While The X-Files had plenty of scary episodes, one of its first sequel stories is still among its most chilling outings. The upcoming X-Files reboot will have its work cut out for it. While the re-imagining of the cult classic boasts the talents of Sinners director Ryan Coogler, it will still be hard for any follow-up to recapture the success of the original series. Alongside Twin Peaks, The X-Files was one of the most influential shows of the ‘90s thanks to its blend of supernatural plot elements with a police procedural format.
Before Supernatural, Fringe, Evil, Lucifer, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and Grimm all went on to riff on this reliable formula, The X-Files mixed genre storytelling elements with the police procedural storytelling. This was at its most compelling in the scariest episodes of The X-Files, like season 1, episode 3, “Squeeze.” While this outing was a truly terrifying endurance test, its sequel, season 1, episode 21, “Tooms,” was arguably even more important when it came to the show’s larger story.
After the first two episodes of the series set up the show’s larger season-long arc, “Squeeze” marked the first “Monster of the Week” episode of The X-Files. The outing saw Mulder and Scully investigate a series of killings that were committed by a murderer who could somehow fit into impossible spaces to commit their killings. The killer, Eugene Tooms, was a uniquely creepy creation who evaded justice for most of the episode since it was tough for Mulder and Scully to prove that he somehow moved through small storm drains and cramped air shafts.
The sequel episode “Tooms” brought back this instantly iconic villain, as Tooms is released due to insufficient evidence and immediately returns to his killing spree. This classic X-Files episode sees Mulder and Scully once again attempt to apprehend the shapeshifting killer, but that’s not the only thing that makes this such a notable outing. The episode features the first appearance of Mitch Pileggi’s Skinner, as well as an early appearance of the Cigarette Smoking Man. As a result, “Tooms” represents an important moment in the show’s storytelling journey.
“Tooms” blends both the “Monster of the Week” approach and the larger serialised story of The X-Files in the same episode, something that became increasingly common as the series continued and grew steadily more ambitious. “Tooms” was also notable for being one of the scariest episodes of the entire series, and Tooms himself still regularly ends up on lists of the show’s most threatening monsters. Although season 4, episode 2’s boundary-pushing “Home” managed to earn the show’s only TV-MA rating, both appearances from Tooms were still standout scare fests from the show.
When Tooms was defeated for good at the end of “Tooms,” the show needed a new unforgettable villain, and season 2, episode 2, “The Host,” was happy to oblige with the terrifying Flukeman. While the sewer-dwelling parasite’s modus operandi wasn’t as ingeniously creepy as that of Tooms, its terrifying character design more than made up for this. The X-Files revival’s standout episode “Familiar,” season 11, episode 8, introduced a similarly memorable antagonist in Mr. Chuckle Teeth, but this later instalment could not quite recapture the sheer memorable horror of Tooms’ reign of terror.
