The X-Files' New R-Rated Movie Runtime Confirmed After Cutting OG Scenes

Chris Carter's new R-rated spin on The X-Files: I Want to Believe is coming with a very different runtime.

Now subtitled Vrach Frankenshteyn, the upcoming Hulu release serves as an updated cut of the 2008 sequel in the hit sci-fi franchise, which saw David Duchovny's Mulder and Gillian Anderson's Scully investigating a string of missing women in a snow-covered West Virginia town. The updated X-Files film, which arrives on August 14, is expected to be a more horror-driven effort than its original theatrical release.

Ahead of its streaming debut, ScreenRant's Grant Hermanns interviewed Chris Carter to discuss The X-Files: I Want to Believe — Vrach Frankenshteyn. When asked about the new R-rated cut's changes from the original release, particularly the film's runtime, the writer/director did confirm that the film is now seven minutes shorter than its theatrical version, explaining that his ultimate goal with the new edition was to "make this a good scary movie."

As such, this resulted in Carter wanting to "go a little less heavy on the romance elements" of the original X-Files: I Want to Believe version, explaining that, thanks to the revival that came a decade after the film's release, audiences had "gotten a lot of the Mulder-Scully relationship," and therefore felt he didn't need to put as much focus on their romance. He went on to recall that many of the notes from Fox executives specifically focused on wanting more of Mulder and Scully's relationship, which cemented in Carter's mind that they "didn't really know The X-Files":

Chris Carter: They wanted more emotion in the script, and they didn't really understand that you get an emotional relationship with these characters with every story, and you don't have to lean into it for the big screen. "Let's make a good scary movie" is really what I had wanted to do, anyway. But, as always, the studio wins. They're the people that are putting up the moolah, so they won that argument, and it just felt to me like a good scary X-Files story has those elements, but doesn't necessarily have to have them competing with the case itself.

The conversation eventually shifted to the scene in which Mulder and Scully are in bed, and the former is attempting to comfort the latter about her concerns regarding her treatment of her young patient with Sandhoff disease, Christian. Unlike the theatrical version, the R-rated director's cut elects to pick up with Scully revealing her own findings from reviewing the case files, inspiring Mulder to shave and head out to the latest potential crime scene.

As Carter explained, part of the thinking behind the scene's new version in The X-Files: I Want to Believe — Vrach Frankenshteyn is him and the creative team "trying to be clever" in not revealing Mulder lying next to Scully as she appears restless. He further chuckled as he expressed that "everyone knows they've slept together," and therefore thought it better to "just get on with" the horrific investigation in lieu of more romance.

Much to Carter's point, the nature of Mulder and Scully's relationship took up a good amount of time in both the original X-Files run and its two-season revival. There was a "will-they-won't-they" nature to their dynamic for roughly half of the show's first nine seasons, with seasons 5 and 6 properly building to their romance, while seasons 10 and 11 saw them in a complicated rough patch due to lingering traumas from their past.

Interestingly, a shift away from romance isn't the only major thing that comes from The X-Files' new R-rated release. Without diving into spoilers, I Want to Believe also notably trims out certain sequences that instill the emotion that Carter alludes to above, including more conversations regarding the past of Billy Connolly's Father Joe, as well as wider mentions of lore regarding Mulder and Scully's pasts.

Though some may find the idea of a shorter director's cut a surprise, given they're generally much longer than a theatrical release, The X-Files: I Want to Believe — Vrach Frankenshteyn isn't the first to see its director aim for a leaner cut. Richard Donner's Superman II cut memorably excised 11 minutes worth of material, while the Mel Gibson-led Payback also cut 11 minutes when restoring director Brian Helgeland's original vision after much of the action-thriller was reshot, and Blade Runner's various releases. As such, permitted that Carter's R-rated vision properly captures the scares he wanted to convey, it will be interesting to see if the 2008 X-Files film enjoys a critical reappraisal.