Netflix’s <em>The Fall of the House of Usher </em>Really Understands Poe
This modern adaptation of the author’s work is a dramatic reimagining that’s faithful in the way that matters most.
Strobe lights, heavy bass, top-shelf drugs, lingerie-clad revelers gyrating in lustful ecstasy—at first glance, a kinky, decadent rave scene feels far from the 19th-century world of Edgar Allan Poe. But in Netflix’s adaptation of The Fall of the House of Usher, it’s just one set piece that works to cleverly bring the author’s work into contemporary times.
Mike Flanagan’s eight-episode anthology seriesdraws upon multiple short stories, remixing its source material in seemingly unfaithful ways. Take the titular Ushers. As originally written by Poe, Roderick Usher is a sickly man afraid of his own shadow who lives in a dilapidated
