Fall of the House of Usher

Having watched and enjoyed both The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor mini-series, I was excited to see that Writer/Director, Mike Flanagan, had a new offering, The Fall of the House of Usher, now available to stream on Netflix.

As the title suggests, legendary horror writer Edgar Allan Poe is the inspiration behind this latest horror outing. Indeed, each episode is named after a famous Poe story or poem, with vague links between the original writing and the plot.

There are plenty of other Poe references throughout the eight episodes, with names of people and places lifted directly from Poe’s works. Despite its modern settings (1980 and 2023), the series manages to maintain a sense of the Gothic, not least the derelict house that serves as the setting for the natator and main protagonist, Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) to tell the tale of the Usher family to his nemesis District Attorney, C. Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly).

As a side note, In Poe’s original stories, Dupin is a detective featured in several tales, including Murders at the Rue Morgue. The trilogy of stories featuring Dupin is credited with originating the detective genre and heavily influencing Conan Doyle in the creation of Sherlock Holmes.

SPOILERS FOLLOW, BUT NOT TOO MANY

The basic premise of the mini-series is that in 1980 Roderick and his sister, Madeline enter a deal with a mysterious bar owner (I’m assuming the Devil in disguise), who promises them wealth, success, and longevity in return for taking the lives of all of their bloodline at the time of their eventual death.

What follows is an elongated slasher movie, with inventive kills, each themed around a Poe story. The structure of having each episode dedicated to the killing of one family member is nice and neat, but it does mean that as the series progresses it loses a little of its spark, with some of the more interesting characters getting picked off early.

Those characters that do survive for all or most of the series, do possess enough gravitas to hold interest, however, and overall it’s a binge-watch-worthy experience.

I’ve not read a huge amount of Poe, but was still able to spot multiple references. It also whetted my appetite to read more of the horror master. I had a complete works of Poe sitting on my bookshelf gathering dust. The volume is now dust-free and waiting on my bedside table.

I was glad to see The Fall of the House of Usher dispense with the theme of both Hill House and Bly Manor, that of the dead continuing to exist as long as they remained within the boundaries of a certain property. This was the overriding concept of both previous offerings, as well as the premise for the first season of American Horror Story, so it was becoming a little tired.

The dead are very much present in The Fall of the House of Usher, but the show takes a different approach to Hill House and Bly Manor, focusing on the very much alive Usher family and their debauched lifestyles. It’s predominantly a family saga set over two main time periods, with more than a hint of soap opera mixed in with the macabre and often gory horror. There are also quite a few jump scares for those who like to take their horror that way.

I’d recommend The Fall of the House of Usher, particularly to those who have enjoyed other shows from Flanagan. It’s fast-paced and very watchable, with enough intrigue to keep you watching episode after episode (I finished it in three nights).

If pushed to give it a score out of 10, I’d go for a solid 7.5.