My Review of The Fall Of The House Of Usher (2023 Netflix Miniseries)

 

Written by Mike Flanagan And Emmy Grinwis And Justina Ireland And Mat Johnson And Dani Parker And Rebecca Leigh Klingel And Jamie Flanagan And Kiele Sanchez

Directed by Mike Flanagan And Michael Fimognari 

Verna: "The house of Usher. May it rest in peace."

With this, I have come to the endeth of my Mike Flanagan Netflix horror miniseries binge. It's been a rather fun two weeks watching these shows in a near vacuum but all good things come to an end and there's something oddly full circle about this particular series.

Flanagan started off with the Crain family back in 2018 and while they were dysfunctional, they also clearly loved each other. The Ushers on the other hand, they're more the polar opposite in this Succession style retelling of some Edgar Allen Poe tales.

Let's talk about the Ushers, shall we? You've got brother and sister duo, Roderick (Bruce Greenwood/Zach Gilford) and Madeline (Mary McDonnell/Willa Fitzgerald). They're a ruthlessly ambitious sibling act, desperate to take over their illegitimate father, William's (Robert Lomgstreet) pharmaceutical company, Fortunato but instead, they're having to deal with the obstacle of Rufus Griswold (Michael Trucco). That was until he wasn't an obstacle for them.

Of course to get ahead in life and when they weren't working with/backstabbing the likes of Assistant US Attorney C. Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly/Malcolm Goodwin), the sibling duo entered a treacherous deal with the mysterious Verna (Carla Gugino) aka the Raven of this macabre miniseries. A deal that would cost them dearly.

Verna was happy to grant Roderick and Madeline's wish for success but it was a price that eventually Roderick's children (most of whom were illegitimate) had to pay. It probably doesn't help that because of Roderick's power games and influence that his children were predominantly selfish people, this making it harder to feel bad for most of them.

Between the second and penultimate episode, the downfall of each child varied but were effective nonetheless. Prospero (Sauriyan Sapkota) succumbed to an acid attack in a nightclub while PR machine Camille L'Espanaye (Kate Siegel) had her face mauled by another siblings monkey. Each death got crazier as the show went along.

There was Napoleon (Rahul Kohli) being driven mad by cat while Victorine LaFourcade (T'Nia Miller) ended up killing herself. Vain Goldbug founder and cuckqueen Tamerlane (Samantha Sloyan) got butchered by glass, following her public downfall but the most deserving fate was left to eldest child Frederick (Henry Thomas). Let's just there's a certain Poe story that's brilliantly executed here for this one. 

Of course while the Ushers themselves had a reputation that even Camille couldn't whitewash, what about the people within their orbit? Dupin in particular found himself summoned on the last night of Roderick and Madeline to hear the story he wanted to hear. In flashbacks we also saw Roderick's marriage to his only moral compass, Annabel Lee (Katie Parker) fall apart with the more Madeline influenced her brother.

Then there's the Ushers right hand man, Arthur Gordon Pym (Mark Hamill). He was a handy person for the Ushers to have in their pocket and one that was so hardened, even Verna herself struggled to tempt him. Even I was a bit surprised by that.

There's some emphasis on the Usher kids spouses and partners, but often they're very secondary to things. Morella (Crystal Balint), fellow doctor Ali (Paola Nunez) and fitness guy William (Matt Biedel) were probably the worst treated by their Usher partners with Leo's boyfriend, Julius (Daniel Jun) reasonably treated in comparison. Also Roderick's only grandchild Lenore (Kyliegh Curran) being the only Usher with a moral compass along with Roderick's second wife, Juno (Ruth Codd).

As for Verna herself, Carla Gugino must have had a lot of fun with this character. She got to have so many different guises as she claimed each Usher throughout the series. She also had great but often different reactions in how Verna approached each of them as well as her final scene, one they had all been taken off the board. This might be her best role yet in Flanagan's horror universe.

- Episode titles for this were A Midnight Dreary, The Masque Of The Red Death, Murder In The Rue Morgue, The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, Goldbug, The Pit And The Pendulum and The Raven.

- With the exception of Roderick and Frederick (maybe Tamerlane and Lenore), nearly all of the Ushers were LGBT. Dupin also mentioned having a husband in the last episode.

- Other alumni actors who popped up were Annabeth Gish, Lulu Wilson, Alex Essoe, Igby Rigney and Aya Furukawa.

- Althought this was Flanagan's last horror show for Netflix, he had expressed an interest in adapting Hell House. He likely will too but for somewhere else.

- Standout music: The Newton Brothers did some great work here once more.

- Chronology: The downfall itself took place over a span of two weeks in November 2023. The flashbacks were largely set between 1953 and 1980.

Now this definitely packed a bit more of a punch. The Fall Of The House Of Usher played like the horror version of Succession and did with aplomb. Some genuinely horrible but fascinating character, a man willing to finally bring down the crime family and a harbinger of doom that was fun to watch. A great final installment to this Netflix horror universe.

Rating: 8 out of 10