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.
