Science fiction and horror are often cited as two seperate genres in film, TV and literature; however I think they can quite often cross or share elements. Science fiction can be scary just as horror can fall on the science fiction side! Think about movies such as Alien (scary science fiction) or Hellraiser (horror with science fiction elements). This is also true of Doctor Who (though maybe a bit more family friendly).

Lets start with those ever present stone creatures that can kill you kindly – the weeping angels. The Weeping Angels are scary for a multitude of reasons, not least of all because they are practically inescapable (short of being The Doctor and his friends) – one can try their hardest not to blink but one watery eye and a split second later, and boom – hello 1920.

But what really makes the Weeping Angels so scary is the cinematography – the gothic feel of an old abandoned house, dilapitated garden and beautiful sad weeping stone angels. The scenery adds to the creepy factor because imagry has a pyschological effect on our minds. We remember a frightening image (like, say, a stone angel all teeth and claws coming at you in flickering lights) and it will stay with us much longer then a scary concept or storyline (not to say that those don’t frighten us either).

At the end of Blink we are given a montage of every day statues – monuments in parks and gargoyles on gothic buildings and now we have been made weary of any stone statue we come across. We have been made to think twice about them as we walk past and what Whovian has actually tried not to blink, at least once?

But it’s not only the Weeping Angels episodes that have frightened us. After The Silence in the Library, we became even more scared of dark corners and shadows. The dark is one of the first and most ingrained fears humans were born with. We never know what is in the dark and after this episode, the scary shadows have a name: The Vashta Nerada. Now we count our shadows and make sure we’re not repeating ourselves, and when we encounter the darkest dark we think twice about it. As The Doctor says, “It’s whats in the dark. It’s what’s always in the dark.” The Vashta Nerada are always there. And the scariest part is that eventually, they are not only in the dark corners of a room, but the dark corners of our minds.

Sometimes it’s not the villian that’s scary but the way a story is told. Hide is one of these episodes. I love Hide because it starts out as a traditional ghost story, complete with an old dusty mansion and a dark and stormy night (absolutely classic). Dougary Scott (a favorite actor) and Jessica Raine are ghost hunters trying to contact the otherside. In the end we find out it’s not a ghost but a space traveller trapped in a bubble universe – the perfect example of science fiction and horror mixed. The episode is one of the more ‘gothic’ episodes and probably one reason why I love it. One of the creepiest scenes is when Clara and the Doctor are standing in the doorway, in the dark with only a candleabra for light. Clara says she might be scared but she doesn’t need him to hold her hand, to which The Doctor replies that he is indeed not holding her hand! So then what is? The creep factor is raised with the realization that something we can’t see is touching Clara.

And who could forget Nine’s encounter with The Empty Child? Creepy gas mask children asking, “Are you my mummy?” for seemingly no reason at all? Gas masks have never been the same for Doctor Who fans since. A gas mask growing from your skin with nothing behind it – almost soulless – which is one of the most frightening things to encounter. Something without a soul is dangerous because it doesn’t have a moral compass. And something without a moral compass is scary because it indicates a lack of humanity which comes with no compassion. No compassion leads to not knowing good from bad, or right from wrong, and therefore makes one unpredictable. The Doctor and Rose don’t know what The Empty Child is let alone what it is capable of.

As for a lack of humanity, what about the Gangers of The Rebel Flesh/ The Almost People? They are simply clones that at first seem to be quite human but later turn out to be not human at all. Consider having a clone of yourself – the exact image of you – walking around with your memories and thoughts and desires. Just as what happens in the episode the doppelgangers would end up trying to taking over and leading a war against the humans. Amy does not even know which Doctor is hers. Two Doctors and they’re both exactly the same to where you can’t even decide which one is yours? Now that’s pretty scary (but only in a Whovian way). Your Ganger could do any manner of horrible things and you would be blamed for it. That’s a terrfiying thought! Not to mention the fact that the Gangers can ‘grow’ as Jennifer shows us when she turns into a creature.

So just because it’s science fiction doesn’t mean it can’t be scary. These are just a few examples, but lets not forget how scary the universe in itself can be; aliens both good and bad, different kinda of planets (remember Midnight?), black holes and the TARDIS going off course, among a myriad of things. It’s all part of the adventure but it doesn’t come without some fright.

I’d say it’s worth it though.