La chute de la maison Usher

Couldn't really enjoy this as much as I'd like to. It seems that the entire poem is recited here - problem is I don't understand Czech and the visuals while good don't really stand on their own. This is one case where subtitles don't really work because they prevent the visuals from being appreciated. Someone should redo this with the poem recited in English. I don't think Mr Svankmajer would object. For a better Poe work by Svankmajer check out The Pit, the Pendulum and Hope. Actually, that movie's the best Poe adaptation I've ever seen. Both of these films can be found on the recently released two DVD set of Svankmajer short films called Collected Shorts Of Jan Svankmajer.

An abstract claymation version of Edgar Allan Poe's famous horror tale. The lack of a proper narrative here ultimately makes one appreciate the original intent more readily than admire – or enjoy – the obvious effort involved. Admittedly, my low estimation of this short film has much to do with the fact that the verbose Czech narration was not supplied in an English-friendly form (being solely accompanied by Spanish subtitles). The original source material is among the tormented American author's most famous works which, consequently, has had innumerable adaptations for both the big and small screens; I have three of the latter planned for future viewing during this ongoing Halloween marathon. Again, the seminal Corman/Poe film version from 1960 is the most popular but one should not forget that the narrative can lend itself equally to Art – Jean Epstein's 1928 avant-garde classic – and Trash – Jesus Franco's REVENGE IN THE HOUSE OF USHER (1982)!

In one of his two adaptations of Edgar Allan Poe stories - the other was "The Pit and the Pendulum" - Czech animator Jan Svankmajer creates a more horrific version than most movies ever have, namely since the black and white cinematography gives it a more Gothic feel. "Zanik domu Usheru" has the protagonist go to the house only to find the owner feeling ill and the sister moribund. But of course, there's something even uglier in store.

Svankmajer puts his own spin on it, with the furniture moving on its own, among other things. Poe would certainly be proud of this. Definitely worth seeing.

This version of "The Fall of the House of Usher" is amazingly strange--which shouldn't be much of a surprise since it's by the surrealist stop-motion filmmaker, Jan Svankmajer. Only he would make such an odd film. Think about it--the Poe story with absolutely no actors in it whatsoever! Instead, there is a narrator while all kids of weird things occur in a very old home which looks abandoned. You'll see closeups of walls, lumps of clay that mold themselves and a coffin that drags itself to an interment. None of it makes any sense--though that is exactly the point in a surrealist film. But, because it is so strange and difficult to approach, I can't see this art film appealing to most--just lovers of Svankmajer's work and people who like artsy-fartsy stuff. As for me, I can respect what he did, but I certainly didn't enjoy it very much.

For sixteen minutes Czech animator and filmmaker Jan Svankmajer does his job well with getting a real terror and doom and gloom and deconstruction of the house of Usher, one of those quintessential spots of horror of Poe. In just watching the images go by and the stop-motion utilized in creative and unexpected ways involving the house and walls and pools of water and mud, it's amazing work. But the problem for me was in the actual translation of the story itself. Perhaps it's being only most familiar with English, so with the DVD subtitles going by at a quick clip that it's hard to keep up with keeping an eye on all of these dark visions put on the screen. That there's also a complete lack of any actors (unless one counts a sole raven among the cast) is also a deterrent since the story features all of these characters decomposing along with the damned house itself. It's an expressionist experiment, somewhat reminiscent of parts of Last Year at Marienbad, but it's only successful in part because of the director's dedication to the imagery. It's great pictures put to a so-so execution of "story" if there is much of one at all; maybe I'll learn Czech one say and it'll appear better.