Ideologues and perpetual political warriors do get tiresome, and both ends of the ideological divide are guilty. On Newsbusters, the conservative media watchdog, Stephanie Hamill goes after the latest Netflix horror series by Mike Flanagan (not to be confused with the Baltimore Orioles ace of the late Sixties and Seventies). Her indictment: a liberal agenda “is both overtly and subtly promoted throughout the show’s eight episodes, starting with the incredible amount of LGBTQ characters.” My defense: Oh, lighten up. All Stephanie has is a hammer, so a clever and complex Edgar Alan Poe mash-up that only brushes up against political issues—and, I would say, in a tongue-in-cheek manner—seems like a progressive screed to her. That’s too bad: she can’t enjoy a quality show because she’s so intent on finding signs of Hollywood wokism.
Flanagan is a genuine horror auteur, and he has found his metier in the streamed, multi-episode series. “The Fall of the House of Usher” is his fourth (and last, apparently, for Netflix: he is moving over to Amazon). Nothing is likely to top the writer/director’s re-imagining of Shirley Jackson’s “The Haunting of Hill House,” which might be the best horror movie ever made, but “Usher” is still a blast. Using almost all of Flanagan’s large rep company (which includes Henry Thomas of “E.T.” fame), the series is an Edgar Allen Poe fan’s dream, challenging us to recognize the myriad references familiar and obscure. which range from names to plots to poems. Since the conceit of the show is to make the Usher family the thinly disguised avatars for the infamous Sackler clan that brought us the opioid crisis, Flanagan is naturally hard on the corporate mentality….and the Sacklers deserve the abuse if anyone does. In addition, his greed-busting results in some of Flanagan’s best writing: I already highlighted the instant classic monologue by Bruce Greenwood as the dying, damned family progenitor.
