Mike Flanagan has distinguished himself as one of the great modern horror creatives, and he’s not limited to just one medium. Although Flanagan got his start making low-budget horror films, he later struck up a deal with Netflix and has made some of the best miniseries on the streamer. Flanagan has consistently proven himself an expert at adapting Stephen King, as he has both shown reverence for the source material and been willing to put his own spin on the stories. However, Flanagan’s best series to date was based on a legendary work by Edgar Allan Poe and still managed to earn King’s seal of approval.
Although it's technically an adaptation of the 1839 short story of the same name, The Fall of the House of Usher is an homage to many of Poe’s best works, taking a modernist look at societal evil. As is frequently the case with Flanagan’s writing, The Fall of the House of Usher is told in a non-linear way, including flashbacks that help flesh out the history of a complex family legacy. The series introduces Roderick (Zach Gilford) and Madeline Usher (Willa Fitzgerald) as siblings whose ambitions lead them to found the powerful company Fortunato Pharmaceuticals, which is riddled with corruption and has a detrimental impact on public health.
In the present, an older Roderick (Bruce Greenwood) and Madeline (Mary McDonnell) reflect upon their mistakes as a curse seemingly comes for their family; Roderick finds that each of his children has been doomed to horrific fates as a result of his misdeeds. Although Fall of the House of Usher is a lot pulpier than some of the more grounded works of horror from Flanagan earlier in his collaborations with Netflix, the series has a lot to say about the legacy of Poe’s writing and why it continues to resonate today. King had nothing but praise for the show, and said, "there's a case to be made for Mike Flanagan being the Quentin Tarantino of horror."
Poe has notoriously been a difficult author to adapt because much of the power in his writing comes from the language, as his stories tend to be fairly light on plot. Although the original short story on which the series was based contributed the narrative structure and themes, The Fall of the House of Usher goes deeper into detailing all the Usher children and uses each of them to represent a different aspect of their family’s sins. The death sequences are shockingly violent, but they are not used simply to appease an audience’s desire to see rich people suffer; the series examines how those with power and privilege are given opportunities to make amends, and how their refusal only leads to a cycle of continued suffering. Flanagan has often had a much better sense of humor than he is given credit for, and The Fall of the House of Usher sees him engaging in dark comedy in a way that makes it feel completely distinct from his previous work.
These horror shows will keep viewers awake at night.
The Fall of the House of Usher succeeds as an adaptation because the show isn't based on just one Poe story. The name of Roderick’s company is lifted from the short story “The Cask of Amontillado,” and characters are lifted from “The Murders in Rue Morgue,” “The Gold-Bug,” “Tamerlane,” and “The Premature Burial”; additionally, there are thematic connections to the terrifying repetition in “The Raven” and the double-edged sword of revenge in “The Tell-Tale Heart.” “The Fall of the House of Usher” is often cited as Poe’s definitive work because it embodied his ideas about generational horror and the inevitability of consequences, allowing Flanagan to fuel his epic tale of familial plight.
The Fall of the House of Usher felt particularly timely because the depiction of the Ushers bears a striking resemblance to that of the Sackler family, whose empire is largely credited with exacerbating the world’s opioid crisis. To insert Poe’s work into a modern context is the smartest thing that the show could have done, because it turns a theoretical window into the past into an embodiment of what corruption looks like today. What’s most brilliant about Flanagan’s approach is that he notes how little has changed about power dynamics since Poe originally wrote “The Fall of the House of Usher,” as class stagnation is just as big an issue in contemporary America.
The Fall of the House of Usher is a true masterpiece of horror because the show is executed in the right format. A single film wouldn't be able to include all the details needed to expand the world that Flanagan created, but the story also needed a definitive resolution. Even if Flanagan has spent much of his career iterating on and drawing from works by established franchises and authors, The Fall of the House of Usher is an example of how adaptation is its own art form that requires a singular vision to execute.
