The Countdown to Halloween Day 22 The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

 

 

We go back inside the beautiful yet very twisted mind of Mike Flanagan once again.  This time we explore his interpretation on The Fall of the House of Usher, a horror miniseries from 2023.  Once again, the list of starring actors in both The Haunting of Bly Manor as well as Hill House, stars as Verna, a mysterious woman from the Usher’s past.  Bruce Greenwood plays Roderick Usher and while not in anything else I’ve written about this month he has been in other Flanagan films.  Both Doctor Sleep and Gerald’s Game (both adapted from Stephen King novels) also finds Flanagan directing with Greenwood starring.

 

 

Roderick’s twin sister Madeline Usher is portrayed by Mary McDonnell who you might also have seen in Donnie Darko or Independence Day.  Henry Thomas, who has been in just about everything Flanagan has directed (Bly Manor, Hill House, Midnight Mass, Doctor Sleep, Gerald’s Game and there’s even more than that) as well as E.T., is Roderick’s oldest son Frederick Usher.  But wait, there’s more; we also have Kate Siegel who aside from being married to Flannagan she has also been in Hill House, Gerald’s Game, Midnight Mass, Hush, and Oculus.  Even the last two are from Flanagan.  Siegel plays Camille Roderick’s illegitimate daughter.

 

 

Another of Roderick’s illegitimate children is Rahul Kohli as Napoleon or Leo as he is also known as.  Kohli has also appeared in many of Flanagan’s films including Bly Manor, Midnight Mass, and The Life of Chuck which is another Flanagan film that came out earlier this.  Coincidentally, it was also originally a Stephen King story.  Now before I bore you with any other people appearing in FOTHOU (yeah, I ain’t spelling it all out every time), because there are many more let’s talk about the plot a little.  The miniseries is all based on Edgar Allan Poe stories.  Like for instance, Verna in an anagram of “raven”.  Roderick and his twin sister and their family are all the owners of a pharmaceutical company named Fortunato.  That is of course from The Cask of Amontillado.

 

 

Frederick’s name is taken from Metzengerstein a short story by Poe.  And so on.  Every episode is also named after a work by Poe.  The second episodes title is The Masque of the Red Death and the third is titled Murders in the Rue Morgue for just two examples.  While other episodes take their names from some of the more quotable lines that Poe has written.  For instance, the very first episode is titled A Midnight Dreary which we all know from The Raven.  Or should know, because if you don’t know, do you even know horror, bro?  Now what is the show about I hear you asking.  Well, read on as I told you all of that so I could tell you this –

 

 

Roderick and his sister Madeline are the CEO and COO respectively of their pharmaceutical company.  They are both a little corrupt (maybe more than a little) and the story takes place over seventy years.  The main idea of the story is that Roderick’s children, all six of them, die under mysterious circumstances all within two weeks of each other.  After the final child dies, Roderick invites C. August Dupin over to his house.  Dupin is an assistant prosecutor who has been trying to expose Roderick’s shady business dealings.  Roderick, through the course of the series, tells Dupin all he wanted to know and more.  All the family secrets are exposed.

 

 

I almost buried the lead here, one of the big names attached to FOTHOU is none other than Luke Skywalker himself, Mark Hamill.  Hamill plays the Usher families attorney.  He is also “the fixer” for the family.  During the eight episodes, we also see how each of Roderick’s children meets their untimely end.  The series is dark, gruesome, fast paced, and enjoyable.  Each episode is almost like part of an anthology where Roderick and Dupin’s scenes acting as the wrap around story.  Aside from the children’s stories we also get some backstory into how the Usher twins created their empire.  Each episode’s title gives a little glimpse (if you are familiar with the Poe story they are named after that is) into what you will see in each episode.

 

 

The show was well received and got great ratings for Netflix.  Hamill received a Saturn award for his work in the series while several others were nominated for other various awards.  I gotta tell you in the last year or so I have seen a lot of Flanagan’s work, and I have yet to be disappointed.  OK, I lied a little, I didn’t really like Gerald’s Game very much but to be honest I didn’t care for the book very much either.  The Fall of the House of Usher may be my favorite of all the Flannagan miniseries.  Roderick’s house looks so creepy and Gothic that I want to live there.  

 

 

Most of the stories about how the Usher kids are killed (I say kids, but they are all adults), I couldn’t care less that they were going to meet their doom.  Maybe one or two of them I didn’t want to see die but I knew what I was in for, so I tried not to get too attached.  While all the episodes are around the one hour mark, they never feel long or drawn out.  Each story is loaded with information that helps paint the big picture.  Man o’ man are some of those scenes out there and like I said if you are familiar, you know what’s coming.  Sort of.

 

 

 

There are some moments when I was watching and thinking “Well how are they going to work that into the story?” and they certainly do.  Usually with me commenting “Oh no!” or “Oh shit!” or something of that nature because even though I knew what was coming I didn’t know it was coming like THAT!  Of all of Flanagan’s work this might be my favorite so far.  I’ll go four and a half (and I was leaning towards a full five) Goldbugs for this nearly perfect masterpiece.