The Fall of the Louse of Usher: A Gothic Tale for the 21st Century (2002)

Rock star Roddy Usher's wife is murdered and Rod is sent to a lunatic asylum in this gothic-comedy-horror-musical.

Director:

Ken Russell

Writer:

Ken Russell

Stars:

James Johnston, Lisi Tribble, Marie Findley

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
James Johnston	...	Roderick Usher / Gory the Gorilla
Lisi Tribble	...	Madeline Usher / Masked Mary / Mummy / Dr. Wells (as Elize Russell)
Marie Findley	...	Nurse ABC Smith / Dream Woman
Ken Russell	...	Dr. Calahari
Leslie Nunnerley	...	Berenice (as Lesley Nunnerly)
Emma Millions	...	Annabelle Lee
Pete Mastin	...	Ernest Valdemar (as Peter Mastin)
Sandra Scott	...	Beulah Von Birmingham
Alex 'Alien' Russell	...	Igor / Gory the Gorilla
Roger Wilkes	...	Gory the Gorilla
Claire Cannaway	...	Young Lenore Usher
Sam Kitcher	...	Young Allan Usher
Suki Uruma	...	Screw
Mediaeval Baebes	...	Unholy Revellers (as Medieval Babes)
Jackie Lowe	...	Lunatic

Storyline

When rock star Roddy Usher's wife is murdered, he's sent to the county lunatic asylum, where the therapy is far more insane than the inmates. An amalgam of several Edgar Allan Poe stories, and a mixture of comedy, horror and musical genres.

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Plot Keywords:

insanity | death of wife | nudity | bare breasts | mad doctor | 

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Genres:

Comedy | Fantasy | Horror | Musical | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

3 February 2002 (UK)

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

83 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Shot on camcorder in director Ken Russell's garage/studio, with a cast made up of friends and neighbors.

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Soundtracks

"Ligeia"
Music by James Johnston
Words by Lisi Tribble (as Elize Tribble)

User Reviews

God Bless Ken Russell

Thirty years ago, I sat in a movie theatre stunned to my very bones watching THE DEVILS. Director Ken Russell worked with big budgets and big stars then. Now, that's not the case, but the feeling of being stunned remains the same. FALL OF THE LOUSE OF USHER blows you away. It's as simple as that. Russell has made a low budget, feature length video with no producer or movie company looking over his shoulder. The result mystifies because, on one hand it's a puerile, tasteless, and totally delirious send up of just about everything connected with pop culture; on the other, it's a playfully mature work of art that can indeed be taken seriously if one can withstand it's brutal and disorienting assault to probe the meaning of Russell's vision. It's like this: cross the Jackass boys with Jean Luc Godard and add a little ATTACK OF THE COCKFACED KILLER, and you get, relatively speaking, a point of departure for discussing this movie. Russell plays with his digital camera like a teenager in puberty, but the sophistication of an elderly artist is there, as well. This is not the least bit surprising to me when you consider Russell's obvious need to create. While others sit around and wait for the phone to ring, Russell gathers all these young folks at his house and goes for it. Given the ghastly state of most straight to video fare, much of which has been shot on video, one can only hope that those with money who produce will see the value of this director and let him go, go, go some more. The movie is great, and Ken Russell is even greater. Thank-you for stunning me so.