
But the themes remain the same—guilt, obsession, vengeance, and a supernatural sense of justice. Roderick Usher’s children are getting what they deserve, not merely because they are the fruit of a very poisoned tree but because they have made horrific decisions to stay in the shelter of wealth and privilege. In November 2023, Roderick Usher, the CEO of pharmaceutical company Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, loses all six of his children within two weeks. Auguste Dupin, an Assistant United States Attorney who dedicated his career to exposing Fortunato's corruption, to his childhood home, where he tells the true story of his family and unveils the Ushers' darkest secrets. To secure their fortune — and future — two ruthless siblings build a family dynasty that begins to crumble when their heirs mysteriously die, one by one. When one steps back and looks at the whole narrative of the season of “The Fall of the House of Usher,” it sags in places.
Rahul Kohli as Napoleon 'Leo' Usher
Usher has been reimagined as the head of a massive pharmaceutical company he runs with his twin sister, Madeline (Mary McDonnell). Every episode includes flashbacks to a young Roderick (Zach Gilford), Madeline (Willa Fitzgerald), and Annabel Lee (Katie Parker), Roderick’s first wife. These fill in how the Ushers made their fortune, but they’re kind of a narrative drag. It’s important that Roderick and Madeline are cruel, selfish creatures—less so how they got that way. What’s more interesting is to watch how the fallout of their decisions fell on Roderick’s many children, all torn apart by some of Poe’s most memorable creations.

A Midnight Dreary
This should be plenty for The Fall of the House of Usher to leave an impression on viewers. Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) attends a joint funeral for a number of his adult children, and in a montage of press coverage, we see how a series of “freak accidents” has wiped out his entire bloodline. The Usher patriarch then sits in a dilapidated mansion with Carl Lumbly’s Auguste Dupin (based on Poe’s famous recurring character who is considered the first detective in fiction) and offers him a confession. We then flash back a few weeks to when the Usher clan were on top of the world, having become Sackler-esque billionaires peddling opiates that have inflicted untold misery on the American public, and begin to watch their painful demise. “It’s batshit crazy in the best possible way,” Carla Gugino told Netflix during production. “It has quite a lot of very dark humor, but also really touches the soul.” In the series, Gugino portrays a shape-shifter named Verna, whose origins can be traced back to a — let’s just say — very famous Poe character.
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But as we know from the start, there’s no point in getting overly attached to them, as grisly fates are assured for all. It’s not so much the “what” as the “why” that the audience and Dupin need to be answered. It turns out that almost every branch of the Usher family tree has been cut by violent horror. ” “No, not before,” he replies in one of the show’s many glimpses of Flanagan’s viciously dark sense of humor. (Poe had one too.) Roderick has been haunted by all his awful children who have shuffled off this mortal coil, and it’s because it feels like the ghosts are finally coming for him that he is ready to confess. He’s having visions of monstrous ghosts, including the recurring specter of Verna (Carla Gugino), a figure that connects most of these tall tales as a sort of vengeful force of karma, the devil come to take what she’s due from a man who profited off the pain of others.
“There is a fantastical supernatural element to the story, and she is the manifestation of that,” she added. As these first look photos and posters reveal, Verna isn’t one to be played with. “You could say she’s the executor of fate or the executor of karma,” said Gugino. The eldest of the Usher “bastards,” Victorine has made helping people her life’s work, but like her siblings, the true source of her ambition is her desire for her father’s approval and affection.
The Fall of the House of Usher Eye Theme, Explained - imdb
The Fall of the House of Usher Eye Theme, Explained.
Posted: Tue, 28 Nov 2023 13:58:23 GMT [source]
Bruce Greenwood as Roderick Usher
“The Fall of the House of Usher” updates the work of Edgar Allan Poe for the era of Big Pharma, turning his most famous tales into a sprawling story of the decline of a wealthy American family. It’s “Succession” meets The Tell-Tale Heart, a story of vengeance, power, betrayal, and bloody parts. Ruthless siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into an empire of wealth, privilege and power.
The narrator is the only character to escape the House of Usher, which he views as it cracks and sinks into the mountain lake. From his arrival, the narrator notes the family's isolationist tendencies, as well as the cryptic and special connection between Madeline and Roderick, the final living members of the Usher family. Throughout the tale and her varying states of consciousness, Madeline completely ignores the narrator's presence. 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.
You’ll recognize a number of famous faces from projects like The Midnight Club, Midnight Mass, The Haunting of Bly Manor, The Haunting of Hill House, and more in this wicked horror series based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe. Late one stormy night, Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood) invites an investigator named C. 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. The narrator and Roderick place her in a tomb despite her flushed, lively appearance. In the tale's conclusion, Madeline escapes from the tomb and returns to Roderick, scaring him to death. The bedroom door is then blown open to reveal Madeline, bloodied from her arduous escape from the tomb.
The Masque of the Red Death
When the young and trendy Prospero Usher (Sauriyan Sapkota) decides to host an exclusive sex-and-drugs party at one of dad’s old factories in an abbey, readers of The Masque of the Red Death will know it’s going to be a gruesome scene. However, Flanagan is smart enough to shift the Poe narratives ever so slightly for a modern audience. His version of The Tell-Tale Heart is a modern gem, and “The Gold-Bug” is reimagined as a new brand for the Usher company.
His mental health deteriorates faster as he begins to hear Madeline's attempts to escape the underground vault she was buried in, and he eventually meets his death out of fear in a manner similar to the House of Usher's cracking and sinking. During one sleepless night, the narrator reads aloud to Usher as eerie sounds are heard throughout the mansion. He witnesses Madeline's reemergence and the subsequent, simultaneous death of the twins.
Flanagan also revealed Langella would lead the ensemble cast as Roderick Usher, the head of the Usher dynasty. Though Mike Flanagan’s Netflix TV show is titled The Fall of the House of Usher, that will only be one of the Edgar Allan Poe stories that the show references. The Fall of the House of Usher will act as the main starting point for the series, but Intrepid Pictures, Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy’s production company, announced on its official Instagram page that the TV show would be based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe.
As Flanagan’s IMDB page grows, so does the Flanaverse, and the new Netflix’s series “Usher” is assembling what could be the biggest cast of Flanagan favorites of all time. According to Variety, the series follows the wealthy Usher siblings as they must deal with skeletons from their past. In the same article, Flanagan confirms that supernatural elements will be at play in this story. English majors will likely know where some of the stories are going just by seeing the episode names.
Think House Of Usher’s Family Was Bad? 1 Cut Roderick & Madeline Detail Would Have Been Way Worse - imdb
Think House Of Usher’s Family Was Bad? 1 Cut Roderick & Madeline Detail Would Have Been Way Worse.
Posted: Sat, 28 Oct 2023 20:15:15 GMT [source]
But things start to get out of control after receiving a visit from his girlfriend, who will do everything to get him out of that macabre place.Roderick Usher returns to his family home after learning that his father is ill. But things start to get out of control after receiving a visit from his girlfriend, who will do everything to get him out of that macabre place. In December 2021, Mike Flanagan announced on Twitter that principal photography began on The Fall of the House of Usher in January 2022. What’s On Netflix reported that, according to Production Weekly, this Netflix limited series was scheduled to begin filming on January 24th, 2022 and end on May 25th, 2022.
The first two episodes of The Fall of the House of Usher premiered at Fantastic Fest in September 2023 before the Netflix release the following month, being viewed more than 13 million times in its first two weeks. It was met with positive reviews, with critics praising its production values, directing, and performances (in particular from Gugino, Greenwood and Mark Hamill), although they were divided on its narrative, notably in relation to the source materials. The Fall of the House of Usher is an American gothic horror drama television miniseries created by Mike Flanagan.
Roderick Usher returns to his family home after learning that his father is ill. But things start to get out of control after receiving a visit from his girlfriend, who will do everything to... Read allRoderick Usher returns to his family home after learning that his father is ill.
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