Netflix’s The Fall of of the House of Usher is a terrifyingly good treat for this Friday 13th

The Fall of the House of Usher is getting rave reviews

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The reviews are in andNetflixhas a horror hit on its hands withThe Fall of the House of Usher.The show is “a gleefully terrifying take on Edgar Allen Poe,” says TheGuardian, while Rolling Stone says it’s “a literary orgy of death”, which we think is a compliment. Variety says it’s “gruesome”, Metro says it’s “gripping” and IGN says it “is some of Flanagan’s best work”.

Given that the Flanagan in question is Mike Flanagan ofThe Haunting of Hill Housefame, it was never likely to be a dud. But the reviews are particularly delighted here. Rolling Stone says it’s like a more highbrowAmerican Horror Storythat has a lot in common with the brilliantThe Haunting of Bly Manor. Where that was a mashup of multiple books by Henry James, this time the monstrous mash is made from the works of Edgar Allen Poe.

What is The Fall of the House of Usher about?

The titular Usher is Roderick Usher, whose adult children have died and whose deaths have wiped out his entire family’s bloodline. Mooching about a spooky mansion, Usher tells his tale to Auguste Dupin – believed to be if not the first fictional detective ever then one of the very first. And it’s not a happy tale: it features a miserable childhood, a lot of creeps and many people for whom the best description is “dastardly” – almost all of whom meet increasingly sticky ends.

I love Rolling Stone’sdescriptionof it as a mix of “Poe’s greatest hits”,SuccessionandDopesick. The cast is superb, the deaths are horribly, hilariously graphic and because it’s a Flanagan show you know you’re in for eight episodes of stuns, shocks, sharp writing and even sharper implements. As Empire puts it, it’s a “dark-hearted horror story that’s horribly good fun”.

The consensus is clear: if you’re looking for something horribly spooky to stream this Halloween, there ain’t no party like aThe Fall of the House of Usherparty.

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Writer, broadcaster, musician and kitchen gadget obsessive Carrie Marshall has been writing about tech since 1998, contributing sage advice and odd opinions to all kinds of magazines and websites as well as writing more than a dozen books. Her memoir,Carrie Kills A Man, is on sale now and her next book, about pop music, is out in 2025. She is the singer in Glaswegian rock bandUnquiet Mind.

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