Reviews
[TV Review] “The X-Files” Drinks the Kool-Aid in “Nothing Lasts Forever”
“The X-Files” drinks the Kool-Aid and worships a particularly bonkers cult where eternal youth is just a disturbing organ transplant away
“I found a cure for the greatest disease of all mankind. Every human has a ticking time bomb inside of them and I figured out how to defuse it.”
Sometimes a certain topic might seem like a questionable choice for The X-Files, but the areas of creepy cults and organ theft mutilation rituals are definitely disturbing content that are tailor mode for The X-Files. Seasons eight and nine of The X-Files get an unreasonable amount of hate, but the season eight entry “Roadrunners” is one of the creepiest episodes from the show’s entire run (not to mention one of Vince Gilligan’s final X-Files scripts). It’s an installment that understands how to pair together the idea of a brainwashed cult and body horror to inspired effect. “Nothing Lasts Forever” might not have the same personal stakes that “Roadrunners” taps into, but it’s still a satisfying entry that finds something new to say on the topic.
“Nothing Lasts Forever” starts off with a rather intense cold open that feels like it could be the beginning of an episode of James Cameron’s Dark Angel. A graphic surgery turns into an espionage-laced organ heist where a bad-ass female is the one responsible for the crimes. If that wasn’t enough, the killings have a very unique quality to them as the organ thief victims get a giant spike through their hearts, but it’s a long steel pole rather than a tiny wooden stake. That’s a lot of elements to throw at the audience in the episode’s opening minutes, but it also appropriately sets the stage for a very unique case that stumps Mulder and Scully for a while. There’s even a solid stretch of time where Scully doesn’t even think that this is an X-Files.
Mulder and Scully realize that a wealth of liver and pancreas appear to be absent from the victims. However, missing organs with suspicious backstories are hardly the strangest things about what’s going on here. What transpires is one of the more disturbing X-Files stories and a tale of skewed Munchausen Syndrome that feels reminiscent of Home, to be honest. There is a disturbing cult at play that has developed a way to cheat death and obtain eternal youth, so to speak. The way in which the cult’s leader, Dr. Luvenis (Jere Burns), achieves this is by grafting young healthy people to his back and siphoning off their vitality. The scariest part about all of this is that the victims that are grafted to Luvenis consider such a torture to be an honor. Everyone in this episode volunteers for the mess that they’re in. “You’re my addiction, Dr. Luvenis,” they tell him. Luvenis’ wife, Barbara, talks about how broken and useless all of their members were before she found them. She preaches about how her torture and modifications to them is their salvation and the promise of an inspiring tomorrow. These are all the extreme lengths that people will go to feel beautiful or important.
It’s worth pointing out that “I WANT TO BE BEAUTIFUL” is the statement that replaces “THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE” this week and the message there is rather significant. This statement speaks to the fact that Scully spends a portion of this episode in church and the show reminds the audience that this character is rather religious. The way in which the episode juxtaposes Scully’s religious communion with the ritualistic killings of Juliet tries to make a rather pointed commentary. The installment puts these slayings on the same level as organized religion and highlights how the two experiences can give the same degree of relief.
“I WANT TO BE BEAUTIFUL” speaks to this need to commit terrible acts as a means to an end if it means reaching that reward. When Barbara murders people she refers to them as swans and says that they’ve never been prettier. Death is made synonymous with beauty here because it’s something that’s almost impossible to achieve in the flawed existence of life. If the same degree of spiritual solace can be felt by a specialized slaying, then is it really that different then a major institution? The power of faith can cause people to do incredible things.
This episode is so rich in themes and it happens to come from another X-Files newcomer, Karen Nielsen (a script coordinator from Glen Morgan’s underseen one-season wonder, Intruders). Nielsen pens the episode and the always-reliable James Wong directs the season’s penultimate installment. It’s interesting to note that fans got so excited when this return to The X-Files announced that it would bring a number of the show’s original writers along with it. Honestly, though, some of the best episodes from this season have been the installments written by new writers who are anxious and hungry to leave their mark on the series. “Nothing Lasts Forever” is no exception and it’s a strong episode for the season to go out on before what will no doubt be the overly serious drag of a time that is “My Struggle Part IV” next week.
“Nothing Lasts Forever” actually touches on a lot of the same themes that were present in Morgan’s Intruders. That was a show about people who lived forever by stealing bodies and transporting consciousness through different people over centuries of time. The concept of this episode is essentially the same, only these cult members feel that they can live forever by donating their organs to the Luvenises, who in turn do live forever.
Jere freaking Burns is also in the house for this episode! Between him, Brian Huskey, Haley Joel Osment, and Barbara Hershey, this season has had some decent guest stars! Burns is fantastic in whatever he’s in, whether it’s his work on Breaking Bad, Angie Tribeca, or his unforgettable turn on Justified as Wynn Duffie, human cockroach. He plays Dr. Luvenis with such cold, calculated ferocity that definitely adds a lot to his character. At the same time, his stony demeanor absolutely softens whenever he tries to console his wife, Barbara (Fiona Vroom). They reflect the erratic bipolar nature of some of the most twisted murderous couples that are out there and they both give memorable performances here.
There’s also a bonkers sequences where Barbara croons “There Has to Be A Morning After” while her “seed” disciples willingly mutilate themselves and they feast on their “pure” organs. There’s a certain degree of self-awareness where the episode seems to knows just how ridiculous all of this is, but it’s a necessary evil if it means the show can deliver such disturbing, insane sequences.
The episode also has a sort of Twilight Zone quality to it as well. The idea of an aging, washed up television star who can be in her 80s but look like she’s 40 is absolutely in their wheelhouse. The concept of “age as a disease” is nothing new, but “Nothing Lasts Forever” still manages to put its own classic X-Files twist on the concept. The whole “I will repay” steel stake killings from Juliet don’t exactly get explained in full, which is a little problematic. At the end of the day it sort of just feels like some extra weirdness thrown into the episode, but it still plays into the installment’s overall themes about beauty and obsession. “Nothing Lasts Forever” manages to surprise, entertain, and figure out some new ways to creep out its audience, all of which are important. It might not be the flashy episode that some viewers were hoping for before the season (series?) finale, but it still gets the job done.
Oh, and Mulder has progressive lenses now. It’s not a big thing. Although it does cause him to finally notice Scully’s haircut from two episodes ago. Let’s hope that he can beat the inevitable gout.
Next week’s the big one, guys. Let’s hope we can get through it with minimal mentions of alien DNA, ret-con rapes, and insulting dream sequences. Let’s take a leap of faith.
“The X-Files’” 11th season will conclude next Wednesday at 8pm (ET) on FOX
Movies
‘Recluse’ Review – Harrowing Haunted House Horror With Lots Of Skeletons In Its Closet [Tribeca 2026]
A haunted house story is tense, terrifying storytelling when it’s properly executed. There’s been a growing tendency in horror to blend together harrowing haunted house stories with traumatic homecomings. A family member’s illness or death triggers a return to something dark that was intentionally left behind. Recluse hits all the tropes that one expects to find in this type of horror film, yet it manages to push this story in a daring, disturbing new direction that uses sound as a superpower.
It’s a unique lens to experience a familiar story about family secrets, generational trauma, unresolved grief, and the importance of not just legacy, but preservation. It’s a hell of a directorial debut from Henry Chaisson that’s guaranteed to get under the audience’s skin as they’re dragged through this painful, toxic tale.
Recluse is a gothic haunted house story where an isolated audio engineer, Joan (Sasha Frolova), returns to her family’s estate to check in on her father after he suffers a terrible accident. Joan suddenly discovers something much more sinister that paints her family’s tragedies in a very different light. Chaisson’s debut functions as a fascinating companion piece to this year’s undertone, which does a lot of the same things.
These two films make for a fascinating case of parallel thinking that tackles comparable subject matter through a similar lens, albeit in a bigger, less claustrophobic story in Recluse’s case. In fact, it’s the perfect horror film for anyone who was let down by undertone and didn’t feel like it brought enough to the table. It’s a considerably more conventional horror film, but this isn’t meant to denigrate its high quality. Recluse may hit some familiar notes, but it’s a scary, well-crafted haunted house horror story that goes for the jugular.
A gripping mystery that involves the tragic, unresolved circumstances that surround Joan’s mother teases a chilling connection to the recent horrors that have afflicted her father. Joan desperately tries to put these pieces together and give her family some sense of grander peace before she’s pulled under and becomes another victim of this festering curse that’s systematically worked its way through the Wyatt family. By doing so, Recluse digs into some deeper commentary on collective trauma, a very literal look at the “sins of the father” adage, and how one selfish decision can ripple through generations and fracture off into different dilemmas. By the end, Recluse has brilliantly flipped the powerful concept of legacy on its head by illustrating the horrors and sense of entitlement that can be born out of this idea.
A legacy is just another name for a curse under the right context.
”Listen” is a simple but powerful command from Joan’s father that she briefly obsesses over. In a way, it becomes Recluse’s grander mission statement, whether it’s in response to Joan listening to the people in her life, the signals that her body and mind are telling her, or the world’s greater whims. It’s important to reconnect with these grounding pillars, especially when it feels like control is slipping away.
Recluse excels with how audio and soundscapes can create entire universes that are full of rich details that transport individuals to these environments. There’s also a level of objectivity when it comes to audio recordings and the evergreen permanence that they’re able to provide. Joan’s career as an audio engineer makes sense for someone who wants to cling to hard evidence and proof of existence. It provides great insight into Joan without ever getting lost in contrived exposition.
Joan’s entire life is built around audio engineering, and so it makes sense that Recluse features excellent sound design that really goes above and beyond with its production elements. All of the sound design is expertly handled and turns the film into something special. These auditory elements intuitively keep the audience on edge so that they’re more susceptible to the actual scares that eventually strike. The smallest sound effect gets turned into a crushing, cacophonous assault. It’s a really effective way to build terror. Writer/Director Chaisson also handles the film’s music, which achieves a sublime, unnerving dissonance that further heightens the free-floating anxiety.
The story at the center of Recluse is slightly generic in some respects, but the film’s visual language and tone make it feel distinctly memorable. It also doesn’t hurt that the home that Joan returns to is basically an eerie art studio that’s full of contorted paintings. Recluse never struggles to generate mounting dread and terror that pump through every scene. Powerful, thoughtful cinematography consistently reinforces the film’s themes. Joan is constantly reflected in different surfaces or viewed through mirrors. She’s also often confined to tight, constricting framing that all speaks to her refracted identity during this moment of loss and her attempts to regain agency and control by making sense of something that’s seemingly unexplainable.
Recluse is full of truly disturbing visuals that make it seem like Joan is lost in a dream that turns out to be an extended nightmare. It’s a surreal journey reminiscent of invasive psychological horror like Silent Hill, with a touch of Sinister and Hereditary thrown in for good measure. There are so many individual frames that could endlessly fuel urban legends and creepypastas.
It does a great job with how it presents Joan’s fragile state of mind, where chilling flashes of the past sneak up on her and unresolved trauma manifests into unsettling imagery. There are endless shots that are obscured in darkness, or shadow is creeping in from the corners of frames like a suffocating force of nature. It’s very rare that a scene is fully lit. It leads to a very lonely, isolating atmosphere that’s easy to get lost in.
Chaisson’s debut stands out from the many other high-minded haunted house horror films without succumbing to the same pretensions that often drag down these stories. It’s a grief-stricken character study that’s full of upsetting visuals that scratch at something visceral and raw. The horror elements connect, and the answers to its grander mystery provide an appropriate and believable sense of closure. Those who are looking for an atmospheric horror film that isn’t afraid to be different while still channeling something real will appreciate Recluse.
Recluse made its world premiere at Tribeca; release info TBD.
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