Published by Mason Oldridge, 31 October 2023
CONTAINS SPOILERS!
Mike Flanagan is back with his annual Halloween horror series, this time adapted from the works of gothic writer Edgar Allan Poe.
The series sees ageing pharmaceuticals company CEO Roderick Usher sitting down with lawyer Auguste Dupin in an abandoned house to give him his “confession”. He recounts the six grisly deaths of his adult children while haunted by their corpses, told through flashbacks, whilst also slowly revealing a crucial act from New Years Eve 1979.
The series has less reliance on jump scares and instead disturbs with gory and shocking scenes, with each episode focusing on one of the children, culminating in their gruesome death. First is youngest son Prospero, who holds a prestigious orgy. He is teased by a mysterious tempress he doesn’t recall inviting, before the sprinkler system releases acid, burning everyone in attendance to a pile of flesh as the episode abruptly ends. Each following episode will grip as it becomes apparent each ends with a violent death. The following deaths included mauled by a gorilla, falling over a balcony, stabbing themselves after becoming delusional, impaled with falling glass and being sliced in half whilst paralysed. All of them are tormented by this same mysterious woman that was at the orgy, though it is shown the deaths are somewhat deserved as it is apparent the family are evil in relation to being extremely wealthy from the corrupt organisation they were born into.
In the final episode, we learn the full extent of what occurred that New Year. Roderick was a whistleblower, assisting Auguste to expose the corruption within the company Roderick was working and unfairly treated at, before double-crossing him in an effort to take over the company. He and Madeline then drugged and bricked in his manager, though the mysterious woman is aware of their crime and offers them a deal: have the world but their bloodline dies with them, to which they accept, showcasing their greed and desire. Back in the present, Roderick and Madeline also meet their deaths and the woman is revealed to be a shapeshifting crow, bringing comeuppance and representing justice.
Flanagan’s other series have always fallen victim to comparison with his untouchable first series The Haunting of Hill House, which in fairness is the best, though this comes a close second.
8/10