The Fall of the House of Usher review: The horror series is a scathing criticism of crony capitalism

3.5/5

Story: The Usher family, helmed by twin Roderick and Madaline, have built a pharmaceutical dynasty unlike no other. However, their dynasty comes to the brink of collapse, when each one of the heirs to the Usher empire dies under mysterious circumstances.

Review: Filmmaker Mike Flanagan is part of an elite group of contemporary horror filmmakers, such as Ari Aster, Jordan Peele, Robert Eggers, and Zach Cregger, who have helped redefine and revolutionise the genre. They have perfected the art of psychological horror, discarding the rudimentary and stereotypical jump scares that have become staples in horror films over the years. Unlike some of the aforementioned filmmakers, Flanagan has carved a niche as a ‘television specialist’, with universally acclaimed TV shows such as The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass. While Flanngan did helm the critically-acclaimed spiritual successor to The Shining titled, Doctor Sleep, his best work has always been in television. The Fall of the House of Usher, like most of his hit TV shows features a unique aesthetic and plot devices, whilst maintaining some of the elements that have endeared Flanagan to many.

One of the most obvious aspects that Flanagan has leaned on yet again, is the reliance on familiar faces as his main cast. However, these familiar faces portray characters with no resemblance to their previous collaborations with Flanagan. For instance, Rahul Kohli plays the role of Leo Usher, a British video game developer, who is not opposed to dabbling with cocaine or infidelity. It is in stark contrast to his character in Flanagan’s Midnight Mass, where he plays the role of a responsible Sheriff and a devoted father. Likewise, each of Flanagan’s previous collaborators slips into characters who are distinctly separate from their respective roles in previous Flanagan productions.

The Fall of the House of Usher opens in the aftermath of the deaths of all six of Roderick Usher’s children in the space of just a few days. Each of the deaths appears to be unrelated to another, despite each of them being equally tragic and gruesome. Episodes two to seven are dedicated to each of the six deceased Ushers and how they met their fates. Their deaths are explained by a visibly broken Roderick, to his long-time friend-turned-adversary, District Attorney Auguste ‘Auggie' Dupin, played by Carl Lumbly. The narrative will keep one speculating about whether these mysterious deaths are orchestrated by a supernatural being, or if they simply are an unfortunate chain of events triggered by the first one. Roderick being the narrator of the entire story adds another layer of mystery and intrigue to the story, as he suffers from a rare disease that affects cognitive functions and causes him to hallucinate.

Carla Gugino’s Verna is the metaphorical ‘angel of death’ or ‘karma’ or ‘the reckoning’ who has come to collect what she is owed. Unlike Edgar Allan Poe’s story, Flanagan has expanded the world of the Ushers with a far more complex set of characters, set pieces, and a contemporary setting about greed, power, and corruption. Bruce Greenwood’s turn as the evil billionaire Roderick Usher is nuanced, at times his plight is sympathetic. He essays a man who realises that there is some good still left in him, which he thought was lost over the decades coinciding with mercurial rise to staggering wealth and power. Greenwood plays an evil archetype of Bruce Wayne, considering Greenwood has voiced Bruce Wayne/Batman in the acclaimed animated series Young Justice. Additionally, Roderick’s trusted lieutenant/enforcer and scheming lawyer is played by Mark Hamill, who immortalised the voice of Batman’s archnemesis the Joker across animated films, TV shows, and video games. It’s almost poetic that Batman and Joker are working together and wreaking havoc on society.

Madaline Usher, on the other hand, played by Mary McDonnell and Willa Fitzgerald, is the true power of the Usher family, pulling all the strings from behind the scenes. Much like Cersei and Jamie Lannister’s power dynamics in Game of Thrones, Madaline wields more control over her brother, and she is unapologetically conniving, smarter, and the more sinister of the two. As the series winds down to its finale, it becomes increasingly evident that Madaline may have inadvertently changed the world and sealed the fates of her family when she convinced Roderick to seize control over the company called Fortunato in the ‘80s – the company that flourished under the mass production of the highly addictive fictional opioid called Ligodone.

The series may not be a bone-chilling story steeped in paranormal events, and despite the gruesome deaths, the horror in The Fall of the House of Usher is psychological. However, it is but a mere plot device to satirise the moral decay in big American corporations. It explores how consumers have become just statistics and how the top executives have amassed more wealth than they or their descendants can even spend. If Midnight Mass is a critique of the rot in society, then The Fall of the House of Usher is a critique of the high society that profits from this rot – which they are partly responsible for. Flanagan also relies on symbolism to explore some of the themes explored in the series. There are also references to Edgar Allan Poe’s poem The Raven and ‘Nevermore’ incorporated in the series, adding depth to the narrative.

Verdict: Mike Flanagan’s The Fall of the House of Usher is an excellent modern-day retelling of Edgar Allan Poe’s iconic story. It features intriguing characters and complex plot devices, set against the backdrop of the fall of an evil empire. The series can also be construed as Flanagan’s scathing attack on big-budget Hollywood studios who have allegedly refused to pay minimum wages to a vast majority of actors when studio executives have been pocketing millions every year.