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.
EXCLUSIVE: Prolific genre creators Mike Flanagan and Trevor Macy (The Haunting Of Hill House, Midnight Mass) have signed an exclusive multiyear overall series deal with Amazon Studios. Under the pa…
For his last outing on Netflix I enjoyed this, my second favourite behind The Haunting of Hill House.
Little slow to get going but picks the pace up and runs with it, some of the deaths felt like watching a Saw movie. They've upped the jump scares from previous shows to so they don't have the same effect as previous shows as you can easily work out when they are coming.
Some good actors, in this. And I liked the interaction between the prosecutor and Roderick Usher through the series (jump scares). I also liked the younger actors who played the twin Ushers, the girl in particular did a great portrayal of a ruthless person lacking any compassion and implying a cold calculating mind.
However, some of the actors who played the children, deliberately annoying to watch! An obvious trope in such films, to show the audience that they deserve their fates...
Really enjoying it so far having just finished ep.5. Not quite as narratively well honed as Hill House or Midnight Mass, but it's a metric ton better then Midnight Club. Got all the things I love and dislike about Flannigan and Macy's usual style ie. too much casual monologuing, excellent direction and set design, amazing framing that makes you feel on edge constantly throughout scenes, semi predictable narrative beats with obvious conclusions etc. Some of the scares are terrific, though that's par for the course with these two.
They're so, SO good at duping an audience into feeling uneasy. The way they frame the characters around negative space is genius and it always catches your eye and makes you clam up (the open door to the right of Dupin in the interview room), very OG Halloween. Same with the way they condition you to be nervous of shot, reverse shot close ups early in the show, then break that rule sporadically to get some extra tension. Even when they preempt a scare with obvious intent it works because because the pacing is on point.
As I said, it doesn't feel quite as narratively clean cut as Midnight Mass, but I never expected it to be. That show is almost perfect.
One thing I really miss here that was present throughout the others shows I've mentioned is a really solid OST or musical theme. I assume the Netwon Brothers where involved, but I didn't notice any theme at all. A real shame.
I didn't watch Midnight Club for some reason, but Midnight Mass was outstanding.
Trouble with Mike Flannigan shows is that he is so keen to work with the same people you spend episode 1 going "Oh - they played so and so in X/Y and Z"
Have finished 3 episodes of this so far, and enjoying it. I know it's not particularly realistic, but that family is so ****** up .
Also good to see Mark Hamill in something that isn't animated, albeit with a surly face on at all times. Is there be an episode diving in to his backstory?
In a quite macabre way I was waiting to see how the remaining members of the family would meet their fate, some more imaginative than others. Each episode had enough grip for me to want to watch another.
I finished this just now. I’d say it was a reasonably fun ‘spooky mystery’ romp, with a much greater emphasis on mystery than Hill House and Bly Manor, although I didn’t enjoy it as much as those two. The horror aspects were very goofy and silly this time around. But I kept guessing away until the end and I was keen to get to the bottom of it, all so credit where credit is due it’s a ‘page turner’.
I’d give it a generous 7 /10 overall - with its ‘watchableness’ giving it a bonus half-point.
Unfortunately I did find myself really distracted with how unlikable the bulk of the family were. They were generally just terrible people of the sort that can’t possibly exist in real life. For some reason the woman were particularly terrible. Nobody is that annoying and/or incompetent.
Similarly, I didn’t think much of how sexualised the show was. I thought the depraved antics were all a bit needless.
A straighter, more ‘human’ set of characters would have made it more compelling, IMO.
First episode was woke as hell, the amount of boxes ticked in the first half of an episode was more than an entire series of Haunting of Hill House, which was far far better!
I have no issues with a Diverse story or Diverse characters, but when it's so forced that it's all going on in ONE episode that's when I hit that dislike button and find it difficult to move on to the next episode. Right from the get go he says to the male Lawyer * Your Husband *. Why does this need to be in? What does it add to the story of episode 1?
I might watch the next episode, but I'm going to skip most of it I'm sure. But it wont be the 9/10 House on the Haunted Hill got!
I must admit, whilst being relaxed on the subject generally, I also did find the sexual diversity very prominent and actually a little distracting in the early episodes.
Almost every character is gay or bisexual (and/or perverted). Which itself is not a problem, but the show is quite ‘sexed up’, needlessly so IMO, so these aspects feel quite ‘full on’.
As noted above, the male lawyer announcing he had a husband did feel particularly forced…
… particularly when there is absolutely no pay off to it. It’s irrelevant to the plot.
It comes up again in a later episode (the last one?) where he reveals he has a husband in a flashback as sort of a ‘ahaaa you didn’t say you were gay - that’s all cool’ moment.
Again, it doesn’t really matter.
I didn’t really know what to make of it myself, because there are groups of people that have that sort of sexual diversity. I felt a little guilty for being distracted, and I’d generally side with @VincentHanna that often people on here are quick to dismiss things purely on the basis of being ‘woke’, but I’d be dishonest if I didn’t say it felt a little laboured when this show presented itself in this specific way.
All of that said, @Neil79 there is a reasonably entertaining spooky mystery here so I’d persevere if you’re otherwise enjoying it (although it’s definitely not flawless - as per the spoilers in my first post in this thread).
Interestingly enough, I didn't actually notice/care about people's sexuality in this (not that I care in general), I was more interested in seeing debauch, rich idiots get their comeuppance
I enjoyed it, and was particularly impressed how some of the comedic moments that popped up were incredibly funny, but not jarring. "Enhance" had both my wife and me full on LOL.
I must admit, whilst being relaxed on the subject generally, I also did find the sexual diversity very prominent and actually a little distracting in the early episodes.
Almost every character is gay or bisexual (and/or perverted). Which itself is not a problem, but the show is quite ‘sexed up’, needlessly so IMO, so these aspects feel quite ‘full on’.
Very rare for someone to agree with me on that level . Oh well glad I'm not the only one with this Netflix show. I tried to watch some more episodes and it just wasn't for me
I've only seen 4-5 episodes but it's nothing to do with being "woke"
It mainly shows how absolutely debauched these people are.
You've got Prospero at an orgy. Leo with a boyfriend but getting sucked off by a female fan, Camille using her two employees for sex, Tamerlane using prostitutes with her husband to masturbate too. Almost all of them were hedonistic
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