What Critics And Fans Are Saying About The Fall Of The House Of Usher
Following the breakout success of Shirley Jackson adaptation "The Haunting of Hill House," horror filmmaker Mike Flanagan returned to Netflix with a number of other spooky tales, and today opened the doors to his final cursed house in "The Fall of the House of Usher." Loosely based on the collected works of Edgar Allan Poe, the series explores the corrupted legacy of pharmaceutical magnate Roderick Usher and the grim deaths of his spoiled adult children.
Flanagan is known for slow-burn stories that are heavy on emotion, but "The Fall of the House of Usher" is a little different. In Flanagan's own words, "'Hill House' is kind of a string quartet, and '[The Haunting of] Bly Manor' is this delicate, kind of beautiful piece of classical piano music, and 'The Fall of the House of Usher' is heavy metal." This latest serving of scares certainly has a lot more gore than any of Flanagan's previous works, with a giallo tinge to the horror and plenty of dark concepts from the pages of Poe's work — from vengeful cats to live burials.
"The Fall of the House of Usher" has a score of 92% on Rotten Tomatoes as of this writing, behind only "The Haunting of Hill House" (93%) and ahead of Flanagan's three other Netflix horror series. Let's take a closer look at what critics and fans are saying about the melancholy House of Usher.
What are critics saying about The Fall of the House of Usher?
/Film critic Chris Evangelista was underwhelmed by "The Fall of the House of Usher," describing it as "one of Flanagan's lesser series" and pinpointing the shared directing duties as a consistent point of weakness ("Both 'The Haunting of Hill House' and 'Midnight Mass' were helmed entirely by Flanagan, and they're phenomenal"). The show was given a final score of 5.5/10 in our review.
"House of Usher" brings back many familiar faces from Flanagan's past works — including Bruce Greenwood, who played Gerald in "Gerald's Game" and replaced actor Frank Langella as Roderick Usher after Langella was fired due to alleged sexual misconduct. The Washington Post critic Lili Loofbourow praises Greenwood's performance, writing that he "threads a tricky needle," and that his framing scenes with Carl Lumbly's Auguste Dupin "feel like a chess match." The AV Club's David Cote was less impressed, describing Greenwood as a "sturdy if rarely exciting performer" who "brings the requisite gravitas and flashes of remorse" but is "too wholesome" to sell the character's seedier side.
"The Fall of the House of Usher" also drew criticism for its lack of surprises. The Huffington Post's Candice Frederick concluded that "'Usher' is too straightforward and expected — and shockingly mundane, especially coming from Flanagan," pointing out that "there's an absence of dread when you know what's right around the corner every single time." There's plenty of appreciation to be found for the series' fun indulgence in gore and grisly fates, but several critics have pointed out there's a lack of much depth behind it. Slant's Laura Miller particularly criticized the series for failing to be an effective adaptation of Poe's work, writing, "None of these [Poe] citations have much resonance ... Flanagan has taken works that are fundamentally about the horror of loneliness and turned them into occasions for florid family melodrama."
What are fans saying about The Fall of the House of Usher?
Among fan discussions on Reddit, there's particular appreciation for a moment in "The Fall of the House of Usher" episode 1, when the ghost of Roderick's mother is lurking in the background of a shot behind Lumbly's Auguste Dupin. She only becomes visible when Dupin refuses to turn around and look, and the late Eliza (Annabeth Gish) walks slowly out of the shot. "It's that sort of shivering scare that makes me love Flanagan's work," writes one fan. "It's quiet, subtle, and extremely effective." Flanagan hid dozens of ghosts in the background of scenes in "The Haunting of Hill House," so fans of his work have been taught to keep one eye on the shadows.
X/Twitter user Jurídico Laura Peterson felt that "House of Usher" got off to a strong start, writing, "Everybody's gay I love it already." Another X user, who binge-watched the whole series as soon as it released, experienced some ups and downs:
"Loved the first episode but wasn't sure how I felt about the series until the sixth episode. The finale was f***ing amazing. Episodes 2 through 5 are a bit of a slog but stick with it. The last three are excellent. It may be great."
After watching the first two episodes, Tumblr user oldfangirl81 anticipated that "'The Fall of the House Of Usher' is going to become my new focus for a bit." As a fan of the source material, she praised the show for "[managing] to capture so much of the atmosphere Poe created in his writing."
Finally, a pointed question from Reddit user Rgsnap, in reaction to Roderick Usher having six children from five different mothers: "How does someone who's rich and powerful and also the head of a major pharmaceutical company not afford condoms!?"
"The Fall of the House of Usher" is streaming now on Netflix.