TV Show Review: The Fall of the House of Usher
Mike Flanagin has created several Netflix horror shows, including the incredible series “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” and “Midnight Mass,” all of which I highly recommend. If you are a fan of Mike Flanagan’s and/or Edgar Allen Poe’s works or are just looking for a new horror television series, then you should check out his latest show, “The Fall of the House of Usher.”
“The Fall of the House of Usher” is a modern retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s writings centralized around the short story of the same name. Each episode modernizes a separate Poe work in a surprisingly engrossing way. Because each episode contributes to the overarching plot of “The Fall of the House of Usher” while telling the tale of an individual Poe story, this show is simultaneously an anthology and a serial show, making the show addictive to watch.
The overarching plot is based on Poe’s story “The Fall of the House of Usher,” which tells the story of a family line ending tragically and horrifyingly. Rodrick and Madeline from the short story appear as the heads of the family, and Flanagan introduces new characters to show how the rest of the family dies. Although Flanagan takes great creative liberties in modifying this short story to work as the overarching plot, his adaptation is still enjoyable for Poe fans to watch unfold on the silver screen.
While the plot of Poe’s “The Fall of the House of Usher” is unfolding, each episode brilliantly adapts a separate Poe work. Like with the overarching plot, these adaptations are decidedly distinct from their source material, but I was surprised at how well Flanagan was able to modernize Poe’s gothic stories. Being able to see every gory detail makes these already unsettling works utterly horrifying, especially “The Masque of the Red Death,” which was so disturbingly gory that I was slightly concerned by how much I wanted to keep watching to see what happened next.
Although Mike Flanagan will likely never match the perfection of “The Haunting of Hill House,” his latest Netflix series, “The Fall of the House of Usher” is an incredible attempt. The series can be a bit predictable if you are familiar with Poe’s works—which I highly recommend if you decide to watch this show—but the real fun of the show is seeing how Flanagan chooses to adapt each story into a modern setting. I was particularly thrilled when he somehow managed to adapt “The Pit and the Pendulum.” If you are interested in a good scare and thrill, then check out “The Fall of the House of Usher” on Netflix. This show is fun and addictive and I cannot recommend it enough.
