TODAY'S BOO TUBE: HIDE

MY FIRST HALLOWEEN VIEWING FOR OCTOBER IS, RATHER APPROPRIATELY, AN EPISODE OF DOCTOR WHO.  It IS the 50th anniversary, you may recall.  I think I might've mentioned it once or 100.  Oddly enough, it's not from the classic series but one of the newest episodes from the current season:  "HIDE" from 2013's Series 7b. 

Certainly the best episode of that half-season after "THE NAME OF THE DOCTOR" season finale, "HIDE" is basically DOCTOR WHO's take on the Shirley Jackson-penned book/1963 classic film "THE HAUNTING".  We've got the older "ghost hunter" professor type and the nebbish female psychic empathy.  There's, of course, the huge old haunted house complete with cold spots and ghostly writings of "Help me" on the wallpaper.  Throw in a bit of "THE LEGEND OF HELL HOUSE" with the psychic/ghost detecting apparatus and also the fact that said female psychic empathy is rather dishy in a buttoned-down sense.  And finally, throw in a lot of Tobe Hooper's "POLTERGEIST" for the episodes final act and you've got a nice little spookfest for the Doctor and Clara to bounce around in.  Also, I can't help but notice a rather nice tribute to the Tom Baker era of DOCTOR WHO by placing the story in 1974:  Tom Baker's first year in the role which also featured, under the aegis of Philip Hinchcliffe, quite a lot of horror-themed episodes.  Quite a nice bit of viewing for the first of October!