The House of Usher is among the many remakes of the 1960’s Roger Corman film of the same name. The original was written by Richard Matheson and stared Vincent Price as Roderick Usher. This film does not have the name talent or star power that the original did, but nonetheless this film is actually pretty good. Both films are based on the story by Edgar Allen Poe, and although they differ in time eras and in the story a little bit, they are pretty close to that of Poe’s story.
The House of Usher stars the beautiful and talented Izabella Miko (The Forsaken) as Jill Michaelson, a young women who has been single for a while and is living in the city trying to forget about her past. However the past is about to come back when Roderick Usher, ( TV star Austin Nichols) her ex-boyfriend and brother of her best friend Maddy calls her to let her know that Mandy has died. Upset with the news Jill travels to to the New England home of the Ushers once again to attend Maddy’s funeral. When she gets there all goes as planned, however after Maddy’s funeral Roderick and Jill begin to talk of their past relationship with one another and soon the relationship once again starts to heat up. However Rick is sick with a rare nerve condition, one that he needs to take medications for and go into a hyperbaric chamber every once in a while to regain his strength But there is more to the house of Usher than meets the eye, and soon Jill finds herself in the mist of something terrible, a terrible secret that she can’t escape from.
The script to the film is very well written, unlike the Corman/Matheson effort the script written by Collin Chang has a nice artistic measure to it. The dialogue is as intense as the scenes and the character development is not half bad. Some characters are developed more than others, but the script tends to feed you bits of the mystery as it moves forward. At times I’ll admit the film does get a bit slow, but the script does entail some very suspenseful moments.
The acting in the film is great. I have always had a crush on actress Izabella Miko. In a day where Paris Hilton and Britney Spears are the hot girls on the block, for me I tend to take interest in a actress who actually has class and talent. So maybe she was nude in the Forsaken, but hey, she’s a good looking actress. (For my friends that are going to remind me I’m a married man; this crush went back before I meet my wife.) Needless to say, Izabella Miko is an actress that deserves to be put in bigger roles and it surprises me that she’s not cast in them. Her performance in this film was great. The role of Jill Michaelson seemed to be a hard role to handle, and Izabella did a wonderful job with the role. Her co-star Austin Nichols was also very good as Roderick Usher, now he’s not Vincent Price, don’t get me wrong. But I have to give him credit for doing a good job with a part that was once held by such a respected actor of the genre. I musty also point out a brilliant performance by Beth Grant (Donnie Darko) as Mrs. Thatcher, the caretaker of the Usher home, not only did she play the part with such passion, but my god was she very believable as such a mean and terrible women in this role. Her performance was the best in the film by far.
The production value was actually very good. The film has a very dark setting from the beginning and although the movie is shot in a more up to date fashion I couldn’t help but notice that director Hayley Cloake tried her best to be loyal to the feeling of the original film. I think she did a good job by taking that feeling of the original and giving it a more modern look, without taking away from the creepiness. In fact I found this film to be a lot more creepier than the original. The lighting and mood of the sets gave off a very dark and uncomfortable feel, and put you in the shoes of Jill Michaelson. I was also pleased by the use of make-up effects in the film, there was not a lot of gore, but there was the use of blood in a few scenes, but it was used in such a creepy, more realistic way. On another note, I have to give a lot of credit to the wardrobe department. I really want to know how many outfits they made Izabella Miko change into. It seems like almost every shot she’ wearing something different, the good thing however is that whatever she was wearing pretty much portrayed her characters feelings. It was a nice touch to the film, but that’s a lot of clothes to go though.
Overall, I really enjoyed this film. It was a great retelling of Edgar Allen Poe’s tale and it was done with a great artistic style. The film does have it’s slow points, but it has a great classy feel like the old horror films of the fifties and sixties had. It relied more on suspense than gore to scare the audience and it leaves you feeling creeped out to the very end. For fans of the original Roger Corman film I think you’ll really appreciate this one. It’s not a film for everyone, especially the hardcore horror fans of today. But if your into the classics this might be one you want to check out.
– Horror Bob
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