Fantastic Fest 2023 – Ever since 2018’s The Haunting of Hill House, it’s been a spooky season tradition to have a new limited series by Mike Flanagan on Netflix. His latest, The Fall of the House of Usher, features several loose adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe’s most famous tales, including The Masque of the Red Death, The Black Cat, The Tell-Tale Heart, and of course, The Fall of the House of Usher, among others. While Flanagan doesn’t quite hit every mark here, this is one of his most ambitious projects to date, tackling everything from trauma and addiction, reoccurring themes for him, the opioid crisis, AI, and even late-stage American capitalism. While Poe’s tales are timeless, Flanagan’s series is very much inspired by contemporary issues.

Though each episode focuses on a separate Poe tale, the series is threaded by a focus on the Usher family and their empire, Fortunato Pharmaceuticals. They’re an uber wealthy family, led by patriarch Roderick (Bruce Greenwood), and his sister, Madeline (Mary McDonnell). Through eight episodes, we learn their backstory, including a young Roderick (Zach Gilford) and young Madeline’s (Willa Fitzgerald) rise. Similar to Poe’s story, the narrative begins with the Usher family’s steep decline and decay. To be more specific, they’ve been busted by the Feds. Not only that, but we learn almost immediately that all of Roderick’s kids are dead. The subsequent episodes detail their deaths.

Most of the cast will be familiar to fans of Flanagan’s work. Collectively, they’ve appeared in his various Netflix series and his last feature film, Doctor Sleep. As a whole, the cast is fantastic, especially Flanagan’s wife, Kate Siegel, as Camille, who’s the “smoke and mirrors” operator for the family, trying to spin awful headlines about the Ushers. Also of note is Sauriyan Sapkota, who plays party boy Prospero Usher. In particular, the adaptation of The Masque of the Red Death is one of the strongest in the series, directed by Flanagan himself. The ending will stick with me for a long time. It’s shocking and heartbreaking. Meanwhile, Mark Hamill is a comedic delight as the family’s gravelly voice attorney Arthur Pym. It’s evident Hamill had a heck of a lot of fun with this role, especially in the first few episodes.

While the contemporary setting may be off-putting to some Poe purists, and while Flanagan does take some great liberties with the stories, it’s an interesting twist on these classic tales of terror. Within the broader narrative, Flanagan tackles some heavy themes. As a whole, the series shreds American capitalism, the pharmaceutical industry, and an unfair justice system. Some of the most compelling moments happen when prosecutor C. Auguste Dupin (Carl Lumbly) sits down with Roderick to hear his confession. At times, it feels like late-stage capitalism as a whole is on trial. Lumbly and Greenwood are fantastic in these scenes together from episode to episode, and their back and forth contains some of the series’ best dialogue.

There are moments when Poe’s 19th Century language clashes with the contemporary environment. For instance, young Roderick is a poet, and during the scenes set in the 60s and 70s, he frequently recites some of Poe’s most well-known verses, including “Annabel Lee.” Instead of saying the work came from Poe, it’s assigned to Roderick, but it feels totally out of place considering the time period. The language sounds dated when credited to a character living and writing in the late 20th Century. There are also moments when there are too many Poe references crammed into one episode, especially the opening, Midnight Dreary. Some of it feels shoehorned in. Did nearly every character have to be named after one of Poe’s, for instance?

Despite some small gripes, the series is an inventive take on Poe’s most spine-tingling tales, tracing the rot and downfall of a wealthy family. It also very much feels like Flanagan’s work, while avoiding some of the mistakes in his previous Netflix series. Thank goodness there are no long-winded monologues while characters are dying, for example. Overall, The Fall of the House of Usher is binge-worthy and a perfect watch for spooky season. This is Flanagan’s best series since The Haunting of Hill House.

The Fall of the House of Usher will stream on Netflix October 12 after its Fantastic Fest premiere.

8 Out of 10