"Die Hand Die Verletzt" is one of my favorite X-Files episodes, and IMO it ranks right up there as one of the scariest of the series. Glen Morgan and James Wong came up with a great teleplay here - after a darkly humorous teaser, where we discover that the seemingly priggish, uptight-about-swear-words members of a PTC in New Hampshire are in fact a bunch of Satan-worshippers, the story begins as a worthy entry in the bad-things-happening-to-teenagers-in-the-woods genre which was especially popular in the first two seasons of the show. Things escalate rapidly from there, and Mulder and Scully wind up in the midst of occurrences which are particularly baffling even to them. The story has numerous twists and turns which disguise what's really going on for awhile, although clever editing does give us some hints. Kim Manners does an absolutely superb job as first-time director on the show - his weird camera angles and movements and spooky lighting really ratchet up the horror factor as the story progresses. "Die Hand Die Verletzt" is rife with unforgettable and terrifying visual images.<br /><br />IMO this episode also has some of the best guest-actor casting in the series. Heather McComb is riveting in her scene where she reveals apparently repressed memories of ritual abuse, and Dan Butler makes a big departure from Bulldog on Frasier to convincingly play a straight-laced suburban dad who's hiding some big secrets. Best of all is Susan Blommaert - as Mrs. Paddock, who turns out to be literally the substitute teacher from Hell, she conveys both innocent mentorly concern and murderously evil Satanic intent with equal skill. The second half of this episode is a genuinely frightening horror tale with no letup till the memorable ending, which leaves our heroes M & S still basically in the dark, only able to guess at what just happened.<br /><br />"Die Hand Die Verletzt" is just one of the reasons I like season 2 so much. I give this ep 10/10.