“Fall of the House of Usher” is Poe-tentially a hit

Lily Stone

She/Her

Columnist

10/24/23

Spooky season is right around the corner and filmmaker Mike Flanagan has given us another bone-chilling horror-drama, “The Fall of the House of Usher.” A modernized take on Edgar Allan Poe’s short story “The Fall of the House of Usher.” It’s not an adaptation of Poe’s work, but uses his themes of selfishness and regret as the foundation of the plot and the inspiration for each death. The show follows the CEO of a pharmaceutical company Rodrick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) who must face his shady past when each of his six children die in mysterious and brutal ways. The eight episode show consists of past and present events that keep the audience on the edge of their seats as a grieving and troubled Rodrick Usher tells investigator Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly) about his children’s twisted and horrible deaths along with his own crimes. I found the show to be moving, disturbingly poetic, horrifying and passionate at the same time and I couldn’t stop watching it.

The film is produced in a style similar to Mike Flanagan’s other popular shows like “The Haunting of Hill House” (2018) and “The Haunting of Bly Manor” (2020). The style reminds me of the old goosebumps show and sets the mood perfect for the chilling events that occur. The cast has some familiar faces from the two shows mentioned, like Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, and T’Nia Miller. The cast is also filled with familiar faces from other films such as Mary McDonnell (Scream 4), Zach Gifford (The Purge: Anarchy 2014) and Mark Hamill (Star Wars Franchise). The acting was done incredibly well by the cast but unfortunately the 8th episode is the end of the story, so seeing this incredible group alongside each other in another season is unlikely. I highly recommend taking the time to binge the horror miniseries on Netflix before October ends.