The Fall of the House of Usher of Netflix It is not the usual adaptation of a horror story. Again, Mike Flanagan He used his favorite formula: that of reinventing the story for a new audience. He already did it in his previous works. With The Curse of Hill Housee, based on the novel by Shirley Jackson, explored in a current perspective the moral anguish of its characters. On the other hand, The Curse of Bly Manora reinvention of the Henry James plot, focused on greed, with a mundane touch, despite its supernatural undertones.
But with this adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s horror story, The Fall of the House of Usher, the director went one step further. He took the story of a family condemnation that spans generations, to reflect on ethics and cultural responsibility. He even delved into the opioid crisis currently being debated in the United States to support the argument for its production. The result is a series closer to Succession than a horror story. But, even so, it maintains the meaning that Poe wanted to give to his story about human monsters destroyed by ambition..
However, with its adaptation of The Fall of the House of Usher, Mike Flanagan also pays tribute to the legacy of the American author throughout the ten chapters of the miniseries. These are all the references to the work of Edgar Allan Poe that you can find in each episode. Also, the nods to the story on which it is based and that he incorporated into the script. A tribute to both the writer and his devoted readers.
First episode: A gloomy midnight
In the first chapter of The Fall of the House of Usherthe most obvious reference, is, of course, the names of the characters. Roderick and Madeline Usher They are the protagonists of the original story. In the same way as the plot of the Netflix series, Both live in the ruins of what was once a considerable fortune.
Also, the title of the episode is based on the first verse of the poem by The Raven. At the other extreme, the name of verna (Carla Gugino), is an anagram of the word crow, in English. What is clear is the series of symbolic representations of the bird that surround the mysterious figure. Likewise, the granddaughter of Roderick, lenorewas baptized with the same name as the beloved—dead and deceased—at the core of the gloomy poem.
Another reference includes C. Auguste Dupinthe detective in The crimes of morgue Street, The mystery of Marie Rogêt and The stolen letter. In the series, Dupin (played by actor Carl Lumbly) is much more than a police expert. He is also the narrator who listens to the long and terrifying story of the Ushers, nearly dying due to the consequences of his actions.
A little wink to the readers, is the flashback of the resurrection of Eliza Usher (Annabeth Gish), which also occurs in the story. Only in the literary original, it is Madeline who undergoes the painful process.
Mike Flanagan even paid tribute to Poe in the music of the series, he does so using the theme Another Brick in the Wall by Pink Floyd, which alludes to the narration The barrel of amontillado. In the narrative, the main character catches and kills Fortunato. This is the name of the company that the family runs in the plot. Finally, there are also tributes to Poe’s personal life. The protagonists’ mother is called Eliza, like the writer’s.
Second episode: The Masque of the Red Death
The original story, which gives the chapter its title, is reinvented to tell a contemporary story. As you will remember, the narrative told how Prince Prospero locked himself in the middle of a plague and let his subjects die, while he enjoyed a kind of hedonistic retreat, half orgy, half endless feast. In the end, death, with a red mask, appears and ends up infecting him.
In this episode of The Fall of the House of UsherMike Flanagan transforms the premise into that of a playboy who ends up dead from the toxic waste that his family did not take care of treating. The parallel is obvious, much more so with Verna, dressed in red from head to toe.
But the references don’t end there. In a memory, a Roderick Younger, played by Zach Gilford, recites the entire poem by Annabelle Lee. The latter, one of Poe’s first successes as a writer.
Third episode: The crimes of morgue Street
On this occasion, the script uses the characters from the original story to focus attention on its moral about greed and perversion. Camille L’Espanaye, a character in the story played by Kate Siegel, becomes a way to understand the mismanagement of the Usher company. And of course, she dies in the same way—or in a very cruel metaphor—as the eponymous literary figure. Mutilated by a violent chimpanzee.
The plot, at the same time, does not fail to remind us that this is the first detective story in literature. Dupin He appears on more than one occasion and it is his voice that tells the story.
Fourth episode: The black cat
Here the references are clear. Pluto It’s the cat—black—of Napoleon Usher (Rahul Kohli). But this time, instead of a murder and an arrest, the series summarizes the narrative in animal abuse – attention to those sensitive to the subject – and in the end, a poetic revenge.
Which adds to the plot, a modern sense about unethical scientific practices and how evil always ends up returning to the hands of the villain. The main theme of the premise imagined by Edgar Allan Poe.
Fifth episode: The Tell-Tale Heart
Also based directly on the story by Edgar Allan Poe, this episode of The Fall of the House of Usher analyzes the center of the story from the point of view of bioethics. Between the murder of a witness and the guilt of the main character, the plot develops identically.
Only instead of the victim’s beating heart, it’s a heart valve. This is heard until it is maddening and a sign of fear turned into a moral.
Sixth episode: goldbug
The great reference in this episode of The Fall of the House of Usher a gift for readers. The introduction of Arthur Gordon Pym (Mark Hamill), is a celebration of the work of Edgar Allan Poe. In addition to the fact that the character is named after the protagonist of his only novel —The narration of Arthur Gordon Pym—, the episode deepens and summarizes the plot of the work.
A curious fact that the chapter also includes is that Verna’s alter ego, Pamela Clemm, bears the last name of the writer’s wife. Finally, the character’s address—1849 Reynolds Street—mixes the year of the writer’s death with the strange phrase he shouted before dying.
Seventh episode: The well and the pendulum
From verna reciting the poem that gives the chapter its title, until including the plot of the poem Berenice for the death of one of his characters. This is the episode of The Fall of the House of Usher most sinister and the closest to the work of Edgar Allan Poe.
At the same time, he is the one who remembers that a large part of the writer’s heritage is found in his unhealthy symbols. Like losing teeth, fate of one of the main figures of the plot.
Eighth episode: The Raven
Verna quotes the poem by The Raven, by Edgar Allan Poe, in its entirety, when he murders Lenore to finally put an end to the perfidious Usher legacy. But in itself, the entire chapter transfers the plot of the poem and combines it with that of The Fall of the House of Usher.
And this is how the final scene of The Fall of the House of Usher It is identical to the one in the story and with the same connotation of the total destruction of a family condemned to darkness for their atrocities.