She’s coming for them all.
In this wicked series from Mike Flanagan (The Haunting of Hill House) and based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, ruthless siblings Roderick and Madeline Usher have built Fortunato Pharmaceuticals into an empire of wealth, privilege and power. But past secrets come to light when the heirs to the Usher dynasty start dying at the hands of a mysterious woman from their youth.
You honestly make a really good point. I feel a bit silly after thinking about it in context. I’ve always wanted to see a great live-action faithful adptation of House of Usher, and I maybe projected that on the initial announcement without thinking about Flanagan’s past adaptations.
Counterpoint, though - Hill House may have been a modernization that didn’t follow the original characters, but it did capture the essense of the original '63 film - characters moving into a semi-remote mansion with a troubled past, groundskeepers unwilling to stay after dark, a haunting that forces characters to reconcile with their psychologocal trauma. It had the same vibe as the original.
This Usher trailer looks like a complete departure from the story. When I think of the Poe story, its dripping with decay, fading prominence, remoteness, illness. There are really only 3 characters. This trailer is showing me a guy dying of some kind of violence, and then a packed trial of a crime family? Its set in modern luxury high-rise apartments? Hill House may have had a very different set of characters, but it matched the vibe. I’m not feeling the “Fall of the House of Usher” vibe here.
Sorry I know you’re probably not interested in my opinion, but its fun to talk about this.
Oh, that’s interesting!
Yeah, i’m not totally sure what to make of this trailer. It feels very actiony, but I wonder if that’s just Netflix trying extra hard to make this seem ‘exciting’? I’ve seen so many trailers, especially horror-esque, where the edit the trailer to feel like it’s from a completely different genre than the movie.
Definitely agree the weirdness of the setting and context. Not sure what the luxury high-rise will bring to the story.