TV Show Review - The Fall of the House of Usher

Season: Mini Series
Genre: Horror/ Drama/ Mystery
Number of episodes: 8
Year: 2023
Starring: Bruce Greenwood, Mary McDonnell, Carla Cugino, Henry Thomas, Kate Siegel, Zach Gilford, Samantha Sloyan, Michael Trucco, Mark Hamill    

Description: To secure their fortune (and future) two ruthless siblings (Bruce Greenwood, Mary McDonnell) build a family dynasty that begins to crumble when their heirs mysteriously die, one by one.

Review: Many filmmakers have a bond with the actors they work with. Martin Scorsese and Robert De Niro, or Tim Burton and Johnny Depp. Director Mike Flanagan does this with his series and films as well. In his newest show, “The Fall of the House of Usher”, we see a lot of familiar faces, like Bruce Greenwood, Carla Cugino, Zach Gilford, Henry Thomas, Samantha Sloyan and his wife Kate Siegel. I was very excited for this show, I’m a huge fan of Mike Flanagan’s work.

“The House of the Fall of Usher” is (very loosely) based on the Edgar Allan Poe short story of the same name. The story is about 40 pages long, so creating an 8-part TV-series around it is quite the challenge. Flanagan also took it to modern time. And I believe he did an excellent job.

The Usher family has amassed enormous wealth, but is mostly known for theur major crimes they get away with time and time again. Until one day, Roderick Usher’s six children are killed one by one in bloody accidents in a short period of time. Roderick invites hi judicial adversary to confess it all, because he knows full well who is targeting him.

“The Fall of the House of Usher” is marketed as horror, it is not a show just for the horror fans. I see it mostly as a dark, gothic mystery thriller with horror elements in it. The show has some really strong and effective scares, that would be stated horror.

The characters are diverse, but I can say that you will hate them all. They are all so unlikeable, but extremely interesting. The series only downside is that it has some predictability, because you know when which sibling will die. Because it’s set I a way that one person will die per episode. The way they all kick the bucket is not predictable, because some of them are very original, and all gruesome.

The cast is fantastic, but Carla Cugino and Bruce Greenwood (who previously both starred in Flanagan’s “Gerald’s Game”) are the ones that impress the most. Cugino is a literal chameleon in “The Fall of the House of Usher”.

I don’t think this is a show for everyone, whether you like horror or not. I highly enjoyed it and jumped a few times because of the scares Flanagan so well added. And the conclusion of the whole story was very strong.