I loved the new Wednesday series on Netflix, especially the spooky atmosphere and the titular heroine’s quest to unmask the monster as she becomes increasingly isolated from her small circle of friends. The whole thing put me in mind of one of my favourite X-Files episodes, Season 5’s Folie à Deux, French for “Madness of Two.” Almost 25 years after it aired, there’s still a lot we can learn from this episode about writing a great horror story.
For those who haven’t seen it, Folie à Deux was written by Vince Gilligan, who also wrote Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul, and opens with telemarketer Gary surrounded by his daily work but terrified by a buzzing sound that only he can hear. It’s obvious that he’s desperate for help but can only whisper to the person at the other end of his phone that a monster is hunting him. When Gary goes mad, our dogged FBI investigators Mulder and Scully are brought in, but Mulder is crabby as he feels his skills are being overlooked because he’s just the “monster guy.” Things go awry when Gary takes a group hostage, trying to prove that his boss, Pincus, is the monster hiding in plain sight, and slowly turning employees into mindless zombies. Scully’s research finds that the situation has already happened before, and Mulder begins to suspect Gary might not be mad after all. However, when Gary is shot by a SWAT team to free the hostages, Mulder catches a glimpse of the monster and now he the one haunted by the same insidious buzzing noise. As he argues with local police and with Scully, the increasingly paranoid Mulder goes to greater and greater lengths to prove Pincus is a monster leading a pack of zombies, which backfires and leaves the FBI agent strapped to a hospital bed. Mulder begs Scully to believe him, asking that she re-check the bodies of the zombie minions for bite marks and poison. While a reluctant Scully goes to work, Mulder is trapped in the dark as the monster slowly edges towards him – but is saved at the very last second by Scully bursting in to shoot the monster and drive it off. In the end, Scully passes the whole thing off as madness, knowing that no one would ever believe the truth, and in another telemarketing office, a sweating employee begins to whisper down his phone that there’s something in the office with him…
The writing in this episode has all the hallmarks of good X-Files episode. Dialogue is direct, simple and honest, covering the basic facts of each event and hinting at the darker emotions swirling beneath. The characterisation in this episode is focussed in on just two key characters, Gary and Mulder, demonstrating how they grow angry, violent and make mistakes because they are surrounded by people who just won’t believe them.
This is shown beautifully in the pacing and filming of the episode, with the trademark X-Files moody lighting and claustrophobic spaces. One of the strengths of the better X-Files episodes (yes, there were a few clunkers in there, I know) is the whole episode is short and sharp, but the slowly-building horror is given enough time to breath and develop. The threat is demonstrated and felt in every scene, getting closer as our heroes are mired.
In the final analysis, the reason Folie à Deux – and the Wednesday Addams series – work so well as horror stories is that it’s not about the monster. It’s about feeling trapped and alone even when surrounded by family and friends.
Have another great horror you’d like me to take a look at? Please leave a comment below!
Leave a Reply