"The X Files" Born Again (1994)

Director:

Jerrold Freedman

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator)
Howard Gordon (written by) ...

TV Series:

"The X Files" (1993)

Original Air Date:

29 April 1994 (Season 1, Episode 21)

Genre:

Drama | Horror | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Plot:

The only witness to a 14th Precinct cop's apparent suicide is an eight-year-old girl, who was found miles away from her New York home...

Plot Keywords:

Male Female Relationship | FBI | FBI Agent | Alien | X Files

Cast

David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Brian Markinson	...	Tony Fiore
Mimi Lieber	...	Anita Fiore
Maggie Wheeler	...	Det. Sharon Lazard
Dey Young	...	Judy Bishop
Andrea Libman	...	Michelle Bishop
P. Lynn Johnson	...	Dr. Sheila Braun
Leslie Carlson	...	Dr. Spitz
Richard Sali	...	Leon Felder
Dwight Koss	...	Detective Rudolph Barbala
Peter Lapres	...	Harry Linhart

Runtime:

60 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Argentina:13

Company:

20th Century Fox Television

Goofs:

Factual errors: Buffalo does not have a Chinatown.

Quotes:

Mulder: Why is it still so hard for you to believe, even when all the evidence suggests extraordinary phenomena?
Scully: Because sometimes looking for extreme possibilities makes you blind to the probable explanation right in front of you.

Reincarnation and evil little girls

Oh my... "Born Again" manages to combine two of my least favorite things in horror and in fiction in general: reincarnation and creepy little girls who stare a lot (only good if done humorously ala "The League of Gentlemen"). Yeah, sure, the girl isn't actually evil, just the unfortunate choice of someone else for reincarnation, but she does stare a lot, and no, the script doesn't make any more sense than that does.

"Born Again" features barely any redeemable values really. I guess Mulder and Scully are always fun to watch, even in a Gordon/Gansa script (which means you can forget about witty banter outside of some attempts which tend to fall flat). This plays like a cheesy, forgettable old horror film, the worst of the sort you could expect to find on the drive-in channel. It's probably my pick for the worst episode of season one, actually, generating more complete disinterest from me than "Ghost in the Machine" or "Space".

2/10