The X-Files (TV Series) Scary Monsters (2002) User Reviews

Unless you bring me Spanky, there's nothing I can do.

[Muldernscully · 7/10 · 26 November 2007]

Scary Monsters features the return of the cute and lovable, Mulder and Scully groupie, Agent Leyla Harrison. We last saw Harrison in season eight's 'Alone' working with Agent Doggett. I thoroughly enjoyed her character the first time around, and was pleased to see her return.

The teaser for Scary Monsters grabs your attention right away when you see the dad lock the boy in his room, apparently with monster bugs. Why is he doing that? We come to find out later that the dad really has no idea what is going on. He believes that everything is real.

The blood spurting through the air vents in the car was a cool, gross scene. The location and setting were well done as well.

Scully's apron is a nice little joke. It says, "SOMETHING SMELLS GOO-OOD!", while she is doing an autopsy on a Spanky the cat. Nice contrast.

I liked how Doggett pulls a 'Leyla Harrison' and suggests an idea from a previous Mulder and Scully case, this one being 'Field Trip', to explain what is happening. He quickly discards it though.

As is rare on the X-Files, Doggett's disbelief in the paranormal actually saves his and everyone else's lives in this case.

I found it interesting when the dad says that Tommy doesn't mean to do what he does, and Reyes responds that he certainly does mean to make the monsters appear, as illustrated by his morbid drawings. What I don't get about this explanation is that Tommy's mother killed herself because of these monsters. Did he want his mom to die? It seems to make his actions a bit inconsistent.

Scary Monsters is a good, solid Monster of the Week episode that has a nice mixture of comedy and terror. I like seeing Agent Harrison once again voicing the sentiments of the fans and getting the agents in over their heads. When you're watching this episode, just remember that "it's not real".

"I made this" ...sort-of confusing.

[RuthAkien · 7/10 · 2 April 2010]

The main problem is that the episode is so unclear about whether the kid is evil or not. And it's not just that I didn't know what I was *meant* to feel for the kid, it's the knock-on effect on other characters. Either way this would be a difficult case for Doggett given his son's history. If the kid had been consistent we might have gotten more from the characters and the story would have meant more as a whole.

The Good: - Seeing Harrison again (although it annoyed me when she went around Scully). Makes me feel the x-files' FBI is a fleshed-out world with people conducting their lives off-camera. - Teaser was good. Nice play on what you'd expect from a Dad. - Comedy bits best bits of episode. - Liked Harrison's potential boyfriend (if he'd willing to dig up a dead cat for her, she better watch herself). - Fall into darkness was very cool. Nothing to fight against + don't see very often.

The not so good: - Agree about Scully not eating joke. Maybe they could have done the joke the other way around i.e. Harrison really wanting to show the photos but doesn't want to gross Scully out of eating, and it turns out Scully's immune. - Overall not quite whole-ness of episode (wasn't left with any particular feeling or theme/revelation). Shame because I don't think it would have taken that much to make it an awesome scary episode (with funny moments).

Should have been so much better.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 6/10 · 29 November 2022]

Doggett and Reyes investigate the strange behaviour of a father, who's locking his son in a room with so called monsters.

Some good elements here, and some not so good. First off, I liked the whole nightmare vibe, I liked the references to the past, and the somewhat different lineup, she was funny. The story, well, there wasn't really a plot here at all, it was a little underdeveloped, a little frustrating at times.

If you happen to be a Doctor Who fan, you may know what I'm on about, if not skip this comment, I'm reminded of Fear her, that awful Olympic episode where the little girl scribbles monsters up, it had that kind of vibe, not good.

It was nice to see Doggett being the one to crack the case for a change, he's genuinely been the brawn in recent episodes, he was put to good use here.

Once again, some good ideas, but they just didn't come together,

6/10.

S'No Such Thing As Monsters

[Sanpaco13 · 7/10 · 8 October 2009]

Not really the best episode ever, but in the wake of a less than exciting season 9, this is one of the better episode in my opinion. We are again exposed to the ever annoying and naive Agent Leyla Harrison, who is convinced that she has found an X-File case and tries to convince Scully to take it up. The case starts as being about a woman stabbing herself 16 times, and ends up being about a little boy with the ability to manifest his imagination. Unfortunately, this is a creepy little boy who is afraid of giant bugs living in people's stomachs. He draws pictures of people's eyes bleeding out and such and when asked why he would do such a terrible thing simply says its because he's afraid it will happen. The episode to me has more of the feeling of an episode of The Outer Limits or Twilight Zone than X-Files. I think its the complete lack of any kind of attempt at explaining what is going on. Doggett simply finds out that by being a skeptic, he is able to be unaffected by the manifestations, and stops the kid and saves the day. There are some feeble attempts at humor throughout the episode that I feel somewhat cheapen the effect. Scully's attitude to seeing the crime scene and autopsy photos as she is eating for example. It makes for a "humorous moment" I guess but this is someone who has been working at the FBI for 9 years and is a doctor who has done countless autopsies. I doubt that seeing pictures of a dead person is really going to make her lose her appetite. And another example is the whole boyfriend bringing the dead cat and her doing the autopsy on it while wearing the apron that says "Something Smells Gooo-ood!" That's just kind of funny haha. Not as clever as it could have been. One last thing that bugged was how the story was somewhat inconsistent. I mean they make it seem at first like the kid is just scared of stuff and can't control the manifestations, but then why does he lead Doggett into the room with the giant pit to get eaten and why is he making everyone give birth to aliens and bleed out their eyes. By the end it almost seems more like the kid was doing the stuff on purpose. Anyway, the episode has some moments that are truly just flashes of genius and then other moments that leave you rolling your eyes wondering how stupid the writers think you are. Also it bears mentioning the line the kid says as he shows Reyes the pictures he drew. In a very strange moment of existential confusion, the kid tells her, "I made this," causing the viewer to wonder if somehow they fell asleep or if the episode just abruptly skipped the ending and the credits. Anyway, I give the episode a 7 out of 10.

"If Agent Mulder were here, he'd keep going."

[classicsoncall · 9/10 · 29 August 2017]

It was a very cool surprise to see Agent Leyla Harrison (Jolie Jenkins) back for a repeat appearance, she has such a clueless but endearing naivete about things that it's just a pleasure to watch her in action, even if she is relegated back to the Accounting Department of the FBI. Which made me wonder actually, is everyone at the FBI considered an 'Agent'? I would think someone in accounting would more likely be identified as a clerk or a bookkeeper, so I'd like to know what the protocol is there.

That scene of Scully trying to grab a bite while viewing Harrison's autopsy report - the intent appeared to be that she should have been grossed out enough not to continue eating, but if you recall, a much prior episode had Scully munching down on a slice of pizza while actually performing one, so that was a mildly failed attempt at humor. Off the top of my head, I think that was in 'War of the Coprophages', but if wrong, I stand to be corrected.

And talk about bed bugs! Who else thought Doggett was a goner when his entire body got smothered by those creepy crustaceans? You have to hand it to Doggett, he didn't believe any of it and managed to put one over on the kid Tommy (Gavin Fink) with the phony gasoline gambit. That was a pretty good solution to snap the kid out of his violent imagination. Me, I would have taken away his crayons.

Surprisingly Awesome

[mbenne · 10/10 · 1 February 2016]

This episode earned ten stars with one scene: Scully, in a cooking apron, performing a necropsy on her kitchen table in the middle of the night, while shushing someone so as not to wake her baby. Gross and hilarious.

This episode was scary, gross, and also humorous, definitely harking back to X Files at its best. (While also using Leyna to comment on this itself by her fan-girl attitude toward "Mulder and Scully."

Best line: "Your lack of imagination saved our lives." Indeed, this episode made excellent use of the most irritating aspects of Agent Doggett.

X-Files Serves it up A+ in Season 10

[caf-19 · 9/10 · 19 August 2022]

What a pleasant surprise! And I submit for your approval... Even if this ever-so-subtly tongue in cheek X-Files horror episode is a rip-off of a very special, and very old, Twilight Zone episode called "It's A Good Life" featuring a brilliant little Billy Mumy, as the main character; This episode, Scary Monsters, was still delightfully original, yet so 'Zoneesque', leaving the viewer a little creeped out. If you are a true Sci-Fi fan and have the time, I suggest that you watch this X-Files Episode, Scary Monsters, then watch the vintage Twilight Zone episode, It's A Good Life, starring Bill Mumy. It's my contention that this is the fertile soil that Scary Monsters sprang from.

That's as far as I can go without spoiling the whole enjoyable episode, so please just ignore the whiny naysayers raining on the later X-Files seasons just because they are mad about the missing Mulder, and won't get over it. Good Sci-Fi stands on its own legs without rock-stars.

Agent Doggett and Reyes steadfastly handle a most unusual case with the help of Scully and a couple of delightfully ditzy guests, especially adorable Agent, Layla Harrison, and her humble cuteness. Also: Keep your ears peeled for a clever, excellently placed "I Did That" within the script; a little wink to their standard closing credits. Are they called Easter Eggs or something? I don't know. But when they work, they work, and it's fun to be in on a little family joke.

Thanks X-Files writers and actors for cranking the winners out season after season. I'm sure your efforts were often under appreciated. Scary Monsters was a fun adventure, and I hope to be validated someday about its original grandparent in the fabulous vaults of the Twilight Zone.

Scary monsters? I would say Scary CGI and scary lack of decent plot.

[tresm87 · 5/10 · 31 May 2019]

We are bound to get some mediocre episodes out of the 218 total and as an avid fan of this monumental show, I'd say they're few and far between and maybe only a handful a season. Scary monsters has the absolute laziest and some of the worst cgi I've ever seen. Even in the early to mid 90s episodes they had better offerings of effects. On top of that, the plot is just so banal and dull and made clearly as a filler episode before they finally wrapped it all up for s9. I enjoyed S9 but this is one of the top 20 worst episodes of the series.

First Reyes, then Harrison

[pmicocci-18908 · 1/10 · 29 July 2021]

I guess they'll hire anyone at the FBI, the whackier, the better.

"Hey, this eight-year-old said monsters killed his mom, and his cat - it must be an X-File!"

"Yeah, and that guy had dirt on his knees - let's go wake up a judge and get a warrant!"

No wonder Fox pulled the plug while this episode was being filmed.

Carter Cops Again

[russell2000 · 1/10 · 14 January 2021]

Scary Monsters is simply a 1961 Twilight Zone redux (It's A Good Life)...however, once again Carter refuses to give credit where credit is due.