Table Of Content
The film was Corman's first in a series of eight films inspired by the works of Edgar Allan Poe. 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. Like Madeline, Roderick is connected to the mansion, the titular House of Usher. He believes the mansion is sentient and responsible, in part, for his deteriorating mental health and melancholy. Despite this admission, Usher remains in the mansion and composes art containing the Usher mansion or similar haunted mansions.
Storyline
The Fall of the House of Usher ending explained - Heavenofhorror.com
The Fall of the House of Usher ending explained.
Posted: Thu, 12 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
I appreciated the structure of the episodes and the fact that there were no plot holes. Episode one introduces us to the main players, episodes two through seven focus on the death of a different person and give us a bit of the past, and then episode eight answers every question we had through the first seven episodes. I wish more shows were structured like this, especially mini-series. Though the series’ title comes from only a single source, fans will already recognize that this is more of a hodgepodge. There are familiar character names, directly absorbed plotlines, overt and subtle visual nods.
Episodes8
This series, they all commit themselves completely to the conceit that they’re in some kind of Poe-ian shadow world, effortlessly dropping off-kilter lines from Poe poems and novels alongside zings and barbs about NDAs and PR spin. Each episode owes something vaguely thematic to a different well-known Poe short story, with the manner of death unfolding in a Final Destination-like hodgepodge of calamity. The gruesome deaths of the Ushers (a clear analogue of the Sacklers) are supernatural retribution for America’s opioid crisis, which Usher helped, um, usher in. The ghastliness of the epidemic seems to have summoned a supernatural Lady Death, a.k.a. Carla Gugino, OG member of the Flanagang, who dons a series of personas in order to hasten the Ushers to their fates. This is the first of Flanagan’s series that I have seen, but I can say I am now ready to binge every single show he has ever made!
References
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. In this wicked series from Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) and based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, 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. When Poe began writing short stories, the short story was not generally regarded as serious literature. Poe’s writing helped elevate the genre from a position of critical neglect to an art form. “The Fall of the House of Usher” stands as one of Poe’s most popular and critically examined stories.
The Fall of the House of Usher - 1x01 "A Midnight Dreary" - Episode Discussion
Late one stormy night, Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) invites an investigator named C. He offers to lay out the truth about his family’s criminal, violent history. 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 returns to form in The Fall of the House of Usher, delivering a deliciously macabre and contemporary reimagining of the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
Top cast
Bruce Greenwood’s Roderick Usher is the family patriarch and CEO of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. He is described as an ambitious and driven man, who has high expectations of his six children. While he gives them access to every resource imaginable, fatherly affection isn’t necessarily one of them. Among fan discussions on Reddit, there's particular appreciation for a moment in "The Fall of the House of Usher" episode 1, when the ghost of Roderick's mother is lurking in the background of a shot behind Lumbly's Auguste Dupin. She only becomes visible when Dupin refuses to turn around and look, and the late Eliza (Annabeth Gish) walks slowly out of the shot. "It's that sort of shivering scare that makes me love Flanagan's work," writes one fan.
A glitzy, gory Poe modernization
After Roderick Usher claims that Madeline has died, the narrator helps Usher entomb Madeline in an underground vault despite noticing Madeline's flushed, lifelike appearance. 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. The narrator helps Roderick put Madeline's body in the tomb, whereupon the narrator realizes that Madeline and Roderick are twins. The narrator also notes that Madeline's body has rosy cheeks, which sometimes happens after death. Over the next week, both Roderick and the narrator find themselves increasingly agitated.
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The Fall of the House of Usher: Netflix’s show's symbolism, lesson, and theme explored - Sportskeeda
The Fall of the House of Usher: Netflix’s show's symbolism, lesson, and theme explored.
Posted: Sat, 28 Oct 2023 07:00:00 GMT [source]
And while i appreciate the social commentary, I don't need to be hit over the head with it. Sometimes Flannigan treats his audience like they have a modicum of intelligence, and other times he treats us like we were held back in the 5th grade. Spoilers follow, so now is your time to stop reading if you haven't watched yet. There are some minor irritations bugging me, but I loved this series so much. Comments containing spoilers should be spoiler tagged, unless the context indicates otherwise.
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If you don’t, key details get repeated multiple times, especially in the first couple of episodes. "The Fall of the House of Usher" also drew criticism for its lack of surprises. In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” the setting, diction, and imagery combine to create an overall atmosphere of gloom. The story opens on a “dull, dark, and soundless day” in a “singularly dreary tract of country.” As the narrator notes, it is autumn, the time of year when life begins to give way to old age and death. A mere glimpse of the Usher mansion inspires in the narrator “an iciness, a sinking, a sickening of the heart.” Upon entering the house, the reader as the narrator navigates through a series of dark passages lined with carvings, tapestries, and armorial trophies. Poe draws heavily on Gothic conventions, using omens and portents, heavy storms, hidden passageways, and shadows to set the reader on edge.
According to Roderick, Madeline suffers from a cataleptic disease that has gradually limited her mobility. As Roderick talks about his sister’s illness, the narrator sees her pass through a distant part of the house. As guests perused the 2024 Blue Book collection exhibited throughout the Beverly Estate, many sported both classic Blue Book pieces and designs from 2023’s Out of the Blue. Usher wore a pair of Schlumberger’s iconic Bird on a Rock brooches, while Emily Blunt donned the designer’s Tiffany Floret necklace, a showcase of turquoise stones totaling more than 105 carats, surrounded by diamonds and set in platinum and 18-karat yellow gold.
It follows the Usher family as they are put on trial for their many illegal deeds. As each Usher does their best to help their family and themselves, a mysterious presence begins to pick them off one by one. Each death is gruesome and specifically relates to who the person was during their life. As the family is picked off, siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher are forced to return to their past to try to find a way to stop the deaths before the entire Usher bloodline is dead. The final episode of the series feels like it moves 90 miles per hour, and it speeds toward an unforgettable ending.
Poe’s stories teem with shadows, with turgid, feverish imagery; they evoke the confused turbulence of nightmares, hallucinogens, and madness. The dreary moodiness of Flanagan’s Midnight Mass combined with the looming background ghosts of Hill House would have served this subject well, but instead the production opts for a boardroom sensibility. The gothic insertions from Poe feel forced and sanitized amid the halogencore vibes of our satirical family of squabbling billionaires. 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 sta... Mike Flanagan (for me) is personally one of the best horror directors out there today.
The episode named after “The Masque of the Red Death” becomes a modern-day bacchanal that goes horribly wrong. Apart from serving as fun Easter eggs, however, most of these seeded references rarely amplify the main storyline — and the main storyline itself suffers from a disconnect between the stories it’s referencing and what the narrative is actually doing. It turns out that almost every branch of the Usher family tree has been cut by violent horror.
Even if you’re a total Poe dilettante, The Fall of the House of Usher offers pieces that’ll make you say, “I get that one! ” If you’re more of an intermediate Poe reader, you’ll be able to say, “I see where this is going! I’m guessing you’ll find the series cute in its eagerness, at least for a while. Much of the series’ lack of nuance is tied to Flanagan’s difficulties handling Dupin (played by Malcolm Goodwin in flashbacks).
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