Mike Flanagan’s House of Usher series

So I don’t know if there’s a thread for this yet, so I’m going to roll the dice. Mike Flanagan has a new Netflix show this year based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, chiefly The Fall of the House of Usher. It has Bruce Greenwood, Carla Gugino, Carl Lumbly, and Mark Hamill in the cast.

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Aug 10th 2023 at 2:22:14 PM

Well, that's certainly an intriguing concept! ^_^

Are you sure this poster is real? I found a different one in the wiki.

Edited by Bubblepig on Aug 10th 2023 at 2:56:34 AM

It’s from Netflix’s Twitter.

Here’s the trailer:

Well this is quite a bit of Adaptation Expansion.

Yeah, Usher is clearly the skeleton of the show, but it's more of a hodge-podge of Poe stuff.

It's essentially The Avengers for Poe's works. And two-thirds of an iZombie reunion.

Well, more accurately, it's seemingly what Flannigan did with Haunting of Bly Manor; it's not just adapting Turning of the Screw but all of that author's work.

For House of Usher, I saw...

• Fall of the House of Usher
• Masque of the Red Death
• Pit and the Pendulum
• Murder in the Rue Morgue

Or that's what I remember from when I saw the trailer last week. I didn't see Tell-tale Heart, Black Cat, or Cask of Amantiado.

In all fairness, stuffing every single one of Poe's works into a single series might become a little muddled... ^^;

Hum... I'm not yet sure of how I feel about this one, based on the trailer. It does look like it might be ghost-y, which is appealing, and an adaptation of Poe sounds cool.

And yet... I'm not sure that I'm quite feeling it, somehow.

Maybe it's the "crime family" interpretation—I'm not all that interested in such, myself.

It does feel a bit... odd. I think what is getting me is that Flannigan usually has Fucked Up Families as a reoccurring theme, but they're usually deeply sympathetic. Here, the trailer makes them out to probably be monsters and karma is catching up to them. It feels... very Succession? Ish?

But I've also pretty much adored Fannigan's previous work (really, I kinda only just disagreed with the ending of Midnight Mass and felt it copped out on it's villain at last minute) so I feel like I trust him for the ride.

As far as adapting all of Poe's work, I would have thought the same but he adapted at least six or so of James' stories into Bly Manor. And since Poe's are often Poems or even just simply light on the details, there's plenty of room to play around in. I mean, Rue Morgue could be a cold open introducing a detective character and that's it.

Also, forgot to add an obvious one in there; Nevermore was obviously quoted.

Wonder if they'll work in Anabelle Lee. Always kinda liked that poem.

You have to have "Nevermore"! XD;

(Even Discworld had an semi-oblique reference to it, with a talking raven named "Quoth" who insisted that he didn't do the "N-word". :P)

But you do make a good point about the possibility of adapting more Poe into a single work!

I'll admit that I skipped out on Midnight Mass, as I recall due to the premise being off-putting for me.

But, I did very much enjoy the two Haunting series.

So... This one is a "maybe" for me...

Yes, Annabel Lee is going to be included. There's also apparently more than a few characters based on real people. like Longfellow, Rufus Griswold and John Neal

Already got a review of the series from IGN and it is GLOWING: https://www.ign.com/articles/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-review-netflix-mike-flanagan

I went ahead and made a page for the show. Please feel free to contribute.

Edited by BigBadShadow25 on Sep 25th 2023 at 6:54:14 AM

Off the top of my head, that's Lady in Red misuse.

It's not just " a woman wears red." It's about a specific kind of character, a seductress or temptress, wearing red as a viusal clue to that part of their characterization. As is, it's a ZCE.

Removed.

This is why it's generally best to leave the troping until a work is actually out. I know people like to get a jump on things, but that just leads to speculation and a lot of bad examples that end up having to be re-written.

Well that’s why there are rules for pre-release works.

We have a clip from the show:

I'm simple. If Mike Flanagan is involved, I will watch

I'm down for this actually. I've been hearing the Ushers are basically fictional versions of the Sacklers(the company that produced and sold oxycodone), so I'm all for evil Pharma millionaires get brutally murdered

Edited by Sisi on Sep 29th 2023 at 12:13:55 PM

Watching this now. It’s good.

I’m still trying to figure out the deal with Gugino’s character.

Started it as well. Only an episode in but I like it and I'm already starting my theories.

My theory for her at the moment is that she's not real. Any of her interactions will "in reality" be those of a stranger or random individuals that Rodrick is conflating as a conspiracy in his desire for there to be a greater purpose or dramatic end to his empire. He has to look outward for the source of his misery and the end of his family rather than accident and the consequences of their own actions. Which is VERY Poe considering works like Masque of the Red Death.

But... that's also only one episode in. I am always evolving my theories.

Got a glimpse of a description of the last episode. Very spoilery. I’m stopping for the night halfway through the series, but I think that Gugino is the Devil. Rodrick and his sister made a deal with her and now she’s collecting his family’s souls.

Also, calling it now, Roderick has a heart condition that will kill him which is why he's pushing our dear totally-not-tell-tale-heart project through. That's what he was told by the doctor in the first episode.

Also, calling it now, there never ever was a mole. Dupin said it publicly to get them in-fighting.

EDIT: Also, Calling it now, Fredrick's phone conversation with his grand-daughter Lenore is in actuality with the chatbot. A extension of the Lost Lenore trope; the chatbot is all he has left of his family.

Edited by InkDagger on Oct 12th 2023 at 6:53:44 AM