“The Fall of the Usher House” follows the Usher family and how they are being met with death. The show was made by the producers of my favorite horror series on Netflix, “The Haunting” series. That is, “The Haunting of the Hill House” and “The Haunting of Bly Manor.”
Actors in “The Fall of The Usher House”
My favorite part of the production is using actors from past series. For example, Kate Siegel, who was in “The Haunting” series and “The Fall of The Usher House,” has seen her acting improve with different roles in each. In “The Haunting of the Hill House,” she is intelligent and observant but lacks confidence, while in this show she is confident but rude and seems to be disliked by many.
We get to experience Carla Gugino and her overall acting within both series. Gugino in “The Haunting of the Hill House” plays an innocent mother who is being haunted with thoughts about her children dying. While in this series she plays a killer coming back to retrieve a deal that was made. Overall every actor gave us their all in this series.
The plot
From the very first scene, the viewer is drawn into the plot. It opens with a funeral for three people. The Father, Rodrick Usher, is being haunted by scenes of his children’s death. While this is happening he sees a woman watching over him.
We quickly meet the Assistant U.S. Attorney, Auguste Dupin, who goes to the Usher childhood home to meet Rodrick. This is the start of the whole story, the narrator is Rodrick, who tells us how everyone died within a week, along with his confession to 73 charges.
We are taken back to 1953 where we watch how Rodrick and his twin Madeline start to shape the life they will live. In 1962 their mother gets sick, the twins try to help until they find her dead and decide to bury her. That’s where they are haunted for the first time.
We flash back to present day where their mother’s ghost appears behind Dupin’s chair. As Rodrick continues telling us how each of his children die, he is visited by their ghosts. Each episode is dedicated to a sibling and how they died. As we watch, we see they are all killed by different forms of the same woman. The question we ask ourselves is: Why did they have to die?
My opinion
Every question the viewer could have is answered by the last episode. The writers leave the viewer with a cliffhanger at the end of every episode. That is until the ending which is overall satisfying — despite the fact that, basically, everyone dies.
I grew to love characters and hate others. In my opinion it’s a win for the writers because I was hooked the whole time. Like I mentioned before, every actor gave it their all for their role. Even the actors that were only in the series for one or two episodes preformed like they were there for the whole series.
Some of the deaths were hard to watch. For example, Camille was mauled by chimpanzees or the acid rain that killed Prospero. I had to turn away from the TV because it was disturbing to see the aftermath.
Overall, due to the way they had Rodrick tell the story, I enjoyed watching it all play out. I usually do not like horror, but the producers of this series know how to keep it entertaining. I would recommend this show to anyone who wants to watch something scary but still fall asleep at night.