I've always loved Billy Drago and as always he is truly creepy as the Appalachian conjure man with a grudge in this supernatural-revenge thriller. The gross-out effects are also well done. The problem is pure plotting predictability and an unengaging setting (this subject BEGS for a Manly Wade Wellman treatment!)
It's interesting to me that this has been compared unfavorably to the Season 2 occult thriller "Fresh Bones." The occult effects in that episode were handled in a deft way that left the possibility of magic an open-ended question. This episode is so magic-heavy it might have been an episode of "Charmed!" Likewise "Fresh Bones" had both a plot twist and final surprise at the end. The greatest irony of this episode is Scully saying: "I'll always surprise you, Mulder!"
It's interesting to me that this has been compared unfavorably to the Season 2 occult thriller "Fresh Bones." The occult effects in that episode were handled in a deft way that left the possibility of magic an open-ended question. This episode is so magic-heavy it might have been an episode of "Charmed!" Likewise "Fresh Bones" had both a plot twist and final surprise at the end. The greatest irony of this episode is Scully saying: "I'll always surprise you, Mulder!"