The Fall of the House of Usher

This is great film. Based on the Poe poem it uses lots of camera tricks to create a magic and surreal world. Beautiful black and white cinematography. This was amazingly an "amateur" film that was made by some very talented film enthusiasts. If you have ever made your own independent or "amateur" film, as I have, you will marvel and REALLY appreciate the effort and time put into this film. This is one of the handful of films I wish I could say that I made it! If you like the 1920s German expressionist films etc, you'll eat this one up.

This example of cinema is composed as avant garde expressionism. It uses various prism shots, multiple exposures, slow motion (forward and reverse), and inventive uses of sets and miniatures. Creative and experimental, it's a showcase for the filmmakers. However, this is to story telling what ballet is to story telling; you'd have to have some familiarity with the original to make sense of the action. Not meant for human consumption. There's a fine line between "artistic" and "arty," and like most ultimately pointless examples of avant garde, this carefully crafted work is pretentious enough for easy derision by the common observer.

The Fall of the House of Usher has suffered a rather bad fate as a film, due to numerous problems.

Not due to the fact that it's a bad film, on the contrary, but due to it's name. In the same year there was also a french full-length with the same name by Jean Epstein. And there are countless other recreations of this of the Fall in the House of Usher story.

This film succeeds as a silent short expressed mostly through visuals and mood. It's not so much horror as it as an excuse to show surrealist images of words floating, off camera angles and general dillusion.

The only thing that may put people off about this short is that it's clearly more about lush enchanting visuals then it is as a good representation on the Edgar Allan Poe piece.

This is a fine silent short, and is highly recommended to fans of early silent expressionist cinema.

Intriguing early experimental treatment of Poe from the same filmmakers who would bring us the even more astonishing "Lot In Sodom" in 1933. Doesn't compete with the equally avant-garde feature length version made at the same time by Jean Epstein & Luis Bunuel, yet stands well on its own. More of a tribute to UFA & German Expressionism than an outright imitation, with specific nods to Caligari, Der Golem, and Faust. Visually rewarding for lighting, cinematography, sets, makeup. Compiled in a skewed fashion reminiscent of the structure of a nightmare. Captures the wonderfully gloomy, morbid atmosphere of Poe's work, the claustrophobic ambiance of "Usher" in particular. A treat for fans of the genre, in addition to being sufficiently unusual & brief (just over 12 minutes) to hold the average viewer's attention. At one time, this film was available on an anthology videotape called "American Avant-Garde" along with the aforementioned "Lot In Sodom." Great stuff if you're lucky enough to track it down.

This low-budget thriller was one of the first independent experimental films made in the USA. Heavily influenced by German Expressionist filmmaking (and in particular "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari") this film makes effective use of odd camera angles and stylized sets, and is still quite interesting to watch today as a sort of Gothic mood piece.