The best X-Files episodes for Halloween include “Squeeze,” “Darkness Falls,” “The Host,” “Die Hand Die Verletzt,” “X-Cops,” and “Bad Blood.” All six work as largely standalone stories, so you can spend an evening with Mulder and Scully without first reviewing several seasons of government conspiracy.
That’s one of the advantages of the show’s monster-of-the-week format.
For all its alien mythology, secret experiments, and increasingly complicated family histories, The X-Files was often at its best when two FBI agents arrived somewhere ordinary and discovered something that absolutely should not have been there.
A few of those cases are particularly well suited to October.
And if you’re watching with someone unfamiliar with the show, these episodes provide a good introduction without making them sit through a lecture about the Syndicate.
Nobody wants homework on Halloween.
1. Squeeze (Season 1, Episode 3)
For fans of: Serial killers, home invasion horror, and people who should not fit through air vents.
“Squeeze” introduces Eugene Victor Tooms, a murderer who can stretch and contort his body to enter places no ordinary person could reach.
Mulder and Scully investigate a series of killings with an unusual problem: the victims were attacked inside seemingly secure rooms, with no obvious way for anyone to enter.
The episode eventually reveals that Tooms has been committing murders across decades, emerging periodically to feed before returning to hibernation.
It’s an excellent early example of the series finding horror in something mundane. A locked apartment should be safe. A ventilation shaft should be too small for a person.
Tooms makes both assumptions useless.
The character returns later in the first season, but his introduction remains the stronger Halloween watch. It establishes the creature, gives Mulder and Scully a proper investigative mystery, and makes the audience reconsider every dark opening in the ceiling.
Good luck with the bathroom fan afterward. TheTVDB
2. Darkness Falls (Season 1, Episode 20)
For fans of: Survival horror, isolated cabins, and extremely unreliable lighting.
Mulder and Scully travel into a remote Washington forest to investigate the disappearance of a logging crew.
They discover that an ancient species of tiny insects has been released from inside a tree. The insects swarm in darkness, consuming anyone unfortunate enough to be exposed.
Light keeps them away. Unfortunately, the people trapped in the forest have a limited supply of fuel.
“Darkness Falls” is a wonderfully simple survival story. The characters have a clear problem, understand the basic rules, and still find themselves in an increasingly hopeless situation.
The insects are barely visible for much of the episode. What matters is the darkness surrounding the cabin and the knowledge that something is waiting inside it.
It also has one of the better environmental horror premises of the series. A logging crew cuts down the wrong tree and releases something that has been sealed away for centuries.
Maybe leave that one standing. TheTVDB
3. The Host (Season 2, Episode 2)
For fans of: Creature features, body horror, and reasons to avoid public bathrooms.
“The Host” introduces the Flukeman, one of the most memorable creatures in The X-Files.
Mulder investigates a body discovered in the New Jersey sewer system and eventually encounters a grotesque humanoid parasite.
The creature’s design combines human features with those of a parasitic flatworm. Its pale skin, circular mouth, and unsettling movements make it look like something that developed in a place sunlight has never reached.
Which is more or less the idea.
The episode leans heavily into body horror, particularly the consequences of surviving an encounter with the creature. There’s something wonderfully unpleasant about setting a monster story in municipal wastewater infrastructure. You don’t need an abandoned castle or a remote research facility. The local sewer system will do.
And unlike a haunted house, the sewer is something you know exists beneath your neighborhood.
“The Host” is a good reminder that The X-Files could create a memorable monster without spending much time explaining its entire biology. Sometimes the creature itself is enough. Bloody Disgusting!
4. Die Hand Die Verletzt (Season 2, Episode 14)
For fans of: Occult horror, witchcraft, and deeply suspicious school faculty.
A group of teenagers experimenting with an occult ritual accidentally sets something terrible in motion.
Mulder and Scully arrive in a small New Hampshire community where strange events surround the local high school. The adults responsible for maintaining the town’s respectable appearance have some rather serious secrets.
And then there’s Mrs. Paddock.
The substitute teacher is one of the show’s most unsettling guest characters. She doesn’t need an elaborate costume or a particularly frightening appearance. Her calm behavior makes everything worse.
The episode mixes supernatural horror with satire about people who treat their supposed religious convictions as a social obligation. It’s an interesting combination, particularly when the characters discover that the forces they’ve been invoking may actually expect something from them.
There are disturbing scenes involving violence and abuse allegations, so this isn’t the lightest selection on the list.
But for Halloween atmosphere, it earns its place.
It also confirms that the most frightening person in a school building may not be the principal. TheTVDB
5. X-Cops (Season 7, Episode 12)
For fans of: Found footage, reality television, and television crossovers that shouldn’t work but do.
“X-Cops” places Mulder and Scully inside an episode of the reality television series Cops.
A Los Angeles police crew encounters a strange disturbance while being followed by television cameras. Mulder and Scully become involved in the investigation, which appears to concern a creature capable of taking the form of its victims’ greatest fears.
The episode adopts the filming style of Cops, including handheld camerawork and the awkward interactions between law enforcement officers and the people they’re questioning. Mulder seems perfectly comfortable having his investigation recorded for television. Scully would rather be almost anywhere else.
The format gives the episode a different feeling from the rest of the series. There’s less cinematic distance between the audience and the events unfolding on screen.
It also allows the show to poke fun at its own characters without turning the entire story into a parody. The monster remains dangerous. The situation is ridiculous.
Both things can be true.
“X-Cops” is particularly good for a Halloween marathon because it breaks up the visual style of the earlier episodes while keeping the supernatural mystery intact. TheTVDB
6. Bad Blood (Season 5, Episode 12)
For fans of: Vampires, dark comedy, and unreliable narrators.
After an investigation involving a suspected vampire goes badly, Mulder and Scully must explain what happened. The problem is that their accounts of the case are rather different.
“Bad Blood” tells much of its story through competing versions of events, with each agent remembering the other’s behavior in a distinctly unflattering way.
Mulder’s version of Scully is impatient and dismissive. Scully’s version of Mulder is considerably more enthusiastic about his theories than anyone should reasonably be.
The actual case involves a small Texas town and a series of deaths that may be connected to vampires. The episode manages to be funny without losing the strange atmosphere that makes The X-Files work.
It’s also an excellent choice for the end of a Halloween marathon. After several hours of parasites, insects, and disturbing human behavior, a little comedy is welcome.
Even if the comedy still involves people getting murdered. TheTVDB
What About “Home”?
You could certainly include it.
“Home” (Season 4, Episode 2) is one of the show’s most disturbing episodes, involving the isolated Peacock family and a horrifying investigation in rural Pennsylvania.
It originally aired on October 11, 1996, making this month its 30th anniversary.
The episode became notorious for its graphic subject matter and was kept out of Fox’s regular rerun rotation for several years. Its reputation has followed it ever since.
It’s an effective piece of horror television, but it isn’t necessarily an enjoyable choice for a casual Halloween gathering.
The subject matter includes severe violence, incest, and abuse.
If your group wants genuinely upsetting horror, “Home” belongs in the conversation.
If you’re looking for an evening of creepy television that still leaves everyone in a reasonably good mood, the six episodes above are a safer choice. People.com
The Best Order for a Halloween Marathon
You don’t need to watch these episodes chronologically.
I’d start with “Squeeze” because it introduces the show’s investigative style and establishes Mulder and Scully’s relationship.
“Darkness Falls” and “The Host” make a strong middle section, moving from survival horror into creature-feature territory.
“Die Hand Die Verletzt” changes the atmosphere with its occult mystery, while “X-Cops” provides a welcome shift in presentation.
Then finish with “Bad Blood.” It’s a particularly good closing episode because it rewards viewers who have spent the evening watching Mulder and Scully argue, investigate, and occasionally discover that the other person was right.
That’s a substantial part of the appeal of The X-Files. The show could frighten you with a monster and then make you laugh at the two people assigned to investigate it.
Sometimes within the same scene.
Artifacts From This Entry
Mulder Was Right Black Mug
A black coffee mug featuring a familiar sentiment for anyone who spent the 1990s watching one FBI agent explain increasingly improbable things to another. Mulder Was Right Tee
