Insight into The Fall of the House of Usher

"During the whole dull, dark, and soundless day in autumn of the year when the clouds hung oppressively low in the heavens, I have been passing alone, on horseback, though a singularly dreary tract of country; and at length found myself, as the shades of evening drew on, within view of the melancholy House of Usher."

In the majority of horror films that are made, it is the female body that is shown with a sense of eroticism or even disgust and revulsion. However, with AIP's productions this was not the case. In The Fall of the House of Usher (Corman 1960), we see a man who is hysterical at times and dangling at the whim of his own fears for his family's bloody history and behaving in a manner that would suggest that his masculinity is threatened. The role of Roderick Usher was played by Vincent Price and he pulled of a magnificent performance as an eccentric in his manner of acting. Although the name of the story come from another famous story by Edgar Allen Poe, the film does not stay true to the Poe story but veers from it to bring its own subplot with it own twists and turns creating more entertainment for the viewers.

Just like the story, the movie is very words and descriptive yet, the major difference is that it has its own subplots that propel the plot forward. In House of Usher, Roderick Usher is one of the two surviving members of an old family, which the word corrupt does not even begin to describe. They have been living in a decaying mansion for generations. Roderick is overly sensitive to every physical sensation, to the point where even footsteps on the carpet hurt his ears. Roderick calls it a "morbid acuteness of senses," declaring that three quarters of the Usher family have fallen onto madness, and in their madness have acquired super human strength. His younger sister Madeline (Myrna Fahey), lives with him and their Butler Bristol, (Harry Ellerbe). They are all obviously more than a little peculiar and would live out their lives peacefully that way if it were not for the sister somehow being engaged to a normal person named Philip Winthrop (Mark Damon). This engagement is an addition to the Poe story that Corman did not bother to explain. The fiancé comes to the house one gloomy afternoon to take away his bride to be, but Roderick would not allow it. Roderick tells Philip, "You must leave this house now. It is not a healthy place for you to be." And correct he is, as a falling chandelier almost levels the lovesick Philip on the first evening.

The over the top performance by Price shows something else in Roderick, a strangeness that puzzles the viewer giving a sense of some underling sinister feeling. In an article by Heffernan (Time, Sept 1st, 1961, P.50) he includes Price is one of his explanations when he calls him a "sort of sissified Bella Lugosi." In a manner of speaking, it does describe his performance which is a bit stylized and exaggerated. This style of acting becomes so exaggerated and so predicable that a viewer will know what to expect if they are watching of the eight Poe adaptations by Corman. In Fall of the House of Usher we see Roderick with his many ailments doing and acting in such a way that makes him increasing feminine. There are times when he does behave like a man and that is to his sister which leaves the viewer noticing something awkward. In fact, there is a sort of love triangle that is set up and manages to draw out the original story's incestuous implications. This may explain why Roderick has such a strong hold over Madeline. When confronted by Philip, Roderick's manhood stands no chance against a 'real' man of the world without the ailments and tragedy that has him bound. In the last few minutes of the film there is a scene where Roderick grasps a gun, a symbol of the phallus for him. The gun was supposed to make him appear even more masculine but the location of the gun made the scene even stranger. It was inside a velvet red box. It is almost unthinkable for a man to be in possession of such a box to house a gun. The general scene was supposed to show that he takes hold of the gun; the symbol of his manhood in order to prove to his now deranged and absolutely insane sister Madeline that he is still a man. She was buried alive by him in the family vaults while in a cataleptic trance, and when she confronts him in her maddened state, his fear overwhelms him and he drops his phallus in the sight of his sister.

The film is filled with items and scenes which entail morbid symbolisms and are quite similar to another Corman film The Pit and the Pendulum. The artworks of the film as well as the angles of various shots are wonderfully done and lend much to the overall depressed theme of the story. The house is literally crumbling away; dying and decaying just like the Usher family itself, and slowly collapsing around them as it creaks, cracks, crumbles and shakes throughout the movie. We know that even the beautiful Madeline has a few screws loose when she takes Philip on a guided tour of the Usher burial vaults and shows him her own coffin. Madeline seems to be obsessed with death and has taken to sleepwalking, and going into deathlike trances, and during the course of one of them her good brother Roderick buries her alive. Naturally, she doesn't stay buried for long. In The Pit and the Pendulum, the landscape has the same deathlike qualities as does the dreary castle where they live. Both have a story of being buried alive and even both the buried victims returning. However, Fall of the House of Usher is different because it is the only story where the victim was wrongfully entombed. Both movies are similar in the way that the victims are part of a larger more horrific plot or murder and madness.

As Roderick and others walk around the dying house, we see death in everything. The trees are not alive. Even the pond which eventually swallows the house is dead and a symbol of death since one of the former Ushers was drowned there. The pond is also another strong symbol as the gateway to hell and the surrounding supports that by being dead and lending a sense of horror the atmosphere. In the end of the film, the entire house is swallowed up in the pond and everything is washed and cleansed from the sight of men. The evil returned to hell.

Madeline Usher is almost as much a morbid character as her brother. She is obsessed with death and the only time she seems normal is when Philip manages to persuade her to leave the house and live a normal life. Only then does she show some sign of life in her smile. Yet, she is also the monster of the film. This may be because of her brother's constant barrage of morbid affections and bringing her around to his way of thinking. In a manner of speaking Madeline as a monster was a creation of Roderick. By her madness and fits of violence she takes away the edge of masculinity from the men making her even more dangerous and terrifying. Even her own fiancé; Philip, cannot stand up to her wrath when she almost strangles him to death twice. Her brother Roderick; the subject of her fear was the subject of her violence and she returned in her deranged state with the sole purpose of killing him. Symbolically speaking, she put an end to his evil by overpowering his and being the embodiment of evil and in this she took away the last bit of masculinity he had left; the gun in his hand. It was her mad femininity that overcame his lack of masculinity in defending himself.

Besides the scenery and the general plot of the story, the dialogue spoken during the film gives credence and adds to the macabre atmosphere. It gives a sense of foreshadowing and adds to the overall effect of the impending doom about to occur. It is interesting to note that the name of God is only spoken twice during the entire film. The first occurrence was when Roderick himself invoked the name of God when he was trying to drive Philip out of the house for his own safety, or so Roderick claimed in the line, "In the name of God Sir, would you not understand? Please leave." Yet, his words have no effect on the only man of the movie who happened to be the only sane and normal man there. Ironically, it was Philip who invoked the name of God the second time in the film when he was about to leave and Bristol; the butler, told him that Madeline was prone to fits of catalepsy. He cried, "Oh my God!" as he ran out in fear to look for her coffin.

Madeline, when she is not wallowing in the gloom that she lives is debating on whether or not she ought to be defiant to Roderick. She tried at least twice when she said, "My life is my own," and "You cannot tell me what to do Roderick." Interestingly, immediately after her second defiance she was pronounced dead, at least for the first time at least. But, it was Philip and Roderick who happened to have the most memorable lines in the entire film. Once when Philip parted the shades he said, "I need some light in this house Mr. Usher," showing that he was there to put an end to their despair and attitude of desolate hopelessness. Roderick on the other hand had the most power line in the film when they discovered that Madeline was still alive and coming for them. He said, "I suggest you leave Mr. Winthrop. No? Then stay with us and perish," which almost happened.

All in all, it can be seen that while this film strays a bit from the story by Edgar Allen Poe, it does create the intended effect of; gloom, melancholy, decay and abandonment. It also shows that Philip was the only real man in the film who was overpowered by the madness of a woman and Roderick while trying to be a man, looses his phallus that he never quite had a hold on. For Roderick, the house is full of sinister feelings that he experiences along with the decay of the family. Between Roderick and Madeline there was an invisible bond that keeps them together, not only as the last of the Ushers but also as one who keep a terrible secret. Roderick's heightened senses were both a blessing and a curse for him. He heard his sister in the coffin needing help and refused her. In her madness, Madeline broke out of the coffin and came for the object of her terror while herself being terror incarnate. It was there in that moment when his fear overwhelmed him he screamed; "Be done!" and how right he was, the end was very near. The ghastly reunion of Madeline and Roderick sent the house into the black pond.

Like Poe's story, the film goes out with a bang. "While I gazed, this fissure rapidly widened-there came a fierce breath of the whirlwind-the entire orb of the satellite burst at once upon my sight-my brain reeled as I saw the mighty walls rushing asunder-there was a long tumultuous shouting sound like the voice of a thousand waters-and the deep and dank tarn at my feet closed suddenly over the fragments of the 'The House of Usher.'"