The House Of Usher
I must have been in an odd mood that night. Flipping thru channels, this old movie looked interesting, recognizing the style as most likely EA Poe. Obviously having missed most of it, entering @ the part where finance came to claim his crazy lady (plus, I looked at the clock vs. start/end time) I decided to rent it. I love Poe, so dark and scary (drugs will do it to) and this movie seemed to capture the story well, or so it seemed to have from the 10 min. snippet I caught. thought it would be free, it was not. he screenplay dialogue, esp. for Mr. Usher was so awful, so predictable that I began saying his lines with him...Actually, all of the characters' dialogue was quite predictable. Then, I dozed off. Spoiler Alert: When I awoke it was to 'horrific screaming ' as a massive fire was in the process of burning a house to the ground. The fire was turning timber into black sawdust as a completely wooden structure was colorfully disintegrating into the night sky. However, it couldn't have been the Usher's House as there was a long scene in which Mr. U and the fiance, Dudlley Do Right, spoke at length about crazy people and of the beautiful stone of which the house was built, centuries ago, in Jolly Old England. Built of beautiful stone or not, Mr. U. believed with all his heart and insane mind that it was a very evil abode, inhabited by generations of insane ,but functioning, bad very bad hombres, albeit English hombres.. For reasons not given , someone in the Usher Brood decided to pack up and move, mansion and all, to the States whereupon they settled in New England in the CT area. However, the following questions have yet to be answered: 1. How were they able to transport ,by ship , a castle-sized, stone mansion, inhabited by mad ghosts all the way across the pond without sinking the ship ? 2. Whose wooden framed, ceder- shingled, home burnt to the ground ? 3. Why had the wood-framed home become the flaming mass of timber ? 4. And, in so doing, free a whole lot of obviously-tortured souls which filled the night with screaming voices of abject madness ? Evidently, the Ushers had moved their bad selves into an even worse neighborhood. The movie was fun, a bit scary if you have siblings, with predictable dialogue and actions. It's a cult-type, movie, fun at Halloween. Otherwise, don't get your hopes up. The story read aloud is better.