The Fall of the House of Usher is a modern retelling of the Edgar and Poe story of the same name, but woven throughout this story we get pieces from other classic stories written by Poe.

Without giving away too much, the series follows Roderick Gosher played incredibly well by Bruce Greenwood. The CEO of a corrupt pharmaceutical company. He calls upon an old friend turned enemy to confess him his sins after his children begin dying in a mysterious and violent fashion.

The series is 8 episodes long, with each episode running roughly 1 to 1 hour and a quarter long.

Each episode also features Roderick Free counting events that lead him to where he sits at his dilapidated childhood home where he and his twin sister Madeline grew up. And that’s where I’ll stop it there as far as going into many details of the story itself.

Now what I have to say here is that Flanagan is an incredible storyteller, and I think we all know this, but this is without a doubt his best work yet. The way he delivers compelling characters, set in a spooky background of horror mystery, really sets him among the great storytellers. The Fall of the House of Usher is easily the spiciest, darkest, and most brutally violent story he’s ever produced.

The effects and visuals are beautifully gore-tastic in their own horrific way You’re not even ready for what’s to come in episode 2. I found some scenes to be perfectly unsettling with their gore and violence they really stand up to some of the biggest modern day horror films. As I watched each episode with some sort of homicidal glee, I really didn’t want it to end.

He manages to pull out some of the best performances out of his cast. There was a single person in The Fall of the House of Usher who doesn’t deliver a masterclass in acting. In particular, Mark Hamill, who played Arthur Pim really brought this eerie calmness to his role, Carla Gugino’s Verna, is a scene-stealing seductress who kills it with her foreboding sex appeal. But we really can’t forget Bruce Greenwood’s Roderick Usher. As I understand it, every one of the scenes he was in was actually an emergency reshoot due to some issues with the previous actor who had to be let go for some unsavory behavior. Bruce killed his role as this ultra wealthy man recounting the events that brought him to where he is when we see him. He’s sad and reflective with each word and action. If he’s not up for an award this year, someone is sleeping at the switch.

Near the end of the series – there’s this incredible speech with some very thoughtful and poignant social commentary. It made me pause and reflect on those words and this scene stuck with me for days after.

To wrap this whole review up into a nice deep little package, I’d say that Fall of the House of Usher is Flanagan is the real crown jewel in Netflix and Flanagans working relationship. The cast crushed their roles, the set pieces were amazing and the visuals are a real treat.

Simply put, The Fall of the House of Usher is a perfect series for any horror mystery fan to enjoy this October.

All episodes drop on Netflix, October 12, 2023.