When it comes to horror, Mike Flanagan has tackled various sub-genres in his work.
“Hush” is a home invasion slasher, “Gerald’s Game” tackles psychological trauma and body horror, “The Haunting of Hill House” is a classic spook fest, “The Haunting of Bly Manor” is a gothic romance, “Midnight Mass” is a blend of folk horror and Stephen King thriller, and his recent “The Midnight Club” is young adult horror.
His next effort is “The Fall of the House of Usher,” and in a recent interview with The Wrap he teased the new series, though based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe, isn’t really gothic horror like the author’s material. Instead, it’s a big ol’ tribute to a specific kind of horror – the giallo genre made famous by the works of master filmmaker Dario Argento (“Deep Red,” “Suspiria,” “Tenebrae”):
“It’s crazy. It is unlike anything I’ve ever done, but in the other direction. My favorite way to describe it to people is like Hill House is kind of a string quartet, and Bly Manor is this delicate, kind of beautiful piece of classical piano music, and The Fall of the House of Usher is heavy metal. It’s rock and roll.
It’s the closest I will get to Giallo. It’s wild. It is colorful and dark and blood-soaked and wicked and funny, and aggressive and scary and hilarious. I’ve never gotten to work on anything like it. We left everything on the field with it, and it’s just bombastic fun.
I’m really excited for that to find its way out because I especially think both The Midnight Club and Usher just go off in their own drastically different directions, and next to each other they’re fascinating to me.”
The giallo genre is famous for its mysterious killers, heavy atmosphere, graphic death, unique sound design and score, colorful visuals, and slightly camp tone. Recently James Wan’s “Malignant,” which seemingly started out as a standard supernatural thriller, was revealed to be a rather wild giallo film.
The eight-episode “The Fall of the House of Usher” stars the likes of Mary McDonnell, Carl Lumbly, Willa Fitzgerald, Malcolm Goodwin, and Mark Hamill along with Flanagan regulars like Carla Gugino, Rahul Kohli, Henry Thomas, T’Nia Miller, Crystal Balint, Michael Trucco, Zach Gilford, Sauriyan Sapkota, Samantha Sloyan, Katie Parker, Kate Siegel, and Bruce Greenwood.
The series will premiere in 2023 with Flanagan recently suggesting it could be ready as early as March.
Source: The Wrap
