The Fall of the House of Usher

kroenen

Regimen Morum
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2.50 star(s) Rating: 2.50/5 4 Votes
Title: The Fall of the House of Usher

Genre: Drama

First aired: 2023-10-12

Creator: Mike Flanagan

Cast: Bruce Greenwood, Carla Gugino, Mary McDonnell, Willa Fitzgerald, Carl Lumbly, Mark Hamill, Henry Thomas, Crystal Balint, Kyliegh Curran, Samantha Sloyan, Matt Biedel, Kate Siegel, Rahul Kohli, Daniel Jun, T'Nia Miller, Paola Nuñez, Sauriyan Sapkota, Ruth Codd, Zach Gilford, Malcolm Goodwin, Katie Parker, Michael Trucco

Overview: Based on works by Edgar Allan Poe, this wicked series follows a family dynasty that crumbles when its heirs mysteriously begin to die.
 

Juvarisx

Florida
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Anyone start this yet?

Watched 3 of 8 so far, will watch more tonight probably. Its not scary but none of Flanagan's stuff is, its more sense of dread or ambiance with stellar acting. Acting is again a plus in this, Mark Hammill is dark and funny, then its a whos who of alumni actors and they all do a fine job. The stand out is Carla Gugino, they made her damn hot for a 52 year old and shes acting the hell of out of her part. The entire kid cast of Midnight Club is in this as well, and with good material they do a great job.

Story is good, its more gory then any of his other stuff, particularly the end of the second episode it made my wife squirm lol. Cast is diverse but all of his generally are and as I said its all alumni actors so its hard to even care a little. I like it a lot but I generally like all of his stuff. Its no Midnight Mass but I am not sure anyhitng will be of his again until Dark Tower and its missing a Hamish Linklater caliber actor to really elevate everyone else but I dont really have any complaints.

I will say his interpretation of the desires of the super elite are little over the top, it makes Succession look tame they just are not trying to fuck each other over constantly.

Oh Mary McDonnell is in this and I love her so its great. The way she swears under her breath takes you right back to S1 BSG and its great.
 
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spronk

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yeah watched 2 of 8 as well and really enjoying it, i've not watched any of his other stuff (not a big horror guy) so its a lot tamer (scare wise) than I expected. succession with supernatural vibes is a great description. writing is really good and actors are great, i'm always in for anything with carla gugino. awesome to see mark hamill too

might watch the 1960 Vincent Price version of this after i finish

 

nu_11

Avatar of War Slayer
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Lame.

I liked Hill House, Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass. Those shows all have interesting themes about love, family, and loss.

House of Usher, however, is just a liberal's lame critique of capitalism. It dreams it could be smart critique of capitalism like Succession, hell it would probably even settle to be comparable The White Lotus, but it is so much dumber than those two shows (Succession is great, The White Lotus is good).
 
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Caliane

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Lame.

I liked Hill House, Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass. Those shows all have interesting themes about love, family, and loss.

House of Usher, however, is just a liberal's lame critique of capitalism. It dreams it could be smart critique of capitalism like Succession, hell it would probably even settle to be comparable The White Lotus, but it is so much dumber than those two shows (Succession is great, The White Lotus is good).
ooph.
 

spronk

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yeah there's a speech at the end that is just silly and over the top but it does try to make fun of how worthless movies and TV is too which made me laugh

i enjoyed the series, but mostly for the cast - the top line are all awesome and fantastic and there is a TON of 2 people sitting in a room talking and the show is a pass or fail for you based entirely on that. There is very little horror, almost all of it upfront too and not a ton in the last few episodes.

The whole thing felt like watching a stage play of a gothic classic short story. It tries a bit too hard, you are getting long direct quotes from classic Poe books and its fun but feels very contrived. I would be really shocked if many people like this series.

One thing I do like is its really upfront and straightforward with the mysteries, there is no "was it all a dream? Who was the bad guy?" kinda stuff, the supernatural stuff reveals itself I think around episode 7 and lays out exactly what it is, what it wants, why, how, everything. Beginning, middle, and ending and its all wrapped up with no real questions left to ask.

Its not horror in any real way though, some few moments of "eww, gross" and maybe 1 jump scare but its mostly shitty rich family with a gothic noir veneer.
 

Caliane

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I mean, yeah. the fall of the house of usher is a short story from Edger allen poe. not a supernatural horror story.

I think I might just outright skip this one. I do like supernatural horror more. And Flanagans political and religious opinions are getting dumber and dumber, taking over his work more and more.
 

spronk

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i want to try and watch at least one good horror flannigan show on netflix in Oct, is Haunting of Hill House or Midnight Mass better/spookier?

his deal with netflix is now over with Usher, he signed on to amazon to make a few shows for them
 

Animosity

Bronze Baronet of the Realm
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i want to try and watch at least one good horror flannigan show on netflix in Oct, is Haunting of Hill House or Midnight Mass better/spookier?

his deal with netflix is now over with Usher, he signed on to amazon to make a few shows for them
Hill House IMO.
 
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nu_11

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i want to try and watch at least one good horror flannigan show on netflix in Oct, is Haunting of Hill House or Midnight Mass better/spookier?

his deal with netflix is now over with Usher, he signed on to amazon to make a few shows for them
You should go with Hill House.
 
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Juvarisx

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i want to try and watch at least one good horror flannigan show on netflix in Oct, is Haunting of Hill House or Midnight Mass better/spookier?

his deal with netflix is now over with Usher, he signed on to amazon to make a few shows for them

Hill House is the more classic spooky show. It wont keep your wife up all night scared or anything but its a great story with great acting, that had a series wide mystery that wasn't TOO obvious and is explained well. Its a Halloween staple at our house and appropriate for like 12+ if you have kids.

Midnight Mass is an extremely well acted show that came from his Catholic upbringing. I thought it was a neat idea, my wife is very Catholic and see's where he got it from and its not insulting to Catholicism or anything in her mind. Its my favorite work of his, but I can see why some wont like it cause its not *spooky*. I felt it was well written, shot, and acted, you get to HATE a few characters not cause they suck, but because they are so well done. I don't think it was a statement about Catholics or anything in general, I think its something he has been toying with most of his life. Its interesting RLM did a review on it, and Mike considered it once of the best things he watched period. I think having a Catholic background will determine how much you really like the show.

We finished Usher, and we like dit a good bit, but as spronk said it was mainly due to the top line actors. There was no pandering, he tried to fit everyone he ever worked with that would say yes into the show so it lead to diversity overload but it wasn't to make a statement, he wanted his last Netflix show where he probably gets to make any casting decision he wants to have his friends. After this its Dark Tower and who knows if Amazon is going to leave him alone or not, but I am sure Henry Thomas will be there lol. I talked to a couple people who are big Edgar Allen Poe fans and they adored it. It was a love letter to I am guessing what he considers one of the major influences in his life, so while I didn't get as much out of it as they did I got to enjoy a well made and acted show that I enjoyed.

I am posting something in spoilers so you can see how each character fits into Poe's work and which story they each came from. I think if I had info like this prior I may have liked it even more.

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spronk

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wow that was awesome, i knew about 3 of the stories but none of the others and the show makes a LOT more sense reading that. thanks!

the bald bitch was the really only annoying character, her voice work was weird also i don't believe for one second she could land a hot lesbian like her partner with that bald head
 

Xarpolis

Life's a Dream
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I'm going to guess that after Usher signed Bieber. That's what set up his fall. Baby baby baby oh....
 

Caliane

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I don't know how anyone could say Midnight mass isn't offensive to Christians.
Muslim cop is super great guy, calls the Christians racist. Zero pushback on it.
The Priest is a giant hypocrite, who completely undermines his faith.
The main practitioners and "faithful" of the church are all dog killing, vagrant killing hypocritical monsters.
Lesbian kid of Priest is the main "hero".

Every single theological aspect around death, afterlife and vampire is expressly sacrilegious to Catholics. Christianity does not believe we are a single god communist being that split itself up into individuals on Earth, and reunite into a single being after death.
Vampire is defeated with Atheism, not god.

Every single aspect of that show is saying, "God is not real, Christian faith is wrong, and a mask to allow abusers to abuse people." Its little different or even worse then the Exorcist reboot RLM was talking about, with "call all the religions!" Take a Christian community, Christian monster, and then do nothing about attack Christians, and use Atheism to beat the monster.
 
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Foggy

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Finish this last night and loved it. Can’t wait to see what he does with Dark Tower.
 
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