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From Michael Flanagan, the man who brought you The Haunting of Hill House and The Haunting of Bly Manor, comes this story from Edgar Allan Poe. But it's not just the titular story, there are supposed to be a lot more Poe stories in there as well. It centers on Roderick Usher head of the House of Usher which owns a pharmaceutical company. The family is in trouble and Roderick wants to confess his sins to C. Auguste Dupin all that has occurred.
Ep01 has one big horror story in the middle of it to get us started as the story goes back and forth in time following Roderick and his sister Madeline.
I think I need to read more Poe to get the full picture. Sure, if they ever get to the Cask of Amontillado, I'll be golden. I'm sure I'm missing a lot but I did recognize the name Dupin.
There is a lot of atmosphere. The canvas is much broader than the haunted house stories or the vampire on the island story. I'll watch more. Bruce Greenwood who plays Roderick has the best voice and needs to do more VO work. Lots of other familiar faces in the cast like Mark Hamill and Mary McDonnell.
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I'm liking this. The Masque of the Red Death episode was so far the best. Gold Bug and Tell Tale Heart episodes were a bit weaker. Still, the atmosphere is good, and I'm wondering how they are going to tie it all up.
Re-read The Fall of the House of Usher, and had forgotten how verbose Poe is, at least in that story. Lovecraft looks like Hemingway by comparison.
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I question Masque of the Red Death. It was all very stylish but why did what happen have to happen? And who is the instigator of the punishment? There is a lot going on in every episode lots of threads of other stories play out but the main thread was confusing. It all seemed to be abrupt.
I will watch more.
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Caught up on some Usher. Murder in the Rue Morgue. See the Morgue is named Rue. Mark Hamill gets a bit more to do. Bruce Lockwood continues his discourse with Dupin. This episode's main focus is on Juno and Leo. Juno is all sorts of messed up. Carla Gugino appears in her many guises. Lots of story threads flying left and right all centered on the Pharmaceutical business. They do manage to keep everything straight and clear. Best tidbit is Henry Thomas from ET plays one of the Usher sons.
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Wrapped up The Black Cat and The Tell Tale heart. Stories continue to weave in and out of each other. Since Black Cat and Heart both deal with mysterious noises, I'm beginning to think Poe heard a lot of things. I don't know if the episodes are capturing Poe's stories but I will rectify that when I get the book of Poe's stories from the library later this week.
I'm still involved. I want to see how everything ties together in the end. I really enjoy Hammell as Pim. He seems to be having the best time.
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The Gold Bug
So many intertwined stories. I've never heard of this story. Basically Tamerlane is a control freak who goes nuts launching a new product called Goldbug. There is still the question whether these things are happening or it's just mental illness. I'm still waiting for the Cask of Amontillado reveal, the only Poe story I'm 100% sure I've read. This episode has a lot more Pim in it as well.
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And done. It was a bit uneven, I felt. But overall worthy of watching. The last episode really makes the show make sense. And it finally showed the one story I know for sure I've read, The Cask of Amontillado. There were plenty of jump scares. There were plenty of nods to poe. One death made me really sad.
There are worse things to watch.
As a matter of fact, my anger does keep me warm