The Fall of the House of Usher vs film

The Fall of the House of Usher: story vs film

The Fall of the House of Usher  is one of the most important Poe's terror stories published in  Burton's Gentelman's Magazine  in  1839.

The plot deals with the arriving of an unknown character to the Usher's house in order to see a former friend who asked for his company since he suffers from a rare disease that affected his five sense. Usher's mansion was located in  a sinister and sad place next to a dark lake and its interior was also obscure and barroque. Roderick Usher  who has a passion for music could not go out because of his light sensivity, waiting for his death, and his sister, Lady Madeline, was also sick. Just after, she dies and Roderick wants to preserve her corspe in the house before entombing her. Days after, in a stormy night, these two friends hear strange noises and suddently the door is open and Lady Madeline appears. Roderick realizes that she was alive when they entombed her. Madeline gets close to her brother and he dies of fright and his friend runs away. When the unknown character looks back the house is demolishing and sinking in the dark waters.

The adaptation of this horror story is very similar to Poe's story, it is also entitled The Fall of the House of Usher. This film was writing by  Richar Matheson  in 1960 and performing by Vincent Price, Mark Damon, Myrna Fahey and Harry Ellerbe.

This movie  deals with the travel of a young man named Philip Winthrop ( Mark Damon) to the Usher's house located in a puddly and dark place. Philip's objective is to meet his fiancé, Madeline Usher (Myrna Fahey) whose brother, Roderick Usher (Vinctent Price) is against this marriage. Roderick throws out Philip of his house using his sister's disease as an excuse but Philip refuses to this and stays in Usher's house. He convinces Madeline to go to Boston, but when Roderick is informed about this he and his sister have a discussion which causes her death. Her corspe is preserved in Usher's crypt. The butler (Harry Ellerbe) tells Philip that Madeline suffers from catalepsy, and fight against Roderick because he has buried her sister alive. Then he looks for Madeline, but she is not in the crypt, she was looking her brother in order to kill him. This fight causes a fire, and the Ushers die while Philip escapes. (Classic-horror.com, "Fall of the House of Usher", 2005 )

In  conclusion the film and the story are very close, but "love" is a fundamental topic in film industry and that is why it is included in the movie.

TRAILER : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QslKMIOeME8

For further details: http://www.gradesaver.com/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher/study-guide/section1/

Reference list:

Yapp, Nate. "Fall of the House of Usher." Classic-horror.com. 5 Aug 2005. Web. 18 May 2014. <http://classic-horror.com/reviews/fall_of_the_house_of_usher_1960>.