Flanagan's The Fall Of The House Of Usher Is His Best Series Yet - According To Critics

Mike Flanagan's latest project for Netflix might be his very best so far, according to critics weighing in on Rotten Tomatoes.

After adapting horror classics like "The Haunting of Hill House" and "The Turn of the Screw" (the latter of which became "The Haunting of Bly House" for the streamer), Flanagan has turned his attention to Edgar Allan Poe, and "The Fall of the House of Usher" hits Netflix in mid-October ... just in time for spooky season. With his regular players like Carla Gugino, Kate Siegel, Zach Gilford, and T'Nia Miller returning, this adaptation takes Poe's story into a modern era by basing the fictional Usher family on the very real Sackler clan, which was exposed for exploiting opioid use for their own gain and starting a health crisis in the united states.

The series is sitting pretty with a "fresh" rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and critics like Keith Phipps at TVGuide are loving it: "Even if it takes on a slasher-like predictability by pushing characters toward inventive kills, one by one, 'Usher' also grows darker and more somber as it progresses and reckons with the real-world offenses mirrored in the Usher story." Liz Shannon Miller at Consequence agreed, writing, "While Mike Flanagan's now-annual run of limited series have received their fair share of acclaim, 'What would Edgar Allen Poe have thought of the Sackler family?' proves to be a meaty pitch, elevated by a cast that has never been better."

All in all, it's clear that Mike Flanagan has struck gold once again with this horror adaptation. Linda Codega io9 was a fan, calling it "a darkly mesmerizing, erotic horror-thriller, a supernatural gothic Succession, queering the work and writing an obsessive, ritualistic performance." Amelia Emberwing at IGN definitely seemed to agree: "'The Fall of the House of Usher' is a glitzy, gory modernization of Edgar Allan Poe's stories that works in every way."

At Paste Magazine, Lucy Baugher pointed out how Flanagan expertly plays with the source material, saying, "Maybe the Ushers are always fated to be doomed in every story, but Flanagan's take on their fall is one that at least tries to ask who they might have been if they weren't." Belen Edwards at Mashable also praised the adaptation, writing, "The sheer volume and versatility of Poe's stories makes 'The Fall of the House of Usher' Flanagan's most ambitious project yet — ambition that pays off in bloody, beautiful spades."

Over at Polygon, Joshua Rivera said the series has a different vibe than Flanagan's other projects, but in a good way: "'The Fall of the House of Usher' feels lighter, zippier, and more fun than previous Flanagan shows. Therese Lacson at Collider had similar praise, and despite saying this was the showrunner's most straightforward project so far, they clearly liked it: "Flanagan's most conventional horror series yet hinges on strong, complex emotions that do more than just get your heart pounding." 

Mike Flanagan's other series, like "The Haunting of Hill House," certainly focus on dysfunctional families — but "The Fall of the House of Usher" puts a wild real-life spin on Edgar Allan Poe's classic horror story. As the — glowing — reviews from critics note, the fictional Usher family is based on a real family.

As was previously mentioned, the Ushers, who start dying in unexpected ways in Flanagan's series, are members of a powerful family in the pharmaceutical industry ... drawing obvious parallels to the Sacklers. Plenty of pop culture has been made about the Sacklers, whose company Purdue Pharma has been sued over and over again and blamed for effectively engineering the ongoing opioid crisis for their own financial benefit. After Patrick Radden Keefe penned the deep dive "Empire of Pain, by Patrick Radden Keefe hit shelves and forced people to realize the extent of the Sackler's families misdeeds, Hulu brought its own version to the table in 2021 with "Dopesick," and the 2022 documentary "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" was nominated for an Academy Award. "The Fall of the House of Usher" isn't even Netflix's first take on the Sacklers; their recent series "Painkiller" tells a more straightforward version of the real-life tale. Fans of Flanagan, though, know how smart this showrunner is ... and his mix of horror and real-life drama is already making waves.

"The Fall of the House of Usher" hits Netflix on October 12.