You know it’s the spooky season whenMike Flanaganreturns for another round offantastic storytelling. While we’ve loved his feature-length projects likeOculus,Hush, andDoctor Sleep, the critically acclaimed filmmaker raked in an entirely new set of fans when he began teaming up with Netflix on a handful of horror series. What started with 2018’sThe Haunting of Hill Househas turned into an (almost) yearly churning out of jump-scare-filled bingeable episodic installments. This year, Flanagan is setting his sights on an adaptation ofEdgar Allan Poe’sThe Fall of the House of Usher. Paired with the first trailer is a fresh set of photos, teasing the chaotic horror that’s to come onOctober 12.
It wouldn’t be a Flanagan production without somefamiliar faces. The images released today show asmattering of starswho have previously worked alongside the filmmaker on such projects asThe Haunting of Hill House,The Haunting of Bly Manor, andThe Midnight Club.Bruce Greenwood(Gerald’s Game) is soaked in blood in one of the photos while another shows a shockedRuth Codd(The Midnight Club) opening a box - leaving us with the age-old question - what’s in the box?!
While both Greenwood and Codd have previously appeared in titles from Flanagan,The Fall of the House of Usherwill be thedebutofStar WarsandBattlestar Galacticalegends,Mark HamillandMary McDonnell, respectively. Two separate shots give more depth to Hamill’s character, an investigator hot on the trail of whoever—or whatever—is plaguing the Usher family. One of the leaders of thewealthy dynasty, McDonnell’s Madeline Usher towers over an unseen face on the other side of a table, showing that she won’t go down without a fight.
What’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’ About?
As he’s done in the past withChristopher Pike’sThe Midnight ClubandShirley Jackson’sThe Haunting of Hill House, Flanagan will be takingPoe’s classic horror novelandadaptingit into a modern-day telling. The book follows the titular family, who find themselves torn apart by a mysterious sinister presence. Likewise, the series will follow the same plot but will put a twist on it to speed it up to the present time, following afamilyinvolved in a shifty pharmaceutical company. When a masked figure from the past shows up to wreak havoc on the Usher household, secrets will creep from the walls and blood will fill the hallways.
Take a look at the images and see how many Flanagan collaborators you can spot.
