With 11 seasons, 218 episodes, a brief spin-off, two movies, massive amounts of multimedia tie-ins, 16 Emmy victories, and five Golden Globe wins under its belt to name just a few of the show’s many accomplishments and accolades, nobody in their right mind can deny that The X-Files is in with a shout for being named as the single greatest sci-fi TV series of all-time.
While it’s entirely down to personal opinion whether or not you’d rank it above the genre’s other heaviest hitters, it proved to be such a cultural and mainstream phenomenon that it’s also deemed as one of the best small screen projects ever, regardless of what medium it fall under when the hairs are split.
However, the downside of Mulder and Scully’s adventures ranking as some of the best episodic science fiction storytelling there’s ever been is that it often tends to get overlooked when it comes to horror. Whether it’s the stunning season 4 installment “Home,” season 1’s The Thing-inspired “Ice,” the haunting “Darkness Falls,” or any other of the regular detours into outright terror, The X-Files is also one of the best horror shows in history.
Thankfully, a hardy band of Redditors have gone out of their way to remind everyone of that fact, with the “Monster of the Week” favorites coming under renewed praise for the way they handle countless offshoots including creature features, supernatural entities, demons, vampires, and pretty much anything spooky you could shake a stick at.
It might be sci-fi first and foremost and will always be designated as such, but there aren’t many better shows to have dived headlong into horror than The X-Files.