The Fall of the House of Usher

Succession is going through a bicurious goth phase.

Mike Flanagan's latest effort is an undeniable feather in his cap but it is also sloppy. It's essentially Final Destination meets Faust with Friday the 13th victims in an opioid epidemic revenge fantasy. Yeah, sloppy. There is some undeniably good work here but there also appears to be little evolution from Flanagan and this series played out in many predictable ways. Good but not great. And Flanagan from out that Hill House that lies floating on the floor shall be lifted - nevermore.

Flanagan has been great at mixing drama with horror, and this Poe potpourri is no exception. By design you know where it's going in every episode, which becomes a bit samey eventually, and some of the social commentary feels a bit "there just because". But still highly enjoyable.

I like Flannegan's cinematographic style and he does occasionally land seriously creepy set-pieces--plus Prospero's episode was nothing short of sublime. The problem is that Flannegan seems to have bit off for more than he could chew with this one. The Succession-styled billionaire intrigue (but with the Sacklers instead of Murdochs) injected into Poe stories really required serious torture of the script and an excessive amount of throat-clearing exposition. It's a lukewarm compromise of genres.

This guy just can't control himself. If he sees a chance to have five minutes of dialogue spelling everything out, he'll take it almost every time. If he sees a chance for a rant that sounds like it's coming from an edgy teenager, he's gonna grab it. This would have been a pretty good Final Destination goes fairytale type of a show if it had been two or three hours shorter.Literally all the characters were paper thin, but that wouldn't have mattered as much if we'd see less of them.

The more it unravels, the less interesting it gets, up to a point when it's straight out dull to a "rich people are stupid and evil"-level and the "good" character starts monologuing about real wealth coming from family and love and yeah...yawn.

Flanagan has done it again. One of the best series of 2023.

If you're deciding to ride the coat tails of Succession's success, can't you at least try to come up with your own soundtrack? Or are we just gonna copy paste that too? So shameless. The people at post production need to watch some more movies to see what good tv looks like and how it is color graded.

A decent watch with some fun death scenes. Flanagan feels more restricted here than inspired, in regards to staying within the framework of all being Poe stories connected by central characters. I think fans of his will be fine though. A good (familiar) cast and some creepy moments. The one thing I really didn't buy, was young and old versions being the same character. It just didn't click for me.

S1: 60/100

Solid story with thrilling episodes. It was an overall pleasure, except for the finale, which was predictable and somewhat disappointing.

Loved everything about this show!

Another Flanagan masterclass. The Poe references are immaculately woven into the narrative. On occassion, many characters can feel cartoonishly evil, but it works.

I can't pinpoint my exact frustration with this series. It's kind of really good. It features absolutely devastating and horrifying fates. Goddamn that rave episode ending lives in my head rent free. I broke out in sobs when "death" spoke with one of the last Ushers, saying "None of this was your fault". But. All of the characters are so unlikeable, it's hard to mourn their demise (aside from one). Am I supposed to cheer for poetic justice or feel bad for the sins of their father, not their own?

Homes Under the Hammer

A nice bit of horror and evil with some great performances, but it drags for too long and gets too didactic in the end.

You guys know how I can't but love angry art, and this, for all it's other faults (of which there are many) surely is that.

It's a testament to Flanagan's ability to juggle so many characters and so many storylines that this continues to work as it goes along, because the dramatic rug is largely pulled out from underneath it in the first episode, and most surprises can be caught early by tepid Poe experts. As a glossy, well-structured story and a love letter to Poe, it's a fun spookytime treat with some real highlight performances.

The middle episodes get repetitive. There is little natural suspense when the audience knows where things are heading. But the finale lands and satisfies, and the production is exquisite as a whole. It's worth the ride.

Very entertaining, well paced. Fun to watch, trying to figure out how they'll weave it all together… of course it had to be that way, a classic trope but well done. Plus, the house literally fell: the title wasn't a lie.

Ufa! Fiquei tão traumatizada com o final porco da Hill House que achei que este iria pelo mesmo caminho. O jeito que a série amálgama toda a obra do Poe numa coesão enxuta muito me impressionou, não tenho a mínima ideia de como quem não conhece Poe se sentiu, mas achei uma homenagem brilhante. PirateBay.