After “Goosebumps at Midnight”, the next Netflix series by Mike Flanagan awaits us with “The Fall Of The House Of Usher”. Here, however, horror does not creep on quietly. Instead, according to Flanagan, it gets down to business!
One of the annual highlights on Netflix are the horror formats by Mike Flanagan. After “Haunted Hill House”, “Haunted Bly Manor” and “Midnight Mass”, the streaming service recently released the series “Gänsehaut um Mitternacht” (Goosebumps at Midnight), which has currently secured a place in the internal Netflix top 10 in Germany behind the front-runner “Dahmer – Monster”. But while many subscribers have probably not even watched the mini-series in its entirety yet, Flanagan already has another one waiting in the wings: “The Fall Of The House Of Usher.
MIKE FLANAGAN tells ‘The Wrap’ that his upcoming limited series THE FALL OF THE HOUSE OF USHER is the closest he will get to Giallo!
“It’s wild. It’s colourful and dark and blood-soaked (…) aggressive and scary and hilarious. I’ve never gotten to work on anything like it.” pic.twitter.com/ofzEd2Ya6S
– Mike Flanagan Source TheMidnightClub (@flanagansource) October 12, 2022
The series is based, among other things, on the short story “The Fall of the House of Usher” by Edgar Allen Poe, but is also inspired by other works by the world-famous writer. In it, everything revolves around a nameless man who visits his old, aristocratic childhood friend in a dilapidated mansion. A strange fissure runs through the walls and the house is situated on an eerie, misty lake where a demonic force is said to be at work. The cast of the series includes Mark Hamill (“Star Wars”), Carla Gugino (“The Game”) and Kate Siegel (“Hush”).
Shooting on the eight-episode mini-series wrapped up this summer after production was hit with a major setback midway through: Frank Langella (“Frost/Nixon”), the original lead actor of the series, was fired due to allegations of sexual harassment. All scenes with the character of the family patriarch Roderick Usher had to be reshot as a result. The role was recast by Bruce Greenwood (Pike from “Star Trek”).
MIKE FLANAGAN REINVENTS HIMSELF?
“My favorite way to describe it to people is like ‘Hill House’ is kind of a string quartet, and ‘Bly Manor’ is this delicate, kind of beautiful piece of classical piano music, and ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ is heavy metal. It’s rock and roll.” pic.twitter.com/ERib7Rty2Q
– Mike Flanagan Source TheMidnightClub (@flanagansource) October 12, 2022
THE MIDNIGHT CLUB includes the first acting job of Irish actress RUTH CODD.
She’s a make-up artist and barber, and casting directors found her on TikTok – where she garnered a huge audience talking about make-up & hair using her witty sense of humour. pic.twitter.com/gkmEMnQCxb
– Mike Flanagan Source TheMidnightClub (@flanagansource) October 11, 2022
Talking to TheWrap, Mike Flanagan has now spoken out about “Usher” and has given fans’ anticipation another run for its money, although he chose similar words back in October 2021: “It’s crazy. It’s different from anything I’ve ever done, in a different direction. My favourite way to describe it to people is: ‘Hill House’ is kind of a string quartet, ‘Bly Manor’ is this delicate, kind of beautiful piece of classical piano music and ‘The Fall Of The House Of Usher’ is heavy metal. Rock’n’roll.”
What is new, however, is the stylistic direction, which Flanagan has now mentioned here for the first time: “It’s as close to a giallo as I can get. It’s wild. It’s colourful and dark and blood-soaked and evil and funny and aggressive and scary and hilarious. I’ve never gotten to work on anything like it. It’s just bombastic fun. I’m really excited about it when it’s released because I think both ‘The Midnight Club’ and ‘Usher’ just go in their own drastically different directions and they’re fascinating to me side by side. “
The giallo is an Italian sub-genre of the classic crime thriller in which the emphasis is not necessarily on an elaborate plot but on explicit murders, sexual subtexts and highly aesthetic craftsmanship in terms of camera, sets, lighting and music. Famous examples of this are “Bloody Silk” by Mario Bava, “The Secret of the Green Pin” by Massimo Dallamano or “Profondo Rosso” by Dario Argento. Most recently, James Wan has also staged a giallo homage with “Malignant”.
It is not yet clear when “The Fall Of The House Of Usher” will come to Netflix. However, since the mini-series is already in post-production, we can again assume that it will be around Halloween 2023. Mike Flanagan did not direct all the episodes himself, but shared the direction with Michael Fimognari, who previously worked as Flanagan’s cameraman. Fimognari has also directed two episodes of “The Midnight Club”.
