10 X-Files Episodes That Should Have Been Horror Movies
2. Detour
When the dinner-party conversation turns to the scariest episodes of The X-Files, it's almost guaranteed that someone will mention 'Detour', ushering in all manner of cold-sweats and shudders from all those who have seen it.
This episode sees Mulder and Scully ditching out on a team-building weekend in favour of their usual brand of supernatural sleuthing. In doing so, they run afoul of a group of creatures that Mulder believes to be "Mothmen". A fabled beast that is able to completely camouflage itself within the woods.
That idea alone opens up the floodgates for all manner of hair-raising situations and is responsible for some of the scariest imagery that the show has ever produced.
Not simply killing for the sake of it either, the Mothmen are compelled to kill by an encroaching business who plan to deforest their habitat in order to expand the local town. The theme of 'nature striking back' has been touched upon in movies before, but never with such an inventive and downright terrifying monster at its core.
Little is explained about these creatures during the actual episode, which is a shame as they're definitely amongst the show's finest creations and well-deserving of some fleshing-out.