...but this episode is better so I guess I'll keep going. But there is something fundamentally wrong with this series. It can be amusing on a surface level, but this is from the guy who made The Haunting of Hill House and Midnight Mass. I expect better.
Here's what's wrong. The best of Mike Flanagan's output takes something the audience can sympathize with and uses that as the source of horror. When people do "good" things and have "good" motivations but the results are horrific, that's deeply disturbing because it reveals the random, unfair nature of the cosmos where good intentions mean nothing.
The Haunting of Hill House was driven by siblings wanting to solve the mystery of their mother's disappearance. Midnight Mass was driven by a priest trying to end all suffering and death. "Good" motives that led to horror.
But with The Fall of the House of Usher, we don't have anyone with good motives. When a greedy corporate jerk or some entitled brats get their comeuppance, it's satisfying, not horrifying. It can be okay to watch but the genre is Horror, not Satisfaction. And that's why this series is so shallow and entirely un-scary and un-horrifying.
Here's what's wrong. The best of Mike Flanagan's output takes something the audience can sympathize with and uses that as the source of horror. When people do "good" things and have "good" motivations but the results are horrific, that's deeply disturbing because it reveals the random, unfair nature of the cosmos where good intentions mean nothing.
The Haunting of Hill House was driven by siblings wanting to solve the mystery of their mother's disappearance. Midnight Mass was driven by a priest trying to end all suffering and death. "Good" motives that led to horror.
But with The Fall of the House of Usher, we don't have anyone with good motives. When a greedy corporate jerk or some entitled brats get their comeuppance, it's satisfying, not horrifying. It can be okay to watch but the genre is Horror, not Satisfaction. And that's why this series is so shallow and entirely un-scary and un-horrifying.