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Though Mike Flanagan’s Netflix TV show is titled The Fall of the House of Usher, that will only be one of the Edgar Allan Poe stories that the show references. The Fall of the House of Usher will act as the main starting point for the series, but Intrepid Pictures, Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy’s production company, announced on its official Instagram page that the TV show would be based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Just in time for spooky season, The Fall of the House of Usher streams on Netflix on October 12, 2023. Described by Frederick as “Gucci Caligula,” Perry is the youngest of the Usher children. Having only recently been thrust into the life of the ultra-rich, Perry’s goal is to make life one big party, and he’s hoping to use his family’s money to achieve just that.
Cast & Crew
Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly), an assistant district attorney who’s been trying to hold the Usher family accountable for decades, to his dilapidated childhood home for a long-overdue confession. Tying all of these threads together is Verna (Carla Gugino), a mysterious figure whose appearance precedes every calamity that befalls the family. Basically, imagine if a bunch of amoral 1-percenters were caught in a Final Destination death loop.
The Netflix Limited Series Has Eight Episodes
However, it's an incredibly easy show to enjoy on an episode-by-episode basis, largely because Flanagan’s direction is sharp throughout, including excellent use of music and tight editing—some scenes are too underlit, but that’s just the Netflix brand nowadays, and I’m done fighting it. Late one stormy night, Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) invites an investigator named C. All of these nightmarish visions are attached to the family drama that Usher offers up for Dupin, giving the season a clever episodic structure in that each chapter intertwines a different Poe source into the overall saga of the Ushers. Mike Flanagan teams up with Netflix once again to bring a horror classic to life. Flanagan has previously adapted the works of Shirley Jackson, Henry James, and Christopher Pike for Netflix.
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In December 2021, Mike Flanagan announced on Twitter that principal photography began on The Fall of the House of Usher in January 2022. What’s On Netflix reported that, according to Production Weekly, this Netflix limited series was scheduled to begin filming on January 24th, 2022 and end on May 25th, 2022. It didn’t officially begin filming until January 31 (also confirmed via Twitter).
The eldest of the Usher “bastards,” Victorine has made helping people her life’s work, but like her siblings, the true source of her ambition is her desire for her father’s approval and affection. After Roderick shows interest in Victorine’s revolutionary new heart technology — still in its testing phase — Victorine bends the rules of clinical trials to start testing on human subjects. Verna is a shape-shifter whose origins can be traced back to a — let’s just say — very famous Poe character.
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The second wave of cast announcements included Henry Thomas, Samantha Sloyan, T’Nia Miller, Rahul Kohli, Kate Siegel, Sauriyan Sapkota, Zach Gilford, Katie Parker, and Michael Trucco. Presenting vintage Poe stories filtered through Mike Flanagan's deliciously dark lens, The Fall of the House of Usher will get a rise out of horror fans. Feast your eyes on a new clip above and learn more about the limited series below. Flanagan created the series and serves as director alongside Michael Fimognari, with the two directing four episodes each. Executive producers include Flanagan and Trevor Macy through their Intrepid Pictures banner, as well as Fimognari and Emmy Grinwis.
Limited Series – The Fall of the House of Usher
In the original Poe story, an unnamed narrator arrives at the Usher home and the only detail we know about him is that he is Roderick’s “best and only friend” who has traveled across the country after receiving a letter complaining of an illness. The narrator observes Roderick’s peculiar behavior and even takes part in some of his harebrained ideas, including entombing his sister Madeline for two weeks before burying her. The initial project announcement of The Fall of the House of Usher revealed that Mike Flanagan would direct four episodes and Michael Fimognari would direct the other four episodes. Flanagan also disclosed, during the initial cast announcement, that McDonnell plays Rodrick’s sister, Madeline Usher.
Dominique Fishback plays Dre, a crazed fan of a famous R&B singer, in this FX's horror thriller series. The is a supernatural horror movie that takes place in an abandoned pizza joint. The animatronic mascots come alive after midnight and start causing trouble for the security guard. The Martian Chronicles, a 1950 collection of stories by Ray Bradbury, contains a novella called "Usher II," a homage to Poe. Its main character, William Stendahl, builds a house based on the specifications from Poe's story to murder his enemies. The bedroom door is then blown open to reveal Madeline, bloodied from her arduous escape from the tomb.
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Sliding through it all is the mysterious man who works as a sort of fixer for the Ushers, Arthur Pym (Mark Hamill), totally reimagined from the title character in Poe’s only complete novel, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket. Flanagan also told The Wrap how The Haunting TV shows are different from The Fall of the House of Usher and why it’s not a third Haunting series. Mike Flanagan has told multiple publications that The Fall of the House of Usher would be a completely different project than audiences may expect from him. He spoke on The Boo Crew Podcast and had this to say about how The Fall of the House of Usher differs from his previous work. By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies , and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes. By creating an account, you agree to the Privacy Policy and the Terms and Policies, and to receive email from Rotten Tomatoes and to receive email from the Fandango Media Brands.
This time, Flanagan’s ghoulish crew is entering familial territory, as 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. 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 start dying.
“It’s batshit crazy in the best possible way,” Carla Gugino told Netflix during production. “It has quite a lot of very dark humor, but also really touches the soul.” In the series, Gugino portrays a shape-shifter named Verna, whose origins can be traced back to a — let’s just say — very famous Poe character. “There is a fantastical supernatural element to the story, and she is the manifestation of that,” she added. As these first look photos and posters reveal, Verna isn’t one to be played with.
Fans of Mike Flanagan may recognize many of the names from previous projects, including The Midnight Club and the well-reviewed film adaptation of Doctor Sleep. Poe has quite a hefty body of work that includes many short stories, poems, essays, and a novel. The Black Cat, The Raven, The Masque of the Red Death, The Tell-Tale Heart, Lenore, and Annabel Lee are among Edgar Allan Poe’s most well-known stories. Flanagan and team will have a lot of potential material with Poe’s large body of work, even if they just focus on his most popular material.

While she loves Roderick, her unrelenting drive and desire for success wouldn’t hold her back from stepping over him, if need be. In 2002, Ken Russell produced a horror comedy version titles The Fall of the Louse of Usher. A television adaptation was produced by ATV for the ITV network in 1966 for the horror anthology series Mystery and Imagination. In 1956, NBC Matinee Theater on US television broadcast The Fall of the House of Usher starring Marshall Thompson and Tom Tryon for episode 197. In 1950, a British film version of The Fall of the House of Usher was produced starring Gwen Watford, Kay Tendeter and Irving Steen. 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.

The Fall of the House of Usher is an American gothic horror drama television miniseries created by Mike Flanagan. 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. Just like Poe’s narrator, Detective Dupin manages to escape the house in the series and both characters watch as the House of Usher cracks and collapses to the ground, realizing that the Usher family was nevermore. When one steps back and looks at the whole narrative of the season of “The Fall of the House of Usher,” it sags in places. Most of the flashbacks to a young Usher and Dupin are thin, especially compared to the wicked fun on display in the fates of the Usher children. It feels like padding to get episodes to a full hour when Flanagan and company could have leaned even more into the episodic structure that highlights a single Poe per chapter.
He’s currently taking on Mr. “The Raven” himself, Edgar Allan Poe, with a new Netflix limited series based on The Fall of the House of Usher. To secure their fortune — and future — two ruthless siblings build a family dynasty that begins to crumble when their heirs mysteriously die, one by one. In 1979, Italian state channel RAI loosely adapted the short story, together with other Poe's works, in the series I racconti fantastici di Edgar Allan Poe.[33] It was directed by Daniele D'Anza, with Roderick Usher played by Philippe Leroy; music was composed by pop band Pooh. Fearing that her body will be exhumed for medical study, Roderick insists that she be entombed for two weeks in the family tomb located in the house before being permanently buried.
How 'The Fall of the House of Usher' Puts Its Twist on Edgar Allan Poe's Classics - Variety
How 'The Fall of the House of Usher' Puts Its Twist on Edgar Allan Poe's Classics.
Posted: Fri, 13 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
“You could say she’s the executor of fate or the executor of karma,” said Gugino. English majors will likely know where some of the stories are going just by seeing the episode names. When the young and trendy Prospero Usher (Sauriyan Sapkota) decides to host an exclusive sex-and-drugs party at one of dad’s old factories in an abbey, readers of The Masque of the Red Death will know it’s going to be a gruesome scene. However, Flanagan is smart enough to shift the Poe narratives ever so slightly for a modern audience. His version of The Tell-Tale Heart is a modern gem, and “The Gold-Bug” is reimagined as a new brand for the Usher company.