Mike Flanagan is behind some of the most spine-tingling and unsettling recent works of horror, and his back catalog is only getting more terrifying with each new addition. From Netflix sensations like The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and the unnerving Midnight Mass, he’s crafted works of brilliance that have us watching certain scenes through the blinds of our own fingertips, eagerly anticipating when the next scare will arrive.
The thing about Flanagan’s work is that he’s not just throwing things into a project and seeing what sticks; he meticulously invites the most unsettling fear into each line of dialogue, into each scene, into each unsuspecting moment, and sometimes you don’t even realize that it’s happening until you walk upstairs at night and find yourself putting a little pep in your step to outrun the ghosts that you’re convinced are following you up.
Flanagan’s newest project, The Fall of the House of Usher, is set to debut very soon, and audiences will once again be thrown into a world that’s waiting to make them tremble with fear and make them question who they are. This installment of his work seems darker somehow, more involved, like with each turn of a scare will come a level of self-realization; do the things we fear haunt us out of nowhere, or do we invite them in with our own choices?
For those waiting on bated breath to find out what’s next in the twisted realm of the Flanagan universe, here’s everything you need to know about The Fall of House Usher.
When does The Fall of the House of Usher premiere?
The Fall of the House of Usher is just one month away from its big debut; the limited series is set to creep onto Netflix on Oct. 12, just in time to binge during your nights leading up to Halloween to enjoy as the season grows colder, the days get shorter, and fear creeps into your windows alongside the cool breeze.
The trailer for the series promises that trust is the downfall of the House of Usher, and if you’re getting Yellowstone meets Succession meets horror vibes from this one — you’re not alone. A pair of siblings want fame and fortune, and they’ll stop at nothing to get it, and the dark forces that challenge them are more than they ever could have anticipated. One quote sticks out, taking us right to the Dutton Ranch itself:
“If anyone comes after us, we will exhaust our arsenal until the threat is neutralized.”
The neutralizing of threats in a realm already rife with vengeance, terror, and vitriol? The stakes have never been higher. To tell a story this complex requires characters that are as multifaceted as they are inviting, drawing audiences in with each word they speak and each glance into the camera, which lends to them peering into your soul.
Entertainment Weekly recently revealed the names of the major power players in The Fall of the House of Usher, starting with Bruce Greenwood as Roderick Usher — patriarch of the family and CEO of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. Carla Gugino breathes life into Verna, who is being described as a “shape-shifting demon” and will undeniably throw a wrench into the plans of anyone who crosses her path.
Mary McDonnell stars as Madeline Usher, sister to Roderick and partner in their family company, but she’s ruthless and relentless, and even the closest familial ties are easy to break if it means her life or theirs. Carl Lumbly plays C. Auguste Dupin, an attorney who has worked with the family for three decades, and the ever-talented Mark Hamill breathes life into Arthur Pym — a lawyer for the Usher family that ensures they always come out on top.
The series also stars Henry Thomas as Frederick Usher, Samantha Sloyan as Tamerlane Usher, T’Nia Miller as Victorine Lafourcade, Rahul Kohli as Napoleon “Leo” Usher, Kate Siegel as Camille L’Espanaye, Ruth Codd as Juno Usher, Sauriyan Sapkota as Prospero “Perry” Usher, Kyliegh Curran as Lenore Usher, Michael Trucco as Rufus Griswold, and Katie Parker as Annabel Lee.
Each character will help flesh out this tale with inspirations from the most fundamental pieces of horror, crafted only by one of the most iconic names in the writing realm as a whole.
What is the inspiration behind The Fall of the House of Usher?
The Fall of the House of Usher is inspired by none other than Edgar Allan Poe, one of the founding and most prominent names in the realm of things that send chills down your spine. It should surprise no one that The Fall of the House of Usher is based upon the short story of the same name by Poe.
The story tells of an unnamed narrator who visits a friend at, you guessed it — the house of Usher, and while the guest is there, things happen that lead the reader to recognize a deep-seated existence of pain, loneliness, and dread. An excerpt reads as follows:
“I was now going to spend several weeks in this house of sadness —
this house of gloom. Its owner was named Roderick Usher. We had
been friends when we were boys; but many years had passed since our
last meeting. A letter from him had reached me, a wild letter which
demanded that I reply by coming to see him. He wrote of an illness of
the body — of a sickness of the mind — and of a desire to see me —
his best and indeed his only friend. It was the manner in which all this
was said — it was the heart in it — which did not allow me to say no.”
Not allowed to say no, the need for “his only friend,” it’s clear that Roderick Usher — a man who, by all appearances, should have it all — is fighting a darkness that only he can fully grasp. Roderick holds all of the cards; he’s got the power of a family sitting in the palm of his hand, and it’s done nothing his entire life but eat away at him slowly.
What a painful way to exist, what an awful way to die.
The Fall of the House of Usher is set to release on Netflix on Oct. 12, and we recommend running to hide when its horror comes knocking at your door.
