By: Kelly Kearney

With the fan fervor over films like IT and shows like “Stranger Things,” the horror genre is seeing an emergence of popularity with viewers and if you’re familiar with the original run of “The X-Files,” you know that nobody delivers creeptastic chills like this series. This episode tells the tale of a small Connecticut town brought to its knees by a witch’s curse that inadvertently opened the gates of Hell. If you’ve ever been frightened by evil dolls and the dark arts, this episode will be sure to keep you up at night.

Mr. Chuckle Teeth

The episode opens on a small rural town in Connecticut, where a little boy named Andrew (Sebastian Billingsley-Rodriguez) goes missing from the local playground. Andrew is lured into the woods by a life-sized version of his beloved puppet, Mr. Chuckle Teeth (Keith Arbuthnot) while his mother appears to be arguing with someone on the phone. Chuckle Teeth is a horrifying mix of Chucky, Pee Wee Herman and Jigsaw and he is literally the stuff nightmares are made of.

It’s not long before the local police search the woods for Andrew and eventually find him mutilated by what they assume was an animal attack, probably by a wolf. Enter Mulder (David Duchovny) and Scully (Gillian Anderson) who join the investigation and find some disturbing clues that leads Scully to think this wasn’t a dog attack but a murder. Added to this devastating death is the fact that Andrew’s father is a local police officer. Scully knows getting to the truth might be difficult. In cases like this, a local sex offender or someone close to the victim is usually their suspect but small-town charm has its setbacks when you’re looking at one of their own. Not to mention, Mulder isn’t sold on this pedophile turned killer theory and starts to lean towards a more paranormal reason for Andrew’s death, especially considering the town’s history of witch trials and the hysteria surrounding them. He even goes as far as to contemplate the possibility that a Hell Hound killed the boy and yeah… this is how I like my Mulder. Forget the facts, go right to the witches and Hell beasts!

With the FBI on the case, Scully withholds Andrew’s body for autopsy while the boy’s parents host a memorial in his honor. Scully talks to Mulder about never getting use to autopsying kids and considering what these two have gone through with their own son, it’s no wonder she’s struggling.

At the funeral, Andrew’s father Officer Eggers (Jason Gray-Stanford) starts to come unhinged the minute he discovers why his son’s body is in the custody of the FBI. He assumed his son died in some freak attack but when his fellow Officer tells him that Scully thinks some local pervert murdered his boy, Eggers loses it. It’s not long before he’s searching data bases for the town’s sex offenders and finds one who he thinks fits the description of Andrew’s suspected killer. He takes off to this sex offenders house which sets off alarms with Scully who’s still not convinced the father is innocent. She along with Police Chief Strong (Alex Carter), hit the sirens and take off after Eggers, demanding he pull over. The distraught man ignores the Chief’s orders and pulls up to a house and proceeds to kick the door down looking for the home’s occupant. Inside, he doesn’t find who he’s looking for but does find balloons, clown shoes, a caged monkey and a Mr. Chuckle Teeth mask. Is this town deviant Andrew’s killer or is the Chuckle Teeth mask, masking a more nefarious truth as to who or what was responsible this crime? Mulder is stuck on his theory that a town that can be whipped up into a witch trial frenzy can easily fuel the mob mentality that would convict this man based on circumstantial evidence. Scully is kind of shocked he’s defending this child abuser, but Mulder doesn’t want to jump to any convenient conclusions no matter how many times Scully defines Occam’s razor theory (when deciding between competing hypothetical answers the simplest solution is usually the correct one). Not to mention, he spotted a black wolf near the crime scene and he’s fairly certain it was protecting the gates of Hell.  Mr. Let’s Not Jump to Conclusions, dives head first into his Hell Hound theory, so very Mulder.

Another Child Goes Missing

While questioning the police Chief’s daughter and only witness to Andrew’s disappearance, Mulder is skeptical when 5-year-old Emily (Emma Oliver) solidifies Scully’s theory that the town pervert must be the killer. Emily claims she saw Andrew lured into the woods by a life-sized Mr. Chuckle Teeth and that fits with her theory that the local John Wayne Gacy sex offender, is their man. Not to mention, Mr. Chuckle Teeth is the host of a bizarre Teletubbies rip off and Emily, a fan of this show, would recognize the character anywhere. Mulder isn’t sold on Chuckle Teeth especially when he spots local folklore and witch craft books on Chief Strong’s book shelf. Mulder thinks this could be more evidence that suggests this case is directly related to the town’s dark history. Later, little Emily spots an Evil Teletubby outside and it lures her from the Strong home and into the woods. It’s not long before the little girl is found dead in the exact same spot Andrew’s lifeless body was discovered.

Mulder appears to be batting a thousand when it comes to his theories so, when Officer Eggers manages to track down the town pervert (Ken Godmere) and whips the locals into a violent frenzy, it’s not a huge surprise. With a crowd of towns people encroaching, Eggers attacks the suspect all the while the man is claiming his innocence. He begs the Officer and the mob, to stop the beat down and explains that he was convicted of statutory rape but never hurt any children. Luckily, Mulder and Scully hit the scene and break up the fight but just as the bloody man is asking for help, Eggers draws his gun and shoots him dead. The crowd is in shock, Scully and Mulder are in shock, but they also know this death will halt the investigation. The town got their boogey man and no amount of Hell Hound theories from the FBI will change the local’s minds.

Back at the crime scene, Chief Strong is gutted by the death of his daughter and fails to console his wife, Anna (Erin Chambers). Screaming, the distraught mother turns on her husband, blaming him for their daughter’s death. This piques Mulder’s interest and he starts poking around the crime scene until he discovers a ring of salt hidden by forest debris. At first Scully reminds him that Mulder is destroying a crime scene but after they discover this salt circle surrounds a puritan burial ground, the agents question Chief Strong and why his wife blames him for the murders. The Chief breaks down and admits this is his fault for being a lustful man. He cheated on his wife, broke a sacred vow and now he’s being punished with the death of his child. Mulder did not see this twist coming and starts to tie Strong’s infidelity and his collection of witch craft books with a possible curse on this whole town. Someone, possibly Strong, cast a dark curse and unwittingly opened the gates of Hell!

Death Claims Four More

In a flurry of surprises, we find out that Chief Strong was having an affair with Andrew’s mother Diane (Sharon Taylor). Diane broke it off, but Strong wouldn’t take no for an answer. He was actually the person she was arguing with on the phone the day her son went missing. It’s a link between Andrew and Emily that is starting to paint a picture of jealousy and deceit, leading to two innocent children’s deaths.

After Eggers is released on bond for killing the man he wrongly accused, he heads home to find Diane packing. She’s done with Eggers and the whole town and as she speeds off in her car, her husband grabs his gun and heads to his boss’ house. Eggers is on a murder mission and blames their affair on the destruction of his marriage, his son’s death and subsequently his ruined career. As Diane speeds her way out of town, she spots a vison of Andrew in the road and veers the car off the road, crashing it into a tree.

At the Strong house, the chief is nowhere to be found but Eggers does run into Mr. Chuckle Teeth who is stalking him throughout the house. It’s a cat and mouse game with Chuckle Teeth getting the better of Eggers. When Mulder and Scully show up to talk to Chief Strong about their curse theory, they find a ring of salt and Eggers body in the entry way. Mulder checks out the house but doesn’t find anything except Chuckle Teeth’s creepy theme song playing on the TV.

Back to the car crash, Chief Strong happens upon Diane’s wrecked car but there’s no sing of the woman anywhere. That’s because Diane is dead but Strong spots what he thinks is his old flame, luring him into the woods. Following the vision leads him to a clearing in the woods where his Anna is standing in a salt circle and surrounded by candles. She is an angry mess and ranting that his affair forced her to cast a curse on him but instead she cursed them all when she opened the doors to Hell. Before Strong can respond, he’s attacked the very Hell Hound Anna unleashed. In front of his screaming wife, who is protected by the salt circle, the hound tears him to shreds. In seconds of Strong’s mauling, Mulder and Scully show up and beg Anna to let them help her. She refuses, claiming she cast this curse and only she can stop it. Mulder tries reasoning with her that she may not know what she’s dealing with. Ignoring him, Anna opens her spell book, chants an incantation and instantly bursts into flames, leaving nothing behind but a pristine spell book and the salt circle in which she stood.

Scully’s stunned that she witnessed spontaneous combustion, something that time and again, she’s assured Mulder is a scientific impossibility. Putting on his skeptic’s hat, Mulder reminds her that Anna could’ve burned from the candles and its always adorable when these two switch sides in a debate. With both families’ dead, their investigation comes to an end and the two agents head back to Washington, far away from this creepy town, which Mulder claims is any town these days.