously open ended concepts.eg the father allegedly had boyfriends earlier in life,there is mention that the mother only wants the guitar teacher because he looks like her brother.Who really wants who and how are any of them really connected?The alleged hit-man seems to have set the teacher up for the fall all along,but then doesn't have any bullets in his gun on purpose at the time needed.OK,every aspect of his character screams wannabe lover of the teacher,which is maybe why he allows him to know a version of the truth which results in him coming into 300,000 Francs for making every mistake in the book. Why is there no lock on the new place?What is the point of the teasing,perverse neighbour who lies about everything? I ended up thinking that the makers of this film were having a laugh because every aspect of every character could be a lie.Not one thing about any of them holds up to examination or belies true human interaction and behaviour. Even though at the end it is totally frustrating,I still liked the damn thing!Its open to numerous interpretations,but I don't think any would truly hold water.I think really its just a deconstruction of the labyrinthine narrative of the conventional thriller/neo-noir.None of it means anything...because I may not sleep for a week thinking about what it all means really...and no film is that important!