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As writers, both Poe and Flanagan are moody, more than a bit shameless, and obsessed with psychological and philosophical questions about death, grief, and loss. Poe’s infamous short story that provides a basis for this work possesses an additional affinity with Flanagan because it shares his obsession with family. The first two episodes of The Fall of the House of Usher premiered at Fantastic Fest in September 2023 before the Netflix release the following month, being viewed more than 13 million times in its first two weeks. It was met with positive reviews, with critics praising its production values, directing, and performances (in particular from Gugino, Greenwood and Mark Hamill), although they were divided on its narrative, notably in relation to the source materials. The Fall of the House of Usher is an American gothic horror drama television miniseries created by Mike Flanagan.
A glitzy, gory Poe modernization
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The episode named after “The Masque of the Red Death” becomes a modern-day bacchanal that goes horribly wrong. Apart from serving as fun Easter eggs, however, most of these seeded references rarely amplify the main storyline — and the main storyline itself suffers from a disconnect between the stories it’s referencing and what the narrative is actually doing. It turns out that almost every branch of the Usher family tree has been cut by violent horror.
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Flanagan takes a kind of mix-and-match approach to his biggest references that frequently makes their origin stories nearly incidental. For example, the Poe short story “The Black Cat” is originally about a murderous addict who succumbs fully to his violent impulses. But in the House of Usher episode “Black Cat,” that aspect of the focal character is almost entirely absent because we barely spend any time with him before he’s battling his furry demon. Instead, that psychology gets handed to the subject of the “Pit and the Pendulum” episode. As a result, that episode has little in common with its origin source, while “Black Cat” lacks any of the depth and murderous intensity that makes Poe’s story so memorable.
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Poe’s stories teem with shadows, with turgid, feverish imagery; they evoke the confused turbulence of nightmares, hallucinogens, and madness. The dreary moodiness of Flanagan’s Midnight Mass combined with the looming background ghosts of Hill House would have served this subject well, but instead the production opts for a boardroom sensibility. The gothic insertions from Poe feel forced and sanitized amid the halogencore vibes of our satirical family of squabbling billionaires. Siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built a pharmaceutical company into an empire of wealth, privilege and power; however, secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty sta... Mike Flanagan (for me) is personally one of the best horror directors out there today.
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All eight episodes were released on Netflix on October 12, 2023, each directed by either Flanagan or Michael Fimognari, with the latter also acting as cinematographer for the entire series. In this wicked series from Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) and based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, ruthless siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into an empire of wealth, privilege and power. But past secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying at the hands of a mysterious woman from their youth. When Poe began writing short stories, the short story was not generally regarded as serious literature. Poe’s writing helped elevate the genre from a position of critical neglect to an art form. “The Fall of the House of Usher” stands as one of Poe’s most popular and critically examined stories.
In “The Raven,” Poe remarks, “Ah, distinctly I remember it was in the bleak December.” But we guess October is close enough. And it is the best month for this kind of spooky limited-series to premiere. The Fall of the House of Usher will release on Netflix on October 12. But who are all The Fall of the House of Usher characters that we get to meet in the above trailer?
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Even if you’re a total Poe dilettante, The Fall of the House of Usher offers pieces that’ll make you say, “I get that one! ” If you’re more of an intermediate Poe reader, you’ll be able to say, “I see where this is going! I’m guessing you’ll find the series cute in its eagerness, at least for a while. Much of the series’ lack of nuance is tied to Flanagan’s difficulties handling Dupin (played by Malcolm Goodwin in flashbacks).
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But the themes remain the same—guilt, obsession, vengeance, and a supernatural sense of justice. Roderick Usher’s children are getting what they deserve, not merely because they are the fruit of a very poisoned tree but because they have made horrific decisions to stay in the shelter of wealth and privilege. Usher has been reimagined as the head of a massive pharmaceutical company he runs with his twin sister, Madeline (Mary McDonnell). Every episode includes flashbacks to a young Roderick (Zach Gilford), Madeline (Willa Fitzgerald), and Annabel Lee (Katie Parker), Roderick’s first wife.
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The film was Corman's first in a series of eight films inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. La Chute de la maison Usher is a 1928 silent French horror film directed by Jean Epstein starring Marguerite Gance, Jean Debucourt, and Charles Lamy. Like Madeline, Roderick is connected to the mansion, the titular House of Usher. He believes the mansion is sentient and responsible, in part, for his deteriorating mental health and melancholy. Despite this admission, Usher remains in the mansion and composes art containing the Usher mansion or similar haunted mansions.
” “No, not before,” he replies in one of the show’s many glimpses of Flanagan’s viciously dark sense of humor. (Poe had one too.) Roderick has been haunted by all his awful children who have shuffled off this mortal coil, and it’s because it feels like the ghosts are finally coming for him that he is ready to confess. He’s having visions of monstrous ghosts, including the recurring specter of Verna (Carla Gugino), a figure that connects most of these tall tales as a sort of vengeful force of karma, the devil come to take what she’s due from a man who profited off the pain of others. But the narrative mostly lacks the poetic sensibility and depth of feeling, the weight of profundity that makes Poe such a perennial favorite.
Imagine watching Succession and seeing each of the series’ miserable players get what they deserve in the most lethal way possible? That’s the type of delicious schadenfreude that The Fall of the House of Usher offers. We watch on as each victim – Usher or otherwise – makes their proverbial bed despite the grace of the literal warnings offered. After all, hubris, like any of the fine products from the Roderick-run Fortunato, is a hell of a drug.
If you don’t, key details get repeated multiple times, especially in the first couple of episodes. "The Fall of the House of Usher" also drew criticism for its lack of surprises. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the setting, diction, and imagery combine to create an overall atmosphere of gloom. The story opens on a “dull, dark, and soundless day” in a “singularly dreary tract of country.” As the narrator notes, it is autumn, the time of year when life begins to give way to old age and death. A mere glimpse of the Usher mansion inspires in the narrator “an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart.” Upon entering the house, the reader as the narrator navigates through a series of dark passages lined with carvings, tapestries, and armorial trophies. Poe draws heavily on Gothic conventions, using omens and portents, heavy storms, hidden passageways, and shadows to set the reader on edge.
Bruce Greenwood’s Roderick Usher is the family patriarch and CEO of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. He is described as an ambitious and driven man, who has high expectations of his six children. While he gives them access to every resource imaginable, fatherly affection isn’t necessarily one of them. Among fan discussions on Reddit, there's particular appreciation for a moment in "The Fall of the House of Usher" episode 1, when the ghost of Roderick's mother is lurking in the background of a shot behind Lumbly's Auguste Dupin. She only becomes visible when Dupin refuses to turn around and look, and the late Eliza (Annabeth Gish) walks slowly out of the shot. "It's that sort of shivering scare that makes me love Flanagan's work," writes one fan.
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