Chinga (8 Feb. 1998)
"The X Files" Chinga (original title)

While on a weekend off in the small New England town of Ammab Beach, Scully comes across a grocery store full of people who tried to gouge out their own eyes. The people have no idea why ... See full summary »

Director:

Kim Manners

Writers:

Chris Carter (creator), Stephen King,

Stars:

David Duchovny, Gillian Anderson, Susannah Hoffmann

Cast

Episode cast overview:
David Duchovny	...	Fox Mulder
Gillian Anderson	...	Dana Scully
Susannah Hoffmann	...	Melissa Turner
Larry Musser	...	Jack Bonsaint
William MacDonald	...	Deputy Buddy Riggs
Jenny-Lynn Hutcheson	...	Polly Turner
Henry Beckman	...	Old Man
Carolyn Tweedle	...	Jane Froelich
Dean Wray	...	Rich Turner
Gordon Tipple	...	Assistant Manager
Harrison Coe	...	Dave the Butcher (as Harrison R. Coe)
Ian Robison	...	Ranger
Elizabeth McCarthy	...	The Shopper
Tracy Lively	...	Clerk
Sean Benbow	...	Customer

Storyline

While on a weekend off in the small New England town of Ammab Beach, Scully comes across a grocery store full of people who tried to gouge out their own eyes. The people have no idea why they did this to themselves. On the telephone, Mulder tells her it all sounds like witchcraft but she isn't so sure. One woman in the store, Melissa Turner, seemed unaffected by it all but her reputation of being a witch works against her. She was widowed the year before and her boyfriend Dave stabbed himself in the eye and died in the grocery store incident. Scully focuses on Melissa's daughter and in particular, the young girl's doll.

---

Plot Keywords:

grocery store | doll | pencil | claw hammer | microwave oven | 

---

Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Sci-Fi | Thriller

---

Certificate:

TV-14

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

8 February 1998 (USA)

Filming Locations:

Stage 2, North Shore Studios, North Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada

Company Credits

Production Co:

20th Century Fox Television, Ten Thirteen Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

60 min

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Original name of this episode was Chinga - but it was rejected by Fox as it may have been an objectionable word in some Spanish speaking areas. The name 'Bunghoney' was substituted - a rude sounding but nonsensical term.

---

Goofs

At 23:46 into the episode after Scully has finished taking her bath, she walks past a mirror and a crew person wearing a blue shirt is briefly but clearly visible.

---

Quotes

Scully: No... I don't think it's witchcraft or sorcery. I've looked around and I don't see any evidence of anything that warrants that kind of suspicion.
Mulder: Well, maybe you don't know what you're looking for.
Scully: Like evidence of conjury or the black arts? Or shamanism, divination, Wicca, or any kind of pagan or neo-pagan practice? Charms, cards, familiars, blood-stones, or hex signs, or any kind of the ritual tableau associated with the occult; Santeria, Voudom, Macumba or any high or low magic...
Mulder: Scully?
Scully: ...
[...]

---

Connections

References Child's Play (1988)

---

Soundtracks

"First movement 'Allegro moderato' from Piano Concerto No. 3 in B minor Op. 89"
(uncredited)
Composed by Johann Nepomuk Hummel
Heard during Scully's drive to the gas station

User Reviews

"do the hokey pokey..."

Chinga isn't one of the very best episodes from the X-Files, but as a piece co-written as the only one by Stephen King, it gives more than few obvious but quite entertaining moments. It's all predicated on something that has been in other King works- the girl who is more than a little 'off'. This time, however, her anger and hatred gets channeled- or just put into place- through a doll that was discovered by her (viciously made dead) father. It's also another in the crop of about 85-90% of King's work taking place in Maine, where Scully gets involved while- as she repeats to many- on vacation. The episode is basically for King fans like a short story not made into some overlong movie but a 45 minute film with lots of style trying to mingle with the very (not always necessarily) sly dialog and, of course, lots of violence.

In fact this might be one of the more violent ones in nature, as the special doll sometimes goes on cue based on the girl, or through a song "Do the hokey pokey", which in and of itself is kind of hokey too. Lots of harsh deaths involving clawing eyes out and ends met by witchcraft of some sort. While there aren't any scenes ala Child's Play with the doll running around doing the murders, there's still something sort of missing from other episodes that Chris Carter as co-writer doesn't quite get into it. If not for King's involvement it might've fared even less. But as it is I was glad I saw it, even out of order from watching all of the episodes now season to season, and there's some dry funny moments involving Mulder back at FBI headquarters with his theories and endless time to kill (I loved the little pencil gag at the end). Worth it for fans of the author, if only for the tongue-in-cheek bits, though X-Files fans thinking his name might mean brilliance might be disappointed.