"The Fall Of The House Of Usher" Series Review: A Deal With The Devil (Or At Least A Demon)

"The Fall Of The House Of Usher" is currently viewable on NetFlix. There are eight episodes total. It's written and directed by Mike Flanagan. I LOVE everything he does. My absolute favor is "The Haunting Of Hill House" (see reviews here) There's also "The Haunting Of Bly Manor" (see reviews here), "Midnight Mass" (see reviews here) and a number of other movies (see here).

Flanagan (like Ryan Murphy from "American Horror Story") typically works with a group of actors playing different parts each time. Back in this production are: wife Kate Siegel, Carla Gugino, Henry Thomas, Rahul Kohli, Samantha Sloyan, T'Nia Miller, Bruce Greenwood, Zach Gilford, and Annabeth Gish.

Warning: Spoilers Ahead. Turn Back Now If You Haven't Seen This Series.

The show is set between 1953 and 2023. It follows a very wealthy family headed by Roderick Usher (portrayed by Bruce Greenwood and in earlier flashbacks by Zach Gilford) . He owns a pharmaceutical company named Fortunato. His twin sister Madeline Usher (portrayed by Mary McDonnell and in earlier flashbacks by Willa Fitzgerald) is the COO. Roderick has six adult children.

Frederick (portrayed by Henry Thomas)- The oldest child. He is married to Morella and is the father of Lenore.
Camille (portrayed by Katie Siegel)- Illegitimate child of Roderick, PR head for Fortunato, She has two assistants-- Toby and Tina.
Victorine (portrayed by T'Nia Miller) The oldest of Roderick's illegitimate children, She is a surgeon working on a breakthrough heart medical device. Her wife is Dr Ali Ruiz (Paola Nunez).
Napoleon "Leo" (portrayed by Rahul Kohli)- Illegitimate child of Roderick. He is a video game developer with a drug problem. His boyfriend is Julius.
Tamerlane "Tammy" (portrayed by Samantha Sloya)- Rodericks' oldest daughter and head of Goldbug (a lifestyle products company). Her husband is fitness instruction Bill T Wilson.
Prospero "Perry" (portrayed by Sauriyan Sapkota)- The youngest illegitimate child of Roderick.

Other characters include:

Juno (portrayed by Ruth Codd) Roderick's much younger second wife. She is addicted to Ligodone (a Forutnato drug).
Arthur Pym (portrayed by Mark Hamill)- He is the family's ruthless attorney.
US Assistant Attorney General C Auguste Dupin "Auggie" (portrayed by Carl Lumbly), He and Roderick have a long and complicated history together.
Verna (portrayed by Carla Gugino)- She is a very mysterious character. Verna is an anagram of "Raven". Obviously the Raven featured prominently in Poe works..
Eliza Usher (portrayed by Annabeth Gish)- She is the Usher twins mother.

Each episode of "The Fall Of The House Of Usher" is based on an Edgar Allen Poe short story:

A Midnight Dreary
The Masque Of The Red Death
Murder In The Rue Morgue
The Black Cat
The Tell-Tale Heart
Goldbug
The Pit and The Pendulum
The Raven

As the series begins we know the six Usher offspring have all died in shocking deaths within one week. We just dont know the specifics. Roderick tells Dupin he will confess. To what we're not sure.

Flashback to their youth. Roderick and his twin sister Madeline witness their mother's agonizing and supernatural death. Her uncaring boss refuses to help her. The man is the also secretly the father of the twins. Fast forward. They are now filthy rich but have tons of issues. It's hard to tell which members of this family are more screwed up than the others. They are cruel and greedy people. The only decent one in the bunch is granddaughter Lenore.

Meanwhile the pharmaceutical company Roderick and Madeline helm causes millions of deaths due to drug dependence/overdoses. They have blood on their hands at every turn. As the bodies rain down, Verna tells Roderick he is in the top 5 list of most people killed throughout history. Roderick and family could have lived humble, loving lives. Instead his decision doomed everyone in his family.

We see the Usher's family graves. There are the six children's graves along with Roderick and Madeline. Here they will rest for all eternity with the people they most hated. Verna places a symbol of each on their tombstones. There's a mask for Perry, a smartphone for Camille, a cat collar for Leo, a gold scarab for Tammy (to reflect her business), a plastic heart for Victorine, a raven's feather and a white rose for Lenore, a cocaine vial for Frederick and lastly Egyptian sapphire "eyes" for Madeline and a shot glass for Roderick. Remember Verna toasted Roderick and Madeline with Henri IV Dudognon Heritage Cognac when they sealed their deal. She said he would drink it again on the day he died. Verna turns into a raven like she has so many times before. Aggie leaves the graveyard saying he is the luckiest man alive. He has a family who loves him.

In the end was it all worth it for the Usher family? I'm going with a big "no". I'll happily keep my quiet and at times boring life.

Grade: 5 (out of 5) Monster. Excellent. Another intriguing adaptation of a horror classic (in this case several works by Edgar Allan Poe). I absolutely love everything that Mike Flanagan does. The stories are always compelling. The acting and production values are top notch. Carla Gugino is especially compelling as the mysterious Vera. I wish we could have seen more of her. My only criticism is that Flanagan sometimes packs too much dialogue into a show. I know they want to use as much of Poe's works as possible but that sometimes leads to very wordy episodes. But I still love it. This has prompted me to go back and check out Poe's works again. "TFotHoU" will be the last series from Flanagan on NetFlix. He is moving over to Amazon. I can't wait to see what he does next.