How The Fall of the House of Usher Changed Horror Movies – Den of Geek US

His fast style of shooting (sometimes filming two completely different movies back to back on the same sets), uncanny eye for talent (providing future stars like Charles Bronson and Jack Nicholson with some of their earliest roles), and ability to churn out economically made genre crowd pleasers had made Corman one of the busiest filmmakers in Hollywood.

But when AIP approached him about shooting two black and white horror movies for less than $100,000 each on a 10-day shooting schedule, Corman balked. Tired with that kind of quick moviemaking, he instead proposed one movie for $200,000, shot in color on a 15-day schedule. He pitched AIP an adaptation of the Poe story and the studio said yes.

What drew me to Fall of the House of Usher was first the macabre setting, the house itself, Corman later told PBS American Masters. Surrounded by fog, desertedand then within the house, the relationship between Roderick Usher and his sister. The incestuous sexual/horror relationship between them, it was just a fascinating situation.

Corman had in fact pitched the Usher mansion as the movies monster when AIP questioned making a horror picture without a monster in it. Mathesons script is largely faithful to the decrepit, morbid atmosphere and main narrative beats of Poes story, although the nameless narrator of Poes tale is changed to Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon), a young gentleman who has come to visit his fiance, Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey).

Winthrop finds the house and surrounding countryside in disrepair and decay, with Madelines brother Roderick telling him that the familys cursed bloodline has driven previous generations of the family to madness, even poisoning the house and the land around it.

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How The Fall of the House of Usher Changed Horror Movies - Den of Geek US

Reviewed and Recommended by Erik Baquero