The Fall of the House of Usher (Miniseries, 2023) — For Whom the Bell Tolls

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“We all, all of us, know pain. It’s the great equalizer.”

The Fall of the House of Usher is the latest Mike Flanagan miniseries released on Netflix. It details the decline of the Usher family dynasty as the heirs mysteriously start dying off one by one. The bulk of the story is told from the account of Rodrick Usher, one of the twins at the helm of the Usher empire.

I’m not versed in Edgar Allen Poe’s works (I plan to be in the future), so my experience was not affected by the level of the quality of adaptation and easter eggs. I came to know about them after the watch.

Out of all the miniseries I’ve watched from Mike Flanagan thus far (The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, Midnight Mass and The Fall of the House of Usher), this is the weakest. That doesn’t stop it from being an intriguing tale with plenty to appreciate.

Since a major element of the plot is a massive pharmaceutical company, it was engaging to see the depiction of unethical business practices and straight-up Evil behaviour for power and greed. Social commentary on the opioid epidemic was also appreciable.

The structure of the story makes it easier to follow the wide character set with each episode focusing on an heir and their demise. Enough screen time and characterization are allotted during the 8-episode run that allows you to understand their personalities and the corresponding thematic threads.

The conveyance of the opulent lives fueled by pride and vice that vary according to the personalities of the Ushers was splendid. Each member has a combination of the seven deadly sins manifesting in a myriad of ways. They have their quirks, kinks and coping mechanisms masking insecurities and trauma. Coupled with quality performances and solid filmmaking elements (cinematography, sets, music, editing etc.), you do not get utterly bored even if the pacing itself is slow and the characters, in general, are unlikeable.

The dialogue can be superb with rousing monologues that you come to expect at this point from a Flanagan production. It doesn’t always hit home and can veer into cringe territory but more often than not, it entertains mightily (When life gives you lemons, you capitalize it to hell and back).

This is the goriest Flanagan has been and it was glorious. Some amazing scenes of brutality are exceedingly effective (acid rain is bad for the environment). It’s also the funniest Flanagan has been with great moments of levity that take you by surprise. My favourite was the knock at the “Enhance” trope. Sometimes the comedy is derived from deplorable characters meeting justified ends although the line between intentional and unintentional hilarity seems blurry.

The series boasts a massive cast and all of them ranged from decent to phenomenal. Flanagan once again brings back several cast members from his previous outings to apt effect. The difference in their roles from prior works can be striking and charming. My favourites:

• Bruce Greenwood as Rodrick Usher. One of the twin siblings that ushered in the Usher dynasty and the CEO of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, the company at the centre of the family fortune. From the get-go, I was in awe of this man’s portrayal of the ferocious billionaire pharma tycoon. Great range depicting power, pride, ego and wrath to humility, guilt, fear, and sorrow. Amazing casting especially since the entire story rests on his account of the events and he has the biggest amount of screen time.
• Willa Fitzgerald as young Madeline Usher. Amazing performance and the genius of the twins. Cool intellect and cold logic reign supreme with her where morality is fucked off completely. While Mary McDonnell was good as older Madeline, Willa supplanted her and truly made that character a joy to behold.
• Mark Hamill as Arthur Gordon Pym. The trusted attorney of the Ushers and the man who can fix it all. Not only was it great to see Hamill act in a solid production but his performance was spectacular as the ruthless and corrupt lawyer. He exuded skill and focus for his craft and had a mysterious aura that made him a delight in every scene. He also had the most badass scene in the entire series.
• Carla Gugino as Verna. The mysterious woman whom Rodrick and Madeline met in their younger days and who now haunts the Ushers. You can never go wrong with Flanagan and Gugino. Varied and wonderful, she chews up the scenery at every chance.

SPOILERS SECTION

Aside from some instances where I thought “the ghost” moments were all due to mental illness, it became apparent early on that Carla Gugino’s Verna was some kind of supernatural or paranormal entity. Perhaps an ancient goddess or an eldritch horror. Maybe The Devil or DEATH itself. On one hand, the predictability marred the mystery significantly but on the other, it was captivating witnessing the events play out knowing to an extent who or what Verna is and anticipating what the origin might be that started this whole ordeal.

Ultimately I landed on her as DEATH personified and I enjoyed this depiction of the entity we all will meet eventually. Similar to Midnight Mass where Vampires were interweaved into the theologically and spiritually heavy narrative for suspense and horror, Verna provides the same in the avarice and corrupt corpo familial drama.

When it was finally shown when Rodrick and Madeline made the deal with Verna in the bar “out of time and space”, that was underwhelming. I was expecting more.

END OF SPOILERS

Other than those already mentioned, the complaints I have are:

• The unintentional cringe stemming from Flanagan’s political views was offputting. The scenes that attempted to bring in the contemporary world mostly fell flat and would break immersion because you can see the Hollywood bubble speak clearly.
• Rodrick’s children varied in personality, sure, but they all still distilled down to the ‘fucked up rich kids’ trope or cliched spoiled brats of a billionaire. It would have added intrigue, tragedy, and flavour to the overall experience had one or a few been different. I’m not saying make them the cream of the crop in morality or ethics as that would negate the bad-parenting aspect of the storyline but still, some nuance would have elevated the watch.
• While some of the jumpscares warranted their usage, many felt lazy as an attempt to inject horror and keep the trend of scares. I don’t understand why Flanagan adds so many of those when simultaneously demonstrating subtlety in horror.

Overall, The Fall of the House of Usher sometimes stumbles and doesn’t reach the same heights as its siblings but that doesn’t damn it to the abyss. It still rises enough to entertain and delight in a ride decorated by opulence and vice. The production quality, swathes of the writing and casting are by and large awesome as is to be expected from Mike Flanagan. It’s occasionally thought-provoking and thematically sound where the writing can hit too close to reality properly considering the pharmaceutics-centric narrative.

I’d certainly recommend giving this a watch whether you’re a fan of Mike Flanagan or are looking for a good miniseries. However, if you’re expecting a scary TV show, this won’t cut it. And if I were to rate it, I’d give it a 7/10.

P.S. This is how I’d rank Mike Flanagan’s miniseries that I have watched:

1. Midnight Mass
2. The Haunting of Bly Manor
3. The Haunting of Hill House
4. The Fall of the House of Usher