Gothic Imagination in ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’
SHORT STORY ADAPTATIONS: this month, Dr. CHRIS MACHELL examines Roger Corman’s gothic adaptation of Edgar Allan Poe’s ‘The Fall of the House of Usher’: ‘House of Usher is perhaps Corman’s most interesting adaptation in that, departing quite drastically from Poe’s narrative, it still captures the excess of Poe’s gothic aesthetic. Retaining the histrionics of Poe’s story, Corman’s House of Usher represents Poe’s imaginative hyper-reality with vivid, saturated colour, a wildly over the top central performance from Vincent Price, and a pulpy, kitsch sensibility…’