Starring Sylvester McCoy & Timothy West
Written by Mark Morris
Directed by Ken Bentley
Aquaphobia n. An abnormal fear of water, or drowning.
Blattodephobia n. The morbid fear of cockroaches.
Catoptrophobia n. Fear of mirrors, or seeing one's own reflection.
There's a whole ABC of horrors at Bluefire House - as four young people, drawn together to this tumbledown hotel at the edge of nowhere, are about to discover. But whatever the ancient and foul thing that has emerged from the wilderness to drag them here, speaking of it will only strengthen it.
The Doctor alone knows what lurks at the heart of Bluefire House. But the monster of his childhood dreams is coming. The Mi'en Kalarash is coming...
Just this once, the Doctor's afraid.
House Of Blue Fire is a story of two halfs. The first half is creepy ghost story, the second psychological thriller. Now, while I love a story that can bring two aspects and ideas together, however House Of Blue Fire really suffers from this change of story type. Now, I do like the second half, I really do, however this story works much better in it's sinister first half than in it's rather disturbed second.
This story has some really intriguing ideas at it's heart, with the main characters not knowing who they are. It's certainly something which wouldn't be out of place in a teen horror flick, and writer Mark Morris very much pays homage to many of the tropes of the genre, with it's younger cast of characters than usual and it's occasional shocking scares. Certainly, the first half of the story is best listened to in the dark. It concerned with atmosphere, and that's great. However, when the story enters it's second half, the story starts to devolve into technobabble and old legends and mystical ideas. You only have to look at the cliffhanger to the third episode to work out how different the two discs are. It all becomes very sad, because had the story continued in the vain that it had, I think that it would have been much more successful at what it was trying to tell. The main problem with the idea of a split-narrative tale like this is that it's trying to tell a story that just doesn't quite work. The whole story just doesn't hold itself as well in the second half, but certainly that first half is an excellent set up for the events that are to follow. The main villain of the piece, the Mi'en Kalarash, is a good idea, however, fear monsters are quite common in Doctor Who (such as the Fearmonger in The Fearmonger or the Fear monster in Fear Itself). Therefore, this monster's main, distinctive feature is something that has been used before. As such, it weakens the Kalarash as a powerful force. It's not really tackled from an interesting angle, but it seems as if the clues planted as to the direction of The seventh Doctor's future adventures (which would all be payed off in 2012's 'Elder Gods' trilogy) are. Revisiting this release after the fact, as it were, it's interesting to see where will this will go. And obviously there is one element that continued into that trilogy: Private Sally Morgan.
Up until episode 4, you never really get the sense that Sally could join The Doctor. Certainly, she's an interesting character, but she seems more like a character who could occupy a similar role to DI Menzies. However, in episode 4, you start to see that she could become someone who could fit well into the TARDIS. And Amy Pemberton is brilliant, really capturing that primal horror of not knowing who you are in the first half, and then really fleshing out the character of Sally Morgan in the second half. While her character may not have been quite as obviously companion material, it was clear that Amy Pemberton who make a great companion, and she immediately proves that here. Certainly the remaining characters are interesting, but they feel slightly incidental when compeared to her, and they quickly become a bug bare to the story. Certainly Timothy West makes the most he can of Magnus Somms, but he's a bit of a stock character type and he's killed off early into part 4. Lizzy Watts is fairly good as the evil Mi'en Kalarash, but I think a more subtle performance may have been called for. At times, she just sounds like a shouty villain, and it would have been better if her and Ken Bently could have tried to play it differently. However, a lot is forgiven in Sylvester McCoy's sublime performance, which, in the first two episodes is restrained and menacing, but in the later two, he becomes more lively as the story becomes more insane. It's a wonderful performance, despite other elements working against him.
Despite everything that I've said, I still like House Of Blue Fire. It's first two episodes are fantastic, and Sylvester McCoy and Amy Pemberton are fantastic in there parts and the music is very creepy and unsettling. There may be weak elements, but House Of Blue Fire is still a good story, albeit one with some huge flaws.
TARDIS Rating - 7/10
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