This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strike. Without the efforts of the writers and actors currently on strike, the series featured here would not exist.
The arrival of fall brings with it a renewed interest in all things spooky, including the return of two major horror-themed television series, FX. american horror story and Netflix Fall of the House of Usher. The release of the two series just a few weeks apart evokes a subgenre of horror: the psychobidi genre.Like Blanche and Jane in Whatever happened to Baby Janeseries creators Ryan Murphy and Mike Flanagan duel throughout the show for the audience’s affections, and become even more grotesque in doing so.
Just to be clear, this grotesqueness is meant as a compliment.in the case of Fall of the House of Usher, Flanagan’s modern-day adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s works. The plutocratic Usher family enjoyed years of wealth as directors of Fortunado Pharmaceuticals, enjoying a life filled with power, drugs, and promiscuity. In the case of family patriarch Roderick Usher (Bruce Greenwood), a lifelong affair has resulted in a growing number of legitimate and illegitimate offspring, all of whom are vying for control of an ever-increasing share of the family fortune.
family relationships
An investigation by U.S. Attorney Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly) reveals that Fortunado’s main product is a highly addictive opioid, bringing further scrutiny into the Usher family’s shady past. This includes dealings with Rodrigo’s sister and fellow board member Madeline (Mary McDonnell) and longtime family lawyer Arthur Pym (Mark Hamill). The arrival of a mysterious woman named Verna (Carla Gugino) also sets off a series of paranormal events that threaten to expose past sins.
and american horror story and usher’s house Debuting in a head-to-head showdown, comparisons feel impossible to avoid, and more between the minds behind the shows than between the shows themselves. Both Ryan Murphy and Mike Flanagan have had great success in bringing horror to the era of Pique TV. Both look to the genre’s classics for inspiration. Murphy conjures up cinematic presences such as; Friday the 13thth Or, in this season’s case, AHS: Delicate, rosemary baby. Flanagan turned to literature as his personal muse, drawing inspiration from Poe and, in previous seasons, Shirley Jackson and Henry James. Both producers employ their own repertoire companies. Murphy rediscovers stars that Hollywood has abandoned (Angela Bassett, Jessica Lange, Billy Porter). Flanagan, great actors that Hollywood either didn’t give them big stardom (Greenwood, McDonnell, Gugino) or had no idea what to do with (Henry Thomas, T’Nia Miller, Hamill). Both men deserve high praise for reinvigorating the genre and giving important roles to great actors.
But that’s where the parallels end. Despite Murphy’s tremendous talent as a producer (not to mention advocating for LGBTQ people on both sides of the camera and in the public consciousness), Murphy lacks equal footing when it comes to writing and directing the show. ing. AHS “” has a reputation for exhibiting comical fashion and erratic behavior to varying degrees every season. Certainly Murphy’s best series—american crime story, Ratched, feud-This is the show where he handed over show-running duties to other writers.
art of horror
In contrast, Mike Flanagan demonstrates: Fall of the House of Usher, has much greater talent in terms of writing and directing. For 8 hours, usher’s house maintains a consistent momentum, giving each member of the Usher family depth and enough screen time for viewers to get to know and hate them all. Don’t look for “filler” episodes here. This balanced pacing allows each actor time to shine in their roles. Gugino stands out the most here, playing a variety of characters from a seductive vamp to a sleazy housewife to a butch security guard.Flanagan adopted her as a muse throughout her life The Haunting of… anthology and his films gerald’s game, and usher’s house This may be her best performance to date.
Fans of Poe’s work, or of Roger Corman and Vincent Price’s sarcastic adaptations of his earlier work, will be intrigued to see how Flanagan slips away one reference after another to the author’s bibliography. right. Each episode plays like a treasure hunt of sorts, allowing viewers to find names, objects, plot points, and more that remind them of Poe. Like the Corman/Price cycle, usher’s house I also have a dark sense of humor. Scenes in which characters drown in acid or have their internal organs gouged out by falling pendulums are genuinely horrifying and, on some level, quite funny. There’s a certain satisfaction in seeing the abominations make a comeback, and the absurd way Poe/Flanagan brings the cast down will also evoke laughs as well as shivers.
Flanagan doesn’t have the flashiness of Murphy, but while Murphy presents a look and feel as well-made as in any other film, Flanagan has a better sense of direction. Not only does he get great performances from his cast, but some of the action scenes, including the mayhem and apocalyptic visions, have a cinematic breadth to them.
dig up
Flanagan has work to do, too. To tell about his character and the current sociopolitical moment. For all of Murphy’s showmanship, american horror story It never digs deeper than surface level to consider philosophical or moral issues.flanagan uses usher’s house As an opportunity to call out the 1%. He clearly models the Usher family after the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma heroin promoters. Beyond that, Flanagan also skewers the likes of Elon Musk, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Elizabeth Holmes for their self-righteous entitlement, ego, and self-indulgence.
Perhaps this observation best illustrates the contrast between Flanagan and Murphy: Ryan Murphy cast Nepobaby Kim Kardashian in the new season. AHS.in Fall of the House of UsherMike Flanagan indicts the entire Kardashian family and their crimes, especially through the characters played by Kate Siegel and Samantha Sloyan.
What the dueling Kardashians say about Murphy, Flanagan, or America, we will leave it to great minds to decide. As for entertainment, Fall of the House of Usher The film succeeds in telling an engrossing, thoughtful, and truly horrifying story that never lags or holds back on the indifference and malice of the world’s thieves. Mike Flanagan claims to be one of the great storytelling talents of our time, and throughout the show he argues that there is an evil more dangerous than demonic animals or ax murderers infesting society today. I’ll tell you.
now, that A scary thought indeed.
Rating: 8.5/10 Specs
The Fall of the House of Usher will be available on Netflix on October 12th.