The directors of Doctor Who’s latest series brought back the scares in a big way.
Well, fear is a superpower…
Warning: contains spoilers for every episode of the eighth series ofDoctor Who.
All moral panics aside, this series brought back the scares in a big, bad way.
Something ofWhos quintessential horror was squeezed out of certain episodes.
Thats been back in spades over the course of the most recent run.
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Still, head writer Steven Moffat didnt change things up too much.
But the Twelfth Doctor is still finding himself, (Am I a good man?)
and over the course of two episodes, Wheatley made fine work of dramatising that uncertainty to unnerving effect.
It must have really seemed that way to Paul Murphy, who chairedRobot Of SherwoodandThe Caretaker.
The two episodes also have monster of the week plots running secondary to their character-led A-plots.
Still, this is the first newWhostory to go without a monster altogether.
Its a story about fear itself and Mackinnon was instrumental in visualising a hugely philosophical piece from Moffat.
What is unseen is unknowable andthatshow you do aDoctor Whostory without a monster.
While fear is a superpower inListen, guilt is a great big giveaway to the Teller.
Mackinnon also returned forFlatline, which had another villain which was more conceptual than physically imposing.
Wilmshurst still ramps up the visceral and emotional terror of Claras predicament.
Unless you count 2011s David Tennant-starring romcomThe Decoy Bride, theres not much horror on this directors CV.
Then theres the formidable image of giant tanks of water draining out to reveal Cybermen in hiding.
Dannys sudden death is played out over the phone to Clara, to mortifying effect right from the start.
Although its more action-packed than the previous episode, it hits many bases of horror in quick succession.
The Master has never been more hateable in any incarnation than Missy is in that scene.
In hindsight, certain horror motifs recur have recurred through series eight in the run-up to the finale.
More than the first series of either Tennant or Smith, Capaldis Doctor has an unknowable quality about him.
Is he really a good man, or not?
Most importantly though,Doctor Whohasnt become too scary for kids this series.
Weve said that horror is good for young viewers before, but inDoctor Whoespecially, fear is your superpower.
