The Fall of the House of Usher (Netflix Original)
 

Has anybody checked this out yet?

Another drama/horror hybrid from Mike Flanagan.

This one is like Succession meets Flanagan.

I'm 4 episodes in, and it's probably my favorite of his since The Haunting of Hill House.

My wife likes the Flanagan shows and I end up watching them with her. I tend to think they are pretty dumb, but this one isn’t too bad.

He's hit or miss for me, but slightly more hits than misses after this one.

Ah it's that guy, eh?

I remember enjoying his previous two netflix shows. I'll check this out maybe this weekend.

Watched E1 last night and picked up the Succession vibes

Looking forward to rattling off more episodes tonight

Oh well if you liked episode 1, you will definitely like the rest. First one was easily the worst episode so far, and that is backed up by IMDB ratings of each episode.

Yeah, my wife had already started it and I missed the 1st episode. I watched episodes 2 and 3 before going back to 1 and it felt remarkably different.

I should also retract my previous statement that I usually find his series to be dumb. That’s a bit strong. They just aren’t usually my speed, but that doesn’t make them dumb.

The endings to episodes 2 and 3 really got me hooked.

I see something is by Mike Flanagan I've got to watch it. The Haunting of Hill House is still probably my favorite but this came close. The build up was fantastic and the last episode was pure unadulterated payoff. Loved it!

E2 is indeed amazing

Wait till you get to the lemon speech.

Just amazing dialogue.

So I finished this last night, and the final episode, while not terrible, was so full of political BS that it honestly almost ruined the entire show for me.

I kid you not, they actually make reference to Trump, and when they do, it feels like the actors in the scene are breaking character. That's how forced it was. It was just way too on the nose, and it didn't stop there.

I'll give it a 7/10, but it could've easily been an 8 if they just showed some restraint with their political agenda. The actual ending wasn't even bad otherwise, but when you watch it you will understand just how ridiculous they got with the politics.

I watched episode 1 and enjoyed it. I'll do my best to tune out any political nonsense, because it's completely unnecessary in what amounts to a ghost story.

Other than a couple of minor things, it's not an issue until the finale.

But holy shit the finale is absolutely loaded with it.

I really enjoyed the whole series. Yes, it threw in a little political bulls**t at the end (Want to earn bonus cred points in Hollywood? Just mention Trump's name in a derogatory way somewhere in the movie.) but maybe it's been done so often it doesn't even register with me. I loved the way the story wrapped up. I'd give it an 8.5 out of 10. Not quite a 9 but well worth watching for any Mike Flanagan fan. :thumb:

I liked Midnight Mass even better. He nailed that. And being raised Catholic he included so many small and authentic details it was creepy how much it made me remember. It was perfectly executed.

Saved a watch then...pass

On episode 6. Really good so far. Some really ****ed up stuff lmao.

E6 had me rolling when the scary chick told the freaky housewife who likes to watch her husband service other women..."he's eaten a lot of ass on your behalf" LMAO

This show is ****ing outstanding.

Through ep. 4 and don't have much else to add. It's just a really cool idea that is executed extremely well.

YES!

"And then you make ****ing lemonade..."

Dammit that was awesome.

Bruce Greenwood is one of those slept-on actors who's never really been huge (though he's had a very good career) who I'm always happy to see in something. He just brings gravitas to any role he's in.

And man is he perfect in this.

"Loaded"

Jesus Christ.

It's literally 3 ****ing lines and that's the extent. I was expecting some huge political expose, but that's not even remotely close to the case. Holy shit you're a snowflake if that hurt your feelings.

It's literally

"I made a deal with a guy that could shoot someone on 5th avenue."

"When's that coming to an end because even I can only handle so much"

That's it.

That's the only thing.

It's nothing. You'll see when you finish it.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/rIK-q6JoOeU?si=hnau6l3Q4FJKgrmz" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" allowfullscreen></iframe>

No, the finale was full of political messaging. It wasn't just that.

You get an anti-capitalism speech from Verna with the Trump reference, and you also get a little feminism rant from Madeline that references shit like abortion rights.

Again, it didn't completely ruin the finale or the show for me, but it was absolutely unnecessary and took me out of the finale multiple times.

And that's with me ignoring the political BS earlier in the season that I just rolled my eyes at ("Fox news", pics when they discover Verna throughout history with all the evil people some of whom just happen to be Republicans with no Democrats).

Just because you agree with the politics doesn't mean they aren't littered throughout the series. It also doesn't mean it's a bad series or one not worth watching. I still enjoyed it overall, and I'd recommend it.

I just find it hilarious how the people that agree with the politics want to gaslight you and tell you it's not there.

I guarantee dlphg9 would get his panties in a twist if it were CNN instead of Fox, Biden instead of Trump, etc. but since he agrees with it it's fine and you're a cry baby for noticing and simply complaining that it took you out of the series. It just NEVER goes the other way, so of course you get to pretend that anybody who points it out and dislikes it is just crying.

The difference between people like me and you is that I just don't want the on the nose politics period. It's not about whether I agree or disagree. Honestly, they could've just as easily been more subtle about it like Succession and I wouldn't have even had an issue with it.

Through episode 7, there's nothing politically that stands out much. The pics of Verna were mostly with "captains of industry". Zuckerberg was in one of them.

To me the most "woke" thing about the show is the fact that in 1980 a young, black, openly gay attorney A) is given the task of prosecuting one of the most powerful companies in the country, and B) damn near succeeds.

Never used the word "woke" to describe this show.

IIRC pics of Verna included multiple Republicans and zero Democrats.

Also, I said it's not much until the finale, but you also get the Fox News is bad reference when they do exactly what Camille wanted them to do.

Edit: old pics of Verna included Kavanaugh, Murdoch, McConnell, Trump, Bush, etc. with zero Democrats. Surely that's just a coincidence!

All the others were rich people that the left have grievances with.

https://mashable.com/article/the-fal...ith-david-koch

The 'cat' episode is a little weaker. Greenwood is still killing it, though and there was some necessary character development (notably Usher's ascendance and additional insight into his father).

Heh. I actually saw this last night. Just finished EP2 last night.

This show gives some American Horror Story vibes with the shock-sex stuff etc.

It levels out after Ep 2 (unless it picks back up)

Because yeah, that one is right proper ****ed up...

Greenwood and Hamil were so ****ing good.

I've watched that lemon scene a half dozen times and even the camera work is awesome.

Like after Dupin says "you make lemonade" and it pulls Usher back into focus from the foreground at the same time as he makes that 'you ignorant ****er' look.

As he gets rolling you slowly get that really minimalist piano soundtrack come in and the whole time the camera is slowly pulling in on a single shot until Usher's face is taking up the whole frame and it flips to an aghast Dupin. Dupin started in that shot and the camera work was so subtle that you didn't even realize it was happening until it was done.

I mean that's a damn 2 minute scene and it's just masterfully done.

Yea, easily my favorite scene of the series.

Just finished episode 2. That Prospero party ending was pretty ****ed.

Finished it last night, and it was very good. As far as the politics, what little there was fit into the story very well. You'd have to go out of your way to be annoyed by that little bit of nothing.

Oh I'd love to hear you explanation of how the Trump reference "fit into the story very well".

Explain to me how it makes any sense narratively to have an evil, murderous, and overly serious character like Hamil's say "he is even too bad for me!".

It doesn't. It was a blatant example of the writer(s) TDS flaring up in the middle (or end) of their story. Completely unnecessary and 100% forced. Again, I don't give a single **** about Trump. It was watching Hamil break character that annoyed the shit out of me.

Also, love how you completely ignored my post proving that the old pics of Verna were another version of "(only) Republicans are bad".

If "making a deal with the devil" was a real thing, Trump would be an obvious candidate for doing so. One of many obvious candidates.

In my opinion, the political references were barely there. The only reason I made note of them at all was this discussion.

Last I checked, Zuckerberg isn't a Republican. Yes there were more Republicans in the photos, but so what? They should've made sure to show an equal number of people from both parties?

Thanks for proving my point that many of you will see no issue with it because it fits your politics/narrative. If it were a Biden reference, with blatant Republican bias throughout, you'd call it what it is.

And Zuckerberg isn't Republican, but as I noted, even the ones that aren't Republican are rich people that the left has grievances with for poltical reasons.

From the article I posted:

And it's not about there being "more Republicans in the photos", it's about there being only Republicans in terms of politicians.

If it had been a Biden reference, I would've had the same reaction: total indifference. I'm not going to get worked up because of a barely-there political reference in a work of fiction.

You keep saying shit like "barely-there" but I've pointed to multiple examples beyond that that aren't even debatable.

This is what pisses me off about the discussion of politics in movie/shows. It only goes one way so of course the people that agree with it don't have an issue, but to say that it's not there when it clearly is is 100% gaslighting.

You can say it doesn't bother you or you don't care, but don't tell me it's not there.

I didn't say it wasn't there. I said it was barely there.

And I disproved your "barely there" shit with multiple examples, like I said.

Not only was it there, it was clearly a big part of the overall message. It wasn't just "the rich are bad". It was "the rich are bad and the evil republicans that enable them are worse".

Now Succession, that was a show where it was there but "barely". That's how it's done subtlety.

It was a few seconds, and there was no overall message IMO. We just saw it differently.

The Trump reference was a few seconds. Everything else I've pointed to establsihes a pattern, and it was deliberate.

It's not a coincidence that they referenced Trump, only used Republican politicians in the old pics of Verna, called out Fox News specfically out of all the MSM outlets, referenced abortion rights, had an anti-capitalism rant, etc.

Are you seriously going to pretend that all of that had nothing to do with the overall message?

We just have differing opinions of the show. I'm not saying either of us is right or wrong, but you obviously have a tendency to go from zero to pissed in 2.5 seconds.

What you're doing is refusing to address the facts because you don't actually have a good argument against them or my point.

But fine. We'll agree to disagree.

It's my opinion that the political stuff is barely noticeable. You obviously disagree.

Whether you noticed them or not doesn't mean they're not there and there wasn't a pattern.

We have anyone else that thinks the last episode was loaded with political things?

I could accept the argument that "loaded" might've been hyperbolic, but to claim it's just not there or that the message wasn't at all political is either disingenuous or ignorant.

I've posted several examples, even outside of the finale. You're just choosing to ignore them.

Take these girl beefs to the Tay Tay thread

He was my favorite character of the series.

For me it came across a bit goofy early on until they developed his story then he became an instant Hardest Character nominee for sure

Also

Oh I'm 100% with you on that.

This show is ****ing awful.

That settles it... now I know I will like it.

He really does bat 1.000

Any more recommendations of "awful" shows?

Yeah. Almost anything my girlfriend watches. So this one. Everything on the Food Network. Greys Anatomy. 911. FBI. Not Dead Yet. How much time do you got buddy?

So the ending is a little on the nose; pretty cliched horror movie stuff. The Pym confrontation was excellent but the rest seemed awfully telegraphed.

The politics didn't really power through; just Madeline's speech at the end really. And she's a post-modern feminist through and through so nothing she said was out of character or forced. It's that belief structure that made her lonely careerist when the end came so again; nothing white-knight about it. Just a certain character behaving/believing the way you would expect that character to behave.

Someone asked why Roderick would keep having children and I think that answer is pretty simple - he never TRULY believed her. You could squint and get to pride creating the fall in that truly believed his excellence was what created everything that followed.

All told, I'll go 8, 8.5. Really good show that mostly landed the plane but seemed to lose the creativity that drove the rest of the series.

I think I gave it a 7.5, so close enough.

You make a good point about Madeline. I guess it makes sense, maybe it just felt that way because she didn't actually get political until that final episode, but I understand your point about it still being true to her character.

That didn't bother me as much as that god awful Trump reference, and Hamil breaking character.

Also, Verna lecturing humanity about how we have the power/money to end all suffering but you filthy humans are greedy ("capitalism is bad").

But again, Poe has a very dark and semi-biblical sort of storytelling approach. I mean FFS, she's the devil; of course religious allegory is going to come into play. And you can go straight to citing scripture if you want to get to 'Capitalism is bad'.

Luke 15:25 is the most obvious example in there -- "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God..."

Which I've never read as "you can be wealthy OR you can go to heaven" but rather that the trappings of - and often the quest for - wealth can create temptations that are harder for man to overcome. And when you look at the choice Roderick made w/r/t his family, it all dovetails together pretty cleanly. None of that felt forced.

I suspect the 'Trump reference' is the "I could shoot someone on 5th avenue and get away with it" line? Eh - a little shoehorned but nothing that broke me from the show. And I can't say I noticed Hamil breaking character.

It's the fact that Hamil's character, a murderer, and by all accounts a cold-hearted evil person, follows it up with:

I will give you the Madeline scene, and maybe even the Verna thing, but that was 100% Mark Hamil's line, not Pym's.

I guess the other stuff wouldn't have bothered me so much if they didn't have the Trump reference, the old pics of Verna with only Republicans, and the Fox News scene. Just felt like there was too much blatant shit pointing to the writer's political biases.

I fully understand that I'm probably giving this stuff too much attention, but it's just unavoidable at this point, and I'm over it. I can't even watch a Disney movie with some "I know socialism is a charged word" bullshit.

It doesn't keep me enjoying shit that's actually good, but it's tiresome.

Interesting.

See, I felt like they laid the groundwork for Pym's response in episode 6(?) when Roderick gives the short speech about Pym and his history.

It made Pym appear, to me anyway, to be the only truly upright character in the whole sordid mess. And maybe upright isn't the right word, but someone who had a compass that he operated within. Someone who had seen the world, for all its good AND evil. And had come to terms with it.

I think when it comes to the Ushers and his duties/obligations to them, there were no limits to speak of (I'd have been fascinated to get to the root of that). But remember that she noted that the Ushers time was at an end right out of the chute - he KNEW that was over. So now it was a question of what HE would be willing to give. And according to Roderick he saw some shit up north that was straight up supernatural.

He, more than anyone else involved in the story, has been set up as someone who would fully grasp the consequences of a Faustian bargain. So I think it's less an attempt to demonstrate his limits and more an effort at showing how experience has given him an awareness and understanding of what it is that's on the table here. It isn't to show that his heart grew three sizes that day, but rather that even someone who is able to operate in moral gray areas like he has is scared of what will come of this deal she's offering.

It's not morality on display - it's fear.

I took it as he had someone he cared about somewhere. He had a pretty substantial pause before he Noped right out of there. But I may have misread it.

Oh that’s the Trump reference? I missed that. I saw the picture but missed the line.

RE: Madelyn’s speech - I didn’t see that as political grandstanding. She pretty much told political grandstanders to **** off. Everyone in the end is fine with what they were doing.

I dunno. I might have not followed.

I believe she had a picture with Roosevelt (I presume FDR - doesn’t matter they were both democrats).

I hear you in the political shit. It irritates my wife way
More than me. She is pretty sensitive to the Disney stuff because our kids watch it.

I enjoyed it, that was worth the binge.



And goodness, Carla Gugino is still a smokeshow.

Has always been one of my favorites and you're not kidding - she's held together incredibly well.

Started watching Haunting of Hill House on the buzz around this thread. Two episodes down. The constant time skips and extremely slow burn have me puzzled at the hype. I'm assuming it picks up?

God damn, she's 52? She's banging.

Yeah. Carla is damn fine. I’d win wars for her today.

Roderick was a huge piece of shit but good Lord, Madeline was somehow even worse.

About halfway through. Love it. I'm a big Poe fan so I dig what they are doing with this in a modern setting.

Was kinda hard to watch at first but if you stick with it very good! :thumb:

You think she's ...

I saw the show as ultimately being a statement on society rather than being political. The Trump line is ultimately a throwaway, but it would have been weirder if ...



I think it's brilliant, not just as a horror but also as an insight. Anyone who steers clear because someone said "Oh, it's so political!" is really missing out.

I just assumed she was some sort of demon. At least up until she seemed reluctant to take the grandchild because she was actually a decent person.

Still, the deal seemed like a pretty standard crossroads demon type of stuff.

Kind of bullshit that you can damn someone else’s soul, though..

Finished House Hill. A nice ending with a nice message. The overlong monologs where it felt like the characters weren't talking to each other but rather just delivering something worthy of a stage play for the audience in the back to hear was a bit too indulgent for my tastes.