deepfield67

Rita Rudner and Richard Lewis are fun to watch. It's a fast-paced neo-noir amusement park ride. Good cinematography, good editing. It's not a gruesome episode, just kind of a dark comedy of errors with a supernatural twist. I think it's a good watch, not sure why it's so lowly rated other than the fact that it's more like a Twilight Zone episode than a Tales from the Crypt episode. But it may even be closer in tone to a large portion of the popular pulp comics of (especially the late) 1950s than the average gory episode of Tales from the Crypt, which would probably be found in an early 1950s, pre-comic code comic. Anyway, the episode doesn't have eye popping effects, no gore to speak of (though there is a body count of 6, technically), but it's a thrilling little 50-style pulp mystery story that uses the "I keep repeating the same day no matter what I do" trope to entertaining ends.

So, many of the problems with this film I think arise as a result of it being a prequel to AOTD, rather than AOTD being a sequel to this. It's basically just a heist movie, and after that episode of Rick and Morty heist movies have become basically unwatchable. But for what it is, it's fairly entertaining. By the end, which could have come half an hour earlier, it begins taking itself way too seriously. The characters are pretty generic, but I do like Deiter and the hacker girl, they're adorable. If this movie had come out first, then I would have watched it without much expectation. Then, knowing there is a zombie apocalypse on the rise, I might have said, "they should make a sequel to that where they have to go do a heist *during* the zombie apocalypse!" And AOTD might have been way better. I did enjoy them both, just don't expect anything too spectacular or original.

I don't usually write reviews but this episode struck me so hard that I feel compelled to share my thoughts, even if I am just echoing much what many others have already said. This episode is intense, unflinching, uncompromising, almost overwhelming. It took me most of 15 minutes to realize I'd become perched literally on the edge of my seat, so involved and invested in what was happening that my surroundings had faded away. Suddenly, I realized that I'd been watching one continuous shot. (In fact the entire episode is comprised of just a handful of long, sweeping, dizzying shots). I absolutely love the use of long shots in film and TV. They're technically impressive, allow the actors (and characters) to flex and shine, and they suck you into the story in a way that jump cuts (and jump scares) never will, and they make it hard to look away as the tension just builds and builds. The cinematography, and choreography, in this episode, are stunning. The acting is top-notch. Not only do the adult actors do a fantastic job, but the child actors are mind-bogglingly good. Throughout this entire series, I've been highly impressed by these talented young people. I look forward to their long and illustrious careers following the amazing work they've done here. I'm not going to do the thing where you describe the episode in detail as you review it (though, I'm very glad many of you write reviews that way, they're a pleasure to read and often help me appreciate aspects of the episodes I missed the first time around). I just wanted to give my impressions of the episode as a whole. I know some people found the first few episodes to drag a bit, and it is definitely a slow burn, but the whole series finds a feverish peak here. Everyone involved with this episode, on and off-screen, is at the top of their game. Do yourself a favor, watch this series if for no other reason than to get to this episode. Watch it, watch it again, read some reviews, descriptions, and the IMDB trivia page, of course, and then watch it again. It keeps on giving; this is one of those shows that gets better with every viewing, it opens up and flowers into something incredible before your eyes. Favorite episode by far of one of my favorite series in recent years. 10/10.

Scully and Doggett have relatively little screentime, as we see the story unfold (in reverse) from the (alleged) antagonist's perspective, but what little dialog the agents do have is really well-written and delivered perfectly. Anderson is great, as usual, and her scenes with Morton are really compelling. But even the most serious episodes of the X Files have to have a few funny moments, usually quips and one-liners from one of the agents, and Doggett wins this round.

I love stories like this, not-quite-time-travel stories; stories told in reverse. This episode feels like a precursor to Memento, which was apparently in production at the same time, but wasn't released until early the following year. So, The X Files did it first. Although, if the writers for the X Files are traveling backwards in time then it's likely they got the idea for this episode from Memento and then just made it before Nolan had a chance. Regardless, even if you don't care for the Doggett years, I recommend this episode. It's one of my favorites from seasons 8 and 9. 9/10.