Mike Flanagan's newest Netflix series is ambitious, unique and satisfying. It's not amazing, but when it works, it really works. It's also not depressing, which was a big plus for me. I love Flanagan, but many of his projects have been unnecessarily bleak. I was very happy that this wasn't the case here. The show delivers everything fans of Flanagan would expect. It has beautiful cinematography, stellar production values, well-timed scares and top-tier directing. There are lots of fun and clever references to not only Edgar Allan Poe's work but also Flanagan's past Netflix projects. The score is also really good. The series has a lot of R-rated elements, although not everything works. The gore is fun and the death scenes are fantastic, but the constant profanity and the sex talk are very annoying and forced. The first two episodes suffer because of that in particular. The story is pretty good. There are a lot of characters and storylines and at first, it may seem a bit much, but the show takes its time and manages to explore all of them properly. As usual, Flanagan has assembled an excellent group of actors. Everyone is great, but I did have my favorites. Carla Gugino is incredible as Verna. I loved seeing her play a villain here. She has many different accents and looks and she nails all of them. Kate Siegel has a smaller role than expected, but she delivers another fantastic performance. Samantha Sloyan makes a big impression, especially at the end of episode 6. The last two scenes in that episode are phenomenal! I also ended up loving Madeline, mainly because of Willa Fitzgerald. She was wonderful and had many standout moments. Bruce Greenwood plays his part beautifully and makes Roderick Usher a very compelling character. Overall, House of Usher is another great offering from Mike Flanagan. I'm sad that this is his last Netflix series, but I hope that he'll keep putting out great content as he moves to Amazon.