**Spoiler-free**

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.

Mike Flanagan has been making his name in recent years on Netflix with the likes of The Haunting of Hill House, The Haunting of Bly Manor, and Midnight Mass as well as writing the screenplay and Directing the big screen adaptation of Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep – the Director’s Cut of this is sublime. In all these, he’s facilitating the creation of incredible domains, dark and mysterious, brutal, and beautiful – sinking in his teeth into the shadowy worlds that surround us and telling stories with complex characters and genuine depth.

There’s no doubt that The Fall of the House of Usher continues these themes, yet it is different to what’s come before, and for me that’s definitely a positive thing. I don’t think you need a rehash of what’s come before, and you can tell that Flanagan knows this as surprises are withheld, the connections relevant for today’s world, plus the balanced shocks hit home with genuine jump scares (but good ones) and sheer strength. The other thing I really appreciated is that it’s a lot less subtle than some of its predecessors, whereas TFOTHOU (as I’ll use here from time to time) reveals at the very start what’s coming but then unravels backwards, from story to story – and are they all related? Well, I’m definitely not here to give that type of thing away.

I think it’s clear to say that The Fall of the House of Usher certainly deals with the macabre, mythology and psychological with an equal dose of deft touch and directness, and when your work is inspired by one of the masters of Gothic literature, a certain Edgar Allan Poe, then you know we’re going into a space that’s conceivably not safe for anyone.

While avoiding spoilers, I can say that the true reveal of how the House of Usher falls is one packed with stupendous, thoughtful monologue moments, led by a compelling lead performance from Bruce Greenwood as Roderick Usher. He’s always been a welcome character actor in any piece of work but this time around he’s front and centre throughout – and it’s a masterclass. Every nuance and decision, both bad and good, is etched on his entire body. With that in mind, you’ll learn that the power of the Usher family is rooted in what they build for themselves, and for Roderick it’s alongside Madeline Usher, which also gives us a restrained yet commanding Mary McDonnell also bringing her A-Game.

TFOTHOU is indisputably an ensemble piece, like Flanagan’s work that’s come before, and he’s taken quite the selection of actors along on his journey. Another lead is the exquisitely brilliant Carla Gugino (who blew my mind with her talent every moment on-screen), plus genuinely great portrayals from Henry Thomas (irrational), Kate Siegel (stirring) Samantha Sloyan (superb), T’Nia Miller (penetrating), Rahul Kohli (flawed plus YNWA), alongside important parts for Willa Fitzgerald, Daniel Chae Jun, Kyliegh Curran, Ruth Codd, Matt Biedel, Aya Furukawa, Igby Rigney, Zach Gilford, Annabeth Gish, and Sauriyan Sapkota. That’s not all though, because there’s also Mark Hamill giving the performance of a lifetime, meticulous and unusually unrecognisable (in a good way, you’ll see) and fully inhabiting lawyer Arthur Pym, not forgetting an outstanding piece of work from Carl Lumbly – as Auguste Dupin – who is vital as a compatriot of Greenwood’s Roderick Usher.

“…Better to watch something grow than let it slowly die…”

While it’s easy for me to list names, it’s important as they all give everything to the cause and episode by episode, they have their moments to excel, packed full of self-righteousness but also the ability to implode when things can’t be controlled, something that Roderick will discuss with Auguste in true reflection and with emotion at a significant point. Another thing you’d come to expect from Flanagan, and his writing team that includes Dani Parker and work with Justina Ireland, is those seemingly effortless monologues of honesty – and they’re here as we delve into the likes of what ‘people’ really want from life to what they think they want, as well as the politics of reality and the ease of spinning a story for the right audience – something Kate Siegel’s character is an expert in. Are there comments on big pharma and the obsession of money? Sure. It also made me ponder that when the rich stay rich, they barely have any preference for real moral or ethical choices, because they’ve never been through everyday life. For me, that’s the story of brutal capitalism, of progression, of politics at the top – it’s difficult to argue that it’s not – and so can any good come from something built from something so dark?

Over the whole series, in which Flanagan shares directorial duties with Michael Fimognari (the latter who’s also our DOP, and I was obsessed with lighting and set design (Laurin Kelsey) to), you’ll begin to question every character – and that deep psychosomatic edge is what powers the waves of the story, and it’s beautifully shadowy and human. There is also many observations on the decline of mental and physical health and although TFOTHOU reveals its wider story piece-by-piece, somehow the energy of character demise also starts to linger in the mind as a viewer – I’d highly recommend breaks between episodes, as much as you’d love to binge it, to really take the stories in.

The Fall of the House of Usher is certainly a contemporary take on Edgar Allan Poe’s work, and with it there is the macabre gruesomeness of any impressive Gothic-horror fable, which you’d welcome in from the door beyond the door. From start to finish, this is captivating and compelling as we delve into the depth of characters and inside their deep festering guilt and shame, watch the tale unfold as they unleash psychological warfare and furiosity on each other, but what is everything actually fuelled by? Well, you’ll have to stream from 12 October to really find out…

The Fall of the House of Usher comes to Netflix from 12 October