Poe-etry In Motion
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Edgar Allan Poe has a museum in Richmond, VA. We joke about it a lot here.
This video does a pretty decent job of explaining why, especially the parts where they talk about how Poe might have slept in a room that sort of looked like that one room in the museum, and you can see how that might have given him nightmares and inspired him. But it definitely wasn’t this particular room.
If this museum was a childhood toy, it would be Stretch Armstrong. If this was a time at a baseball game, it would be the seventh inning stretch.
I respect their leaps of imagination in selling this museum to the public, though, and it certainly is an interesting Frankenstein of Poe-adjacent artifacts.
I bring up Poe today because it is the day before Halloween, and it is
, a celebration of horror films, movies, and other art. For today’s MM, I wanted to discuss a show you can go watch on TV right now, based on Poe’s works.Krista Madsen over at
has joined me in watching and talking about the show. I’ll quote her piece a few times—here it is; I recommend bookmarking for later reading.The show is called The Fall of the House of Usher, and it’s a modern version of Edgar Allan Poe’s story by the same name, but with notable Poe-ification beyond just that. Each episode references a different Poe tale.
It’s another type of Frankenstein in this way, like the Poe Museum.
The series takes place in 2023, but there’s plenty of morbid, gothic throwbacks to earlier times. Roderick Usher has ascended to the apex of power, becoming the head of a large multinational corporation—a “Big Pharma” callout to the Sackler family of OxyContin infamy.
Here’s Krista:
There are many “bastard” children in this family which makes for great cast diversity, as the dad had all kinds of lovers and surprise children in his history, who are each given a seat at the table although it comes at the price of fierce rivalry and mistrust if not loathing. One son is referred to as an XBox Gatsby, another a Gucci Caligula. All superficial and awful in their own unique ways, yet not without the pathos that makes us care for them as they suffer and cause suffering in equal measures. Most suffering is the patriarch, who narrates these tales to his sympathetic yet longstanding nemesis August, the assistant US attorney trying to bring the Ushers down in court, while the family proves way more effective at destroying themselves all on their own.
That’s about as far as I want to take you into the plot without any spoilers, and it’s just far enough for you to have an idea of what you’re in for. The cast is spectacular, with familiar faces to those of us who have seen The Haunting of Hill House of The Haunting of Bly Manor, both Mike Flanagan creations. Flanagan is on top of his game right now, and I’d watch any horror series he comes out with.
I will leave you with one more quote from Krista, because she’s already said most of what I want to well:
It’s been a dirty treat to watch this series… I love teasing out the Poe references and quotes from the sea of depravity, hallucinations and drugs, enjoying the names like Annabel Lee, Lenore, and Tamerlane (from poems by those titles), and others like Prospero who often star in the stories behind the episode titles. Lines that Poe wrote emerge sprinkled into regular conversation or just, why not, spouted off verbatim in huge passages.
I’ll give a specific callout to one cast member in particular: Mark Hamill. Hamill famously does voice-acting quite well, having won a ton of awards over the years. I was really happy to see this talent translating well into a great live-action performance. Luke Skywalker has never sounded (or looked) so good on screen!
The Fall of the House of Usher is an introduction to Poe for a new generation of potential readers, and that’s exciting!
The mingling of gothic undertones with today's societal dynamics creates a series that's both hauntingly familiar and refreshingly novel. Whether you're drawn by the allure of Poe's tales, the enthralling performances, or simply the thrill of a new horror series, this show is for you.
If you’re looking for more recommendations from within the horror genre, follow the official
Substack, and the folks who are commenting there. These are all horror fans and writers, and is your go-to person to follow to keep up with the festivities.My Macabre Monday posts have included last week’s Horror Vacui, my interview with the horror punk legends the Misfits, Horror TV from the 80s, this list of great horror shows, some really creepy movies I recommend, and the tree in my back yard.
What are you going to watch (or do) for Halloween this year?
Baltimore is the central place for Poe tracking. He spent a very significant portion of his life there, and it's dutifully noted.
Love it! Thanks for pulling me in. Now I'm back to trying to finish Hill House and am realizing all the overlapping actors!