Episode 4 of “The Fall of the House of Usher” is also based, at least loosely, on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe. We summarize them for you!
The Fall of the House of Usher (Source: Eike Schroter/Netflix)
Our comparisons between the “Fall of the House of Usher” episodes and the works of Edgar Allan Poe occasionally refer to events from future episodes. So don’t read on until you’ve already seen the entire Netflix series!
“The Fall of the House of Usher” thrives on black humor, much more than any of Mike Flanagan’s other Netflix series. Not only have we known since the first episode which Ushers will definitely die, but it’s also perfectly fine with us, because every member of the Usher family is unsympathetic or even thoroughly depraved in their own way.
This loose adaptation of various Edgar Allan Poe stories is only occasionally dramatic, but is always amusing, scary and bloodthirsty. In the 4th episode we again get a more or less tragic death and a lot of blood. But how did Poe’s story of the black cat go?
The black cat The Fall of the House of Usher (Source: Themoviedb.org)
In “The Fall of the House of Usher”, Napoleon Usher apparently kills his friend Julius’ cat while intoxicated. After disposing of the carcass, he looks for a replacement tomcat and ultimately finds one in Verna. But the new tomcat keeps attacking Napoleon and ultimately drives him crazy, so that when he tries to catch the tomcat, he falls off the balcony and dies.
Poe’s version of “The Hangover” is about a man about to be executed who looks back on the events of the past. He and his wife were extremely fond of animals, but alcohol awakened the “spirit of perversity” in the man, which made him suddenly hate the animals and torture them and his wife.
When he hangs Pluto, the black cat and his wife’s favorite, one night, the next day he looks for a new cat that looks as similar to Pluto as possible. His wife also loves the new cat and intervenes when her husband wants to kill him again. Out of sheer rage, the man then kills his wife and walls her up in the basement.
An investigation is carried out, but no one can find the woman or prove that the man committed a crime. During another house search, the man even cockily knocks on the wall behind which his wife’s body is located. A scream can then be heard, which is why the wall is torn down. The screaming cat sits on the corpse’s head and the man is arrested.
In “The Fall of the House of Usher,” “The Tomcat” not only serves as a template for the fourth episode, but also for the murder of Rufus Griswold in the finale. However, there is no tomcat to be heard behind the wall, only the bells hanging from Griswold’s dunce cap.
All episodes from “The Fall of the House of Usher” and their Poe scripts explained:
| Review The Fall of the House of Usher | |
| genre | drama |
| First broadcast | October 12, 2023 |
| First broadcast in Germany | October 12, 2023 |
| Homepage | netflix.com |
| Other sources | |
| network | Netflix |
production | Intrepid Pictures |
| Squadrons |
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