The Fall of the House of Usher star Kate Siegel teases “buckets of blood” in Mike Flanagan’s upcoming adaptation. Flanagan is the macabre mind behind a ton of horror films like Absentia, Oculus, Hush, Before I Wake, Ouija: Origin of Evil, Gerald’s Game, and Doctor Sleep, all of which he has written, directed, and edited. The filmmaker has also found success in television, having created Netflix’s hit horror anthology series The Haunting and the miniseries Midnight Mass.
Flanagan’s next miniseries coming to Netflix is an Edgar Allan Poe adaptation titled The Fall of the House of Usher. The miniseries experienced a minor speed bump when lead actor Frank Langella was fired following a misconduct investigation into him inappropriately touching a female co-star during a love scene, which was not in accordance with the intimacy coordinator’s instruction. Bruce Greenwood was hired to replace Langella in the role of Roderick Usher and there are plans to reshoot scenes involving the character. The show’s cast also includes Mary McDonnell as Madeline Usher and Carl Lumbly as investigator C. Auguste Dupin. Carla Gugino, Mark Hamill, and Kate Siegel star in undisclosed roles.
Speaking to Inverse, House of Usher star Kate Siegel opened up about what audiences should expect from Flanagan’s latest work of horror. Apparently, the Poe adaptation won’t skimp on the gore, as Siegel invoked the term “buckets of blood” to describe the upcoming miniseries which is currently in production. Read what she had to say below:
The Fall of the House of Usher is a bombastic, chaotic evil mess. It’s buckets of blood. It’s so much fun to do. The characters are all turned up to 11, and it’s like nothing anyone has ever seen. But something kind of lurching and evil is making its way through all of us.
Flanagan is certainly no stranger to adapting acclaimed works of literature, as Haunting of Hill House was based on Shirley Jackson’s novel of the same name, while Haunting of Bly Manor was based on the seminal horror novella The Turn of the Screw by Henry James. Writing House of Usher was a different process for Flanagan, as it is reportedly an adaptation of the titular 1839 short story and other works by Poe. With no plot details at the moment, it’s unclear how the miniseries will combine various unrelated short stories, though if his past work is any indication, Flanagan will certainly rise to the challenge.
Other than its unique combination of source material, it sounds like The Fall of the House of Usher will be a deviation from Flanagan’s past work in terms of its blood and gore. Siegel is the filmmaker’s spouse and frequent collaborator who has starred in most of his works since Oculus (they also wrote Hush‘s script together), so there is perhaps no one more qualified than her to speak about Flanagan’s new series in comparison to his past work. Its titular short story by Poe features a character with a nervous condition called catalepsy that results in decreased sensitivity to pain, which could be used as a plot device to turn the blood and gore up to 11, as Siegel teases.
