The X-Files: I Want To Believe

When I heard that Chris Carter was going to release a new X-Files movie I felt lukewarm about it. For most of the series run, the show was incredible. In the end it wasn't very memorable to say the least.

But now we have this new film X-Files - I Want To Believe. I saw the preview for the film and assumed it was a continuation of the 'black oil' storyline. The black oil was a mysterious organic, extraterrestrial substance which was unearthed by a core sample in Antarctica. It entered living creatures through the skin and facilitated their assimilation and mind-control. I was never quite sure what it was exactly. X-Files - Fight The Future's storyline was about the black oil. I've never been a huge fan of X-Files stories about extraterrestrials or UFO's. I was pleased to find that the movie was about something entirely different.

SPOILER ALERT!!

This film takes it's idea from the two very real subjects of illegal organ trafficking and bizarre medical experiments. Mulder and Scully are recruited by the FBI to assist them with a psychic former priest who claims to have information about an abducted FBI agent. The psychic insists that the agent is still alive but in captivity and in grave danger. Mulder believes the priest while Scully is skeptical (imagine that). Mulder finds the compound and quickly realizes the dangerous situation he's gotten himself in to. The compound employs Russian doctors who are continuing the 1940s experiments of Sergei Brukhonenko and S. Tchetchuline. In actual fact, these doctors were able to attach a dog head to a heart-lung machine and keep head alive for a long period of time without a body. In the X-Files movie they are attempting the same thing except they are also attempting to reattach a human head onto another body. Experiments to reattach a severed head have been performed as well, on apes of course. The doctors were not able to restore any movement (the spinal cord had to be severed) and due to surgical limitations they were forced to attach the head on backwards. The ape survived the experiment but died a short time later.

I loved the X-Files episodes that dealt with bizarre human behavior so this film was right up my alley. If you're expecting Little Green Men then you'll be disappointed.

actual archive video of living dog head