Chris Carter's R-rated director's cut of X-Files: I Want to Believe is finally out

[Ben]

Chris Carter finally released the director's cut he always wanted for The X-Files: I Want to Believe, retitled Vrach Frankenshteyn and landing on Hulu and Disney Plus rated R, eighteen years after the original PG-13 theatrical cut disappointed a lot of longtime fans back in 2008. Carter has been open about the backstory, saying the studio ordered him to trim horror elements specifically to secure that PG-13 rating, which pulled the film away from being a proper scary standalone story and turned it into more of a Mulder and Scully relationship movie that happened to have some X-Files material attached

The original film skipped the alien mythology that drove the show for nine seasons entirely, instead building a standalone mystery around a defrocked psychic priest played by Billy Connolly, missing women, and illegal medical experiments echoing the Frankenstein legend. Interestingly, Carter did not just restore all the previously cut footage wholesale, he actually hired two editors to rework the picture based on his notes, and the resulting director's cut ends up seven minutes shorter than the theatrical version at 97 minutes versus 104

David Duchovny has apparently already seen the new cut and told Carter he thought it deserved a proper film festival showing, which Carter says is not really possible since festivals are built around premiering new movies rather than reissued cuts, but he clearly took it as high praise regardless. Gillian Anderson has not seen it yet according to Carter, so her reaction is still an open question

The timing here is notable too. Since this restored cut is landing right as Ryan Coogler prepares a full franchise reboot for a new generation of viewers, which gives Carter's original vision a chance to resurface and maybe reframe how people remember this specific chapter of the franchise before Coogler's take arrives

The original 2008 film made a fairly modest 68 million dollars worldwide against a 30 million dollar budget. A real step down from the first X-Files movie's 190 million dollar haul in 1998, so there is also a bit of a redemption arc angle here for a movie that has mostly been remembered as the franchise's most divisive entry

R-rated director's cut of X-Files film restores Chris Carter's original horror visionarstechnica.com

[BlackSunLynx]

Carter reworking the film with two editors rather than just restoring every cut scene wholesale is the detail that actually makes me want to watch this. A genuine reedit with fresh eyes tends to work better than a simple extended cut dump

[ElectricPilgrim]

Seven minutes shorter than the theatrical version while somehow being the more complete artistic vision is a counterintuitive detail.

Trimming footage and restoring intent are not the same thing apparently

[BookerT_99]

Would genuinely love to hear more about what specifically got trimmed for the original PG-13 cut.

The article mentions horror elements broadly but not what scenes actually got the axe back in 2008

[DiamondDallas86]

Eighteen years is a long time to sit on wanting to release your actual vision for a film. Genuinely respect Carter finally getting the chance to put this out even if it took nearly two decades to happen

[Iniesta96]

The timing right before Coogler's reboot feels less like coincidence and more like a deliberate move to reset expectations before a new generation gets introduced to the franchise through his take.

Smart way to reclaim the narrative around this specific film before someone else's version becomes the dominant memory

[BretHart99]

Gillian Anderson not having seen it yet is such a small detail but it makes me curious what her reaction ends up being once she finally does watch it.

Especially compared to Duchovny's clearly enthusiastic response

[ParallelSelf]

Never understood why the 2008 film skipped the mythology entirely. That was such a core part of what made the show work for casual viewers who tuned in during its original run

[Forge89]

68 million against a 30 million budget is not actually a disaster financially. But coming after the original film's massive 190 million haul it clearly read as a letdown to everyone involved at the time

[Sharon96]

Duchovny wanting it shown in festivals says a lot about how much he actually believes in this version. That is even though festival programming does not really work that way for reissued cuts

[Nadir Outlaw]

Sidestepping the alien mythology to tell a standalone horror story is exactly the kind of choice that alienates casual fans expecting more of the show while genuinely serving the die hards who wanted proper scares.

Sounds like the R rated version finally leans all the way into that second audience