Television series

The Fall of the House of Usher

Name: The Fall of the House of Usher
Genre: Drama, Horror
Released: 2023
Cast: Bruce Greenwood, Mary McDonnell, Carla Gugino, Mark Hamill, Carl Lumbly

Other titles called The Fall of the House of Usher: the 1928 film.

Family drama
Very dark

Mike Flanagan's operatic reckoning with Poe's 'House of Usher' unfolds as a multigenerational crime saga laced with supernatural dread. It's gorgeously shot, heavy with Gothic atmosphere, and driven by the creeping certainty that wealth built on exploitation will devour itself. For viewers who want prestige horror that takes its moral weight seriously.

TVMaze rating

3.7

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you enjoy gothic family melodrama that takes its time, with Poe references you can enjoy as a bonus, and a cast that clearly relishes the rot beneath all that velvet.

Skip it if you want fright and momentum from the first episode; this is a slow, talky build where the dread accumulates through conversation and mood more than scares.

What it asks of you: Eight roughly hour-long episodes of patient, heavily stylised storytelling, so it rewards sitting down for a stretch rather than dipping in between other things.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

Succession2018

A dynasty built on corruption and cruelty watches its heirs turn on each other. It has the same ruthless energy, the same sense of inevitable collapse, the same black comedy threading through betrayal and dread.

But Slower and more cerebral than The Fall of the House of Usher; less overtly supernatural, more purely psychological. Four seasons is a commitment.

The Haunting of Hill House2018

Flanagan's other masterpiece: a family trauma story wrapped in genuine scares. Beautifully composed, densely layered, heartbreaking and terrifying in equal measure. If you loved one, the other is essential.

But Some episodes are heavy psychological drama with minimal horror. If you want jump scares and spectacle, you'll find quieter passages instead.

Godless2017

A Western about a town run by women where a wounded outlaw arrives to destabilize everything. Built on moral ambiguity and gorgeous cinematography. That same sense of a corrupt system slowly caving in on itself.

But Seven episodes total; some find the pacing uneven. The plot is simpler than you might expect from the setup.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from The Fall of the House of Usher

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

The Invisible Man1933

Both are tragedies about brilliant corruption—men destroyed and destroying those around them by the very gift that was supposed to elevate them. The invisible man and the House of Usher are both about the monster you create when ambition has no ethics.

Universal's original adaptation of H.G. Wells features Claude Rains as a brilliant scientist undone by his own ambition and invisibility driving him mad. It's Gothic horror as a family dynasty collapse—power without restraint becomes monstrosity, and the corrupting influence spreads to everyone nearby.

But Made in 1933 and shot in black-and-white. The pacing is slower than modern horror, and the special effects are primitive by today's standards, though still inventive.

The Midnight Club2022

Flanagan again, this time with seven dying strangers in a mansion, each harboring secrets. Nested stories, beautiful production design, death waiting at every turn. That same atmospheric dread.

But Tone shifts from episode to episode as different characters take focus. The anthology structure means some stories land harder than others.

Penny Dreadful2014

Victorian Gothic pastiche that pulls from Dracula, Frankenstein, and doomed Victorian literature. Operatic and baroque, featuring morally murky characters and gorgeous grotesquerie. The closest cousin to Usher's sensibility.

But Very dark, moves slowly, and requires patience with melodrama and period dialogue. Some plots meander before resolving.

The Outsider2020

Stephen King adaptation about a detective unraveling something that shouldn't exist. It builds dread methodically and features an ensemble cast where everyone has secrets. That same slow-burn sense of corruption and rot.

But Feels more like a crime procedural than pure horror. The supernatural reveal lands late, and some viewers find the pacing deliberate to the point of frustration.

The Haunting of Bly Manor2020

Henry James' The Turn of the Screw becomes a love story haunted by ghosts and complicity. Achingly beautiful, melancholic, with characters who are neither fully guilty nor innocent. Flanagan's most emotionally devastating work.

But Slower and sadder than Usher. Less plot-driven, more meditative. If you want momentum and mystery, this prioritizes atmosphere and grief instead.

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities2022

Eight self-contained horror stories from a master craftsman. Each is gorgeously designed, darkly funny, and morally complicated. Similar Gothic sensibility to Usher but in bite-sized form.

But Anthology structure means no narrative momentum and uneven quality. Some tales are masterful; others feel slight. Requires tolerance for short-form storytelling.

Guillermo del Toro's Cabinet of Curiosities poster

Ozark2017

Both trace how corruption metastasizes through a family across generations. Where Usher uses death as judgment, Ozark asks what surviving that judgment actually costs.

A money launderer and his wife navigate a criminal empire that expands into a corrupt dynasty spanning multiple families. It's Usher without the supernatural: the same operatic inevitability, the same sense of children inheriting their parents' sins, the same ruthlessness wrapped in desperate justification.

But Extremely dark and occasionally brutally violent. The moral compromise deepens relentlessly. By the final season, there are no good people left, which some viewers find draining rather than cathartic.

The House of the Spirits1993

Both ask how a house becomes a character itself—how the sins of ancestors poison every room and every generation born within it. Both understand that the real curse isn't supernatural; it's inherited and inescapable.

Spanning fifty years across a family scarred by political violence and personal tragedy, this adapts Isabel Allende's novel with Meryl Streep, Jeremy Irons, and Glenn Close. It's a haunted-house narrative where the hauntings are generational trauma and the spirits are memory itself—every bit as Gothic as Usher but rooted in political rather than supernatural horror.

But At 139 minutes it sprawls across multiple timelines and dozens of characters. Some find it overwrought; the ambition sometimes exceeds the execution. The political dimension might feel distant if you're accustomed to pure genre horror.