All of Mike Flanagan's Netflix series — from the very creepy Haunting of Hill Houseto the poignant The sex videos sexmoleMidnight Club— are packed full of WTF moments. But the director's latest adaptation, The Fall of the House of Usher,might just have topped all those that went before it in the Flanaverse.
From gory and shocking deaths to some truly unexpected twists for the Usher family, we've broken down the most WTF moments of the Edgar Allan Poe-based series.
SEE ALSO: How 'The Fall of the House of Usher's opening song revealed its final twistPerry's rave getting showered by a rain of acid, episode 2
You can't really get much more WTF than an orgy coming to an abrupt end due to acid raining down from the ceiling, can you? The first of the Usher siblings to die, Perry's (Sauriyan Sapkota)death really stays with you, after his partygoers are melted at midnight thanks to the toxic waste-filled water sprinklers in Fortunato's abandoned testing facility. With this gruesome interpretation of Poe's story "The Masque of the Red Death", Flanagan makes it clear from the get-go that The Fall of the House of Usherisn't going to pull any punches with how its characters – and, in this case, their very unlucky friends – meet their end.
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Perry, do not turn on the sprinklers. We repeat... Credit: Eike Schroter/Netflix Verna jumping on the table like a chimp, episode 3
An updated version of "The Murders in the Rue Morgue", Camille's (Kate Siegel's) death by chimpanzee is disturbing in general, but the moment when Verna (Carla Gugino) suddenly leaps onto the table with the physicality of one is the point where you knowthings are about to go wrong. Humans acting like animals will never not be unnerving.
Leo blinding his own cat, episode 4
In a modern retelling of "The Black Cat", watching Leo (Rahul Kohli) descend into psychosis is disturbing all-round, but the moment where he blinds his malevolent new cat by poking his thumbs into its eyes – despite this ultimately being revealed as a hallucination – is certainly an image that stays with you.
Victorine's wild disregard for medical ethics, episode 5
OK, so it's not disturbing in the same way that death by acid is, but you've got to admit that Victorine (T'Nia Miller) casually signing up a hopeful stranger (Carla Gugino's Verna in disguise) for an experimental human trial of a heart mesh — without real data to back it up and without telling her long term partner who would be performing said surgery— is a long way from ideal. What makes this even more disturbing is that Victorine comes across as the most rational one of the Usher children.
This doesn't end well. Credit: Eike Schroter/Netflix Roderick's discovery of Alessandra, episode 5
Victorine's downward spiral in episode 5 is quick and horrible, starting with that ominous beat-squish sound she keeps hearing. Eventually, it ends with Roderick being able to hear the sound beyond Vic's mind, and discovering what's making the noise: Vic's murdered partner, Dr Alessandra Ruiz (Paola Núñez), her chest ripped open with the lab's experimental heart contraption beating uselessly inside.
Roderick betraying Dupin, episode 7
It's not visually shocking, but young Roderick's (Zach Gilford) last-minute betrayal of detective C. Auguste Dupin (Malcolm Goodwin) in the Fortunato board room certainly took us by surprise. Up until this point, Roderick has seemed like the kind of guy who wants to do the right thing, and his burgeoning friendship with Dupin seemed genuine. But from the present day relationship between the two, we know something went down in the past, and this is the first time he shows his true colours.
Everything Frederick does, episode 7
Frederick's (Henry Thomas) abusive actions towards his incapacitated wife Morella (Crystal Balint) in episode 7 are the most disturbing part of the whole show, from the way he isolates her in her own house to the awful violence he inflicts on her before Lenore (Kyliegh Curran), and ultimately Verna, intervene.
Frederick is not a good guy. Credit: Eike Schroter/Netflix Roderick and Madeline bricking up the boss in the basement, episode 8
It's hard to feel much sympathy for Roderick's boss Rufus Griswold (Michael Trucco), given how much of a terrible person he is. But despite Roderick (Bruce Greenwood) and Madeline's (Mary McDonnell) revenge on the Fortunato CEO being sort of satisfying, the method is undeniably grim. It's all a big reference to Poe's "The Cask of Amontillado" and it's chilling as hell.
The falling bodies, episode 8
Verna has made deals with many ruthless, corrupt, and power-hungry politicians, magnates, and tycoons over the decades, from the Vanderbilts to the Rockefellers, the Koch brothers to Donald Trump. But Roderick Usher really impresses this diabolical demon with his company's horrendous impact on society. "I've worked with a lot of truly influential people over the years," she tells the Usher patriarch in his boardroom in the final episode, "but when it comes to sheer body count, you're in my top five."
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Verna tells Roderick to look out of the window and he's greeted by a truly nightmarish vision of bodies falling out of the sky like rain drops. "Those are your bodies," she says. What's even more chilling? In Roderick's final monologue to Dupin, he admits he was fully aware of the death his empire would cause, the "pyramid of bodies" he'd need to build to get to the top. Madeline, too, knew this.
Roderick is a truly haunted man by the end of the finale. Credit: Eike Schroter/Netflix Lenore's death, episode 8
On the one hand, Lenore's death – a quick closing of the eyes before she crumples backwards onto the bed – is certainly the least dramaticof the series. But you could also make a strong case for it being the most WTF death of all, purely because she's the one truly innocent character in the whole show. Heck, even Verna feels a bit bad killing her.
Madeline bursting out of the basement without any eyes, episode 8
The strange clunking sounds from the basement are a mystery all the way through The Fall of the House of Usher, and the reveal – that the noises are being made by a blind, semi-embalmed Madeline trying to find her way out of the subterranean tomb her brother has made for her – certainly doesn't disappoint. (It's a horrifying reference to Poe's story "Some Words with a Mummy".) Nor does her subsequently strangling Roderick to death in front of a terrified Dupin while their childhood home collapses around them.
How to watch:The Fall of the House of Usheris streaming now on Netflix.
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