The Fall of the House of Usher is a horror miniseries that was released on Netflix on October 12th, 2023. This show, which was created by legendary horror series creator Mike Flanagan, is an excellent homage to the chilling stories and poetry of Edgar Allen Poe. The show utilizes aspects of Poe’s works and adapts them to a compelling story in a modern setting.
The Fall of the House of Usher is frightening, dramatic, and incredibly intense at times. All the characters are incredibly interesting and have their own unique faults and flaws which contribute to the overall plot. However, unlike in Flanagan’s other works, they aren’t incredibly relatable. It’s almost like most of them are caricatures that are heavily focused on only completely ridiculous traits someone might have. In addition, most of the characters seem pretty isolated from each other for the most part which adds a weird disjointed feeling to the story. Despite this, the story of the show is entertaining and meaningful; you’ll be sitting on the edge of your seat to see what happens next the entire time.
On top of that, the show’s great story also has intriguing messages involving the ethics of capitalism, what it takes for someone to achieve their dreams, how wealth can impact people, and what truly matters in life. These themes are explored very well and mostly authentically throughout the story. Although at times, it does feel like they’re present far too obviously within the story. It’s as if sometimes a character’s actions or statements are made just so the writer can make a point. The story is also a bit predictable but when things happen they’re still done in ways you wouldn’t expect and are very shocking. You’ll definitely still be surprised by a lot of things even if you can predict some parts of the plot.
A captivating aspect of the plot is the usage of Edgar Allen Poe’s different works as influence for many parts of the plot. Not only does Flanagan preserve the terror and messages of Poe’s work in this show but he also adds his own twists to them. You never expect what and how he’ll incorporate parts of Poe’s work into the show. The usage of Poe’s ideas and stories in this new way is really quite groundbreaking for a horror series.
The horror aspects of the show aren’t particularly terrifying in the typical sense. There are a fair amount of jump scares throughout the show but they won’t always get you and can be expected to happen. Part of what makes this show truly scary is the mystery of it. When you don’t understand why events are unfolding, it makes them all the more terrifying. Sometimes the unexplained is scarier than what we understand, which is definitely the case in this show. The mystery is done really well, especially within the first few episodes. As it goes on, parts of the story (including many of the mystery aspects) definitely lose some steam. The most petrifying parts of this show are the incredibly shocking and intense moments within it. Some of them feel so over the top, ridiculous, and unexpected that it’s quite unsettling. The music really helps contribute to these crazy moments and brings a lot of emotion to them. There’s definitely a lot of gore and dark imagery in the show as well which plays a large part in the scare factor of it. Overall though, the show isn’t the scariest and is definitely a lot less chilling than a large portion of horror content that is released (including many of Mike Flanagan’s series’).
Overall, I’d give The Fall of the House of Usher a 8/10. While it definitely has its flaws and may not be Mike Flanagan’s best work, it has a compelling and interesting plot and characters. It’s overall a lot of fun to watch due to the sheer ridiculousness of some of it and yet it still keeps the story and characters incredibly unsettling and frightening.
