Directed by: Michael Fimognari & Mike Flanagan
Distributed by: Netflix
Written by Alexander Reams
90/100
The era of filmmaking and creativity that Mike Flanagan has been in since his first-look deal at Netflix was inked has become one of the most legendary runs in horror by a filmmaker. With “The Haunting of Hill House,” “The Haunting of Bly Manor,” “Midnight Mass,” “The Midnight Club,” and now “The Fall of the House of Usher.” Each story shared styles and performers, with Flanagan’s troupe of regulars all present here. Leading his gargantuan ensemble is Bruce Greenwood as Roderick Usher (Zach Gilford (another Flanagan regular) plays Roderick as a younger man). And Greenwood is the star, he grabs hold of each scene he’s in and chews on it with the ferociousness of a tiger, waiting to attack the next person that pisses him off. The beauty of Greenwood’s interpretation of Flanagan’s text is that while the performance allows for others to have moments within a scene, it always comes back to Roderick, whether it be a quip or reaction shot.
Greenwood’s boisterous turn never outshines his co-stars, and the family Usher is rather large because of a tenet that Roderick adopted to never turn away blood relatives. His twin sister Madeline (Mary McDonnell (and Willa Fitzgerald in flashbacks)) went along with this belief, and this resulted in six Usher offspring, two from his marriage to Annabel Lee, Frederick (or Froderick if you don’t like him) (Henry Thomas), Tamerlane (Samantha Sloyan), and four others; Camille L’Espanaye (Kate Seigel), Napoleon (Rahul Kohli), Victorine LaFourcade (T’Nia Miller), and Perry (Sauriyan Sapkota). Each performer has “their” episode, where they take center stage of the narrative for that episode’s Poe adaptation. Flanagan’s device for adapting the whole story of the Ushers turns into multiple adaptations of Edgar Allen Poe, with each episode title referring to a method of death for a character through a Poe story.
Through the opening moments of “A Midnight Dreary” there’s an aesthetic captured through Mike Fimognari’s cinematography in conversation with the music from the Newton Brothers, and it’s very unexpected, this feeling of old money, people with too much money, one akin to a “Succession” and its rightfully so. Flanagan is also using “Usher ” as a very obvious social commentary on Big Pharma, and while not subtle, he handles it with delicacy and grace and shows their humanity. Even when he delves into more traditional horror sequences, what he’s crafted here is filled with iconic moments in contemporary horror, and each episode has its moment and each terrifies for different reasons. The usual reliance on jump scares and high shrills is sidelined for the far superior slow build, suspense, and lighting that allows for terror to truly be captured.
The use of practical effects, which shine through the third episode of the show, “Murder in Rue Morgue” focuses on the escapades of L’Espanye, who is revealed to be one of the most morally lacking offspring. From keeping sex slaves as her assistants (in a dynamic that may or may not be consensual) to the dirt she keeps on her siblings, Camille is clearly a character that Flangan had a ball with in the writer’s room, and her presence in the show is only amplified by the deviously delicious performance that Kate Siegel delivers.
“Usher” may feel at times too slow, or like there isn’t much payoff. But there’s a reason for the time spent in Roderick’s past. Flanagan frames every scene with a purpose, and the ones with younger Roderick and Madeline with an unnamed woman (Carla Gugino) on New Year’s Eve in 1980 turn into pivotal scenes without the viewer knowing it. Each scene has a grandiose feel because of Flanagan’s and Fimognari’s technical excellence, shooting on the Arri Alexa 65 gives an old-school cinematic feel to even the closest of shots. The finest of which is the scenes in Roderick and Madeline’s childhood home, one that has remained a structure despite the look of it being rather desolate. The vastness of the Alexa 65 allows for tight spaces to feel enlarged. This brings depth into each frame that is necessary for this complex story. Flanagan puts all his chips into this one, and each of his previous shows on Netflix brought a component that needed to act in perfect rhythm with the entirety of the show. From the anthological storytelling method in “The Midnight Club” which was employed here by doing sub-adaptations of Poe’s work, to the skill of balancing a sizeable ensemble that would make Robert Altman blush, which was cultivated throughout each series, “Usher” is a creative and technical marvel, it’s a brilliant series and a perfect ending to Flanagan’s time at Netflix.
“The Fall of the House of Usher” Trailer
You can connect with Alexander on his social media profiles: Instagram, Letterboxd, and Twitter. Or see more of his work on his website.