{ "id": "epw7pp6675", "slug": "house-of-usher", "title": "House of Usher", "updated": "2026-11-01", "topic_path": [ { "id": "culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture" }, { "id": "culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/topics/culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations", "label": 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"geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.novel-and-short-fiction-adaptations", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000: Films based on novels, novellas, and short fiction", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.novel-and-short-fiction-adaptations", "path": [ { "id": "geo.us", "label": "United States", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946", "label": "United States · 1946 to 2000", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture", "label": "Arts and culture", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance", "label": "Screen and stage", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen", "label": "Film and television", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films", "label": "Films and standalone screen works", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form", "label": "Films by genre, form, and subject", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations", "label": "Adaptations of literature, stage, and other media", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations" }, { "id": "geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.novel-and-short-fiction-adaptations", "label": "Films based on novels, novellas, and short fiction", "api_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/api/v1/geo/geo.us.t1946.culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.novel-and-short-fiction-adaptations" } ] } ], "excerpt": "House of Usher, aka The Fall of the House of Usher, is Roger Corman's 1960 AIP horror film starring Vincent Price, the first of his eight Poe adaptations, shot in 15 days for $270,000 and grossing $2 million.", "snippet": "House of Usher, aka The Fall of the House of Usher, is Roger Corman's 1960 AIP horror film starring Vincent Price, the first of his eight Poe adaptations, shot in 15 days for $270,000 and grossing $2 million.", "node": "culture.performance.screen.films.films.genre-form.adaptations.novel-and-short-fiction-adaptations.films-based-on-19th-century-classics", "markdown": "# House of Usher\n\n**House of Usher**, released on screen as *The Fall of the House of Usher*, is a 1960 American horror film directed and produced by [Roger Corman](https://www.edgepedia.org/roger-corman), written by [Richard Matheson](https://www.edgepedia.org/richard-matheson) from [Edgar Allan Poe](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgar-allan-poe)'s 1839 short story \"The Fall of the House of Usher\", and starring Vincent Price as Roderick Usher.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) It was the first of Corman's Poe adaptations and the biggest hit American International Pictures (AIP) had released up to that date, and it launched the \"Poe cycle\" of low-budget color gothic films that Corman made for the studio through 1965.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960)\n\n| Key fact | Detail |\n|---|---|\n| Director / producer | Roger Corman, for Alta Vista Productions and American International Pictures[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) |\n| Screenplay | Richard Matheson, based on Poe's \"The Fall of the House of Usher\" (Burton's Gentleman's Magazine, September 1839)[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) |\n| Cast | Vincent Price (Roderick Usher), Mark Damon (Philip Winthrop), Myrna Fahey (Madeline Usher), Harry Ellerbe (Bristol)[3](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053925/fullcredits/) |\n| Budget and schedule | $270,000, shot in fifteen days; $50,000 of the budget went to Price, and the budget was the highest AIP had allotted any film up to that time[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) |\n| Box office | Grossed 2 million dollars during the summer of 1960, the biggest hit AIP had seen up to that date[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960) |\n| Release | World premiere in Palm Springs, CA, 18 June 1960; Los Angeles opening 20 July 1960[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) |\n| Legacy | First of Corman's Poe films (seven more by 1965, ending with *The Tomb of Ligeia*); deemed worthy of preservation by the Library of Congress[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) • [4](https://apnews.com/article/b85b5fbc13184b5f8dab1e9d4b881645) |\n\n## Spoilers\n\n### Plot and changes from the story\n\nIn the film, Philip Winthrop travels from Boston to the decaying Usher estate in rural Massachusetts to claim his fiancée, Madeline Usher.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) Her brother Roderick tells him to leave: Madeline must not marry or bear children because she suffers from the Usher family curse of slow-mounting insanity, a condition of hyper-acuteness of the senses that both siblings share.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960) Winthrop keeps trying to persuade Madeline to flee while the house itself decays around them in tremors, falling chandeliers, and breaking staircase railings. Madeline apparently dies, and Roderick entombs her in the family crypt below the house; Winthrop learns from the butler, Bristol, that Madeline has suffered catatonic spells in the past, and that she has been buried alive.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960)\n\nContemporary reviews remarked on the differences from Poe's story. In Poe's tale, Philip is not Madeline's fiancé but rather an old friend of Roderick's, summoned to the house by Roderick himself; Philip makes no attempt to flee the mansion; and Roderick descends into insanity upon hearing the moans of the entombed Madeline.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) Matheson's most notable addition was the romantic angle that makes Philip Madeline's fiancé.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960) A later critical analysis also notes that the film removed the overt implication of incest that hangs over Poe's original.[6](https://letterboxd.com/vesicalt/film/house-of-usher/) Despite these liberties, critics have judged it one of the most faithful of Corman's Poe adaptations, and a scholarly study argues that Matheson's script followed Poe's theory of short fiction closely.[7](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-house-of-usher) • [8](https://academic.oup.com/liverpool-scholarship-online/book/38522/chapter-abstract/333608101)\n\n## Title\n\nThe film's onscreen title is *The Fall of the House of Usher*, and the main title card reads \"Edgar Allan Poe's The Fall of the House of Usher\", but it was also reviewed and advertised as *House of Usher*, the shorter title by which it is commonly known.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) Its working titles were *Mysterious House of Usher* and *Haunted House of Usher*.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) Outside the United States it was known by the longer title.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960)\n\n## Production\n\nBy 1960, Corman had spent the 1950s making black-and-white double-bill pictures for AIP on pre-set budgets and ten-day schedules. He suggested to AIP owners James Nicholson and Sam Arkoff that they instead try one fifteen-day picture in color rather than two ten-day pictures in black-and-white.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960) Poe's story was chosen as the property partly because the title was familiar to anyone who had read it in school and partly because, being in the public domain, the story rights cost the studio nothing.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960)\n\n**The crew and the star.** With the larger budget, Corman hired the established science-fiction and fantasy writer Richard Matheson for the screenplay and spent heavily on [Vincent Price](https://www.edgepedia.org/vincent-price) for the role of Roderick Usher.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) The crew was drawn from the independent team Corman had assembled by 1960: cinematographer Floyd Crosby, editor Anthony Carras, production designer Daniel Haller, and composer Les Baxter.[1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) Haller's sets were scavenged but sumptuous, and Corman framed his expensive star against them to make the most of the fifteen-day schedule.[5](https://horrorfilmhistory.com/roger-cormans-poe-cycle-1960-1964/)\n\nThe film's striking opening shots show Mark Damon riding on horseback through a desolate landscape around the Usher mansion. Corman shot them the day after reading in the *Los Angeles Times* about a forest fire in the [Hollywood Hills](https://www.edgepedia.org/hollywood-hills), arriving with Damon and a skeleton crew at the conveniently scorched location.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960)\n\n## Reception and legacy\n\nThe film was highly profitable for AIP, to the surprise of those involved, and the studio quickly greenlit another Poe production with Corman attached, *The Pit and the Pendulum* (1961).[9](https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/24377/roger-corman-reflects-on-his-vincent-price-years/) Corman, Price, Matheson, and most of the crew reunited for that film, kicking off the Poe cycle of the early 1960s; between 1960 and 1965 Corman made eight Poe films for AIP, ending with *[The Tomb of Ligeia](https://www.edgepedia.org/the-tomb-of-ligeia)*.[2](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960) • [1](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER) The cycle's recurring elements included misty outdoors, decrepit homes, revenge plots, and Vincent Price.[10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-edgar-allan-poe-adaptations)\n\nOn Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an 83% Tomatometer from 53 reviews and a 74% Popcornmeter score; the site's critics consensus calls it \"an early high mark for Vincent Price and a career triumph for director Roger Corman\".[11](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_fall_of_the_house_of_usher_1960) The Library of Congress deemed the film worthy of preservation.[4](https://apnews.com/article/b85b5fbc13184b5f8dab1e9d4b881645) A new 4K restoration from the 35mm original negative has been screened at BFI Southbank.[12](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Acontext_id=&BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=house-of-usher-intro)\n\n## Other screen versions of the story\n\nPoe's tale has been adapted many times. Jean Epstein's French silent *La Chute de la Maison Usher* (1928) is the best-known film of that director, influenced by German Expressionism.[13](https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/la-chute-de-la-maison-usher-1928) A British version was produced in Hastings in the early postwar period by first-time director George Ivan Barnett, released as *The Fall of the House of Usher* (1949).[14](https://www.tcm.com/articles/504368/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-1949) Later versions include a 1979 television variation with [Martin Landau](https://www.edgepedia.org/martin-landau), Jesús Franco's 1983 film, Harry Alan Towers' 1989 *The House of Usher* with [Oliver Reed](https://www.edgepedia.org/oliver-reed), Ken Russell's *The Fall of the Louse of Usher* (2002), and David DeCoteau's 2008 film.[15](https://moriareviews.com/horror/house-of-usher-1960.htm) In 2023, Mike Flanagan's Netflix limited series *The Fall of the House of Usher* reimagined the Ushers as a modern pharmaceutical dynasty, drawing on Poe's works at large rather than adapting the 1839 story directly.[10](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-edgar-allan-poe-adaptations) • [16](https://time.com/6322243/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-edgar-allan-poe/)\n\n## References\n\n1. [The Fall of the House of Usher (1960), AFI Catalog of Feature Films](https://catalog.afi.com/Film/53181-THE-FALL-OF-THE-HOUSE-OF-USHER)\n2. [House of Usher (1960), Turner Classic Movies, by John M. Miller](https://www.tcm.com/articles/114211/house-of-usher-1960)\n3. [House of Usher (1960), Full cast & crew, IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0053925/fullcredits/)\n4. [Roger Corman, Hollywood mentor and 'King of the Bs,' dies at 98, Associated Press](https://apnews.com/article/b85b5fbc13184b5f8dab1e9d4b881645)\n5. [Roger Corman's Poe Cycle (1960-1964), Horror Film History](https://horrorfilmhistory.com/roger-cormans-poe-cycle-1960-1964/)\n6. [Review of House of Usher by M.W. Moriearty, Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/vesicalt/film/house-of-usher/)\n7. [The House of Usher 1960, Time Out film review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/the-house-of-usher)\n8. [The Plot of Usher: Rebuilding the House of Poe, Liverpool Scholarship Online](https://academic.oup.com/liverpool-scholarship-online/book/38522/chapter-abstract/333608101)\n9. [Roger Corman Reflects on His Vincent Price Years, Dread Central](https://www.dreadcentral.com/news/24377/roger-corman-reflects-on-his-vincent-price-years/)\n10. [10 great Edgar Allan Poe adaptations, BFI](https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/10-great-edgar-allan-poe-adaptations)\n11. [House of Usher (1960), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/the_fall_of_the_house_of_usher_1960)\n12. [House of Usher + intro by Julie Corman, BFI Southbank](https://whatson.bfi.org.uk/Online/default.asp?BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Acontext_id=&BOparam%3A%3AWScontent%3A%3AloadArticle%3A%3Apermalink=house-of-usher-intro)\n13. [La Chute de la Maison Usher (1928), Routledge Encyclopedia of Modernism](https://www.rem.routledge.com/articles/la-chute-de-la-maison-usher-1928)\n14. [The Fall of the House of Usher (1949), Turner Classic Movies](https://www.tcm.com/articles/504368/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-1949)\n15. [The House of Usher (1960), Moria review](https://moriareviews.com/horror/house-of-usher-1960.htm)\n16. [How The Fall of the House of Usher Reimagines the Gothic Horror of Edgar Allan Poe, Time](https://time.com/6322243/the-fall-of-the-house-of-usher-edgar-allan-poe/)\n\n---\n*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Adaptations of literature, stage, and other media › Films based on novels, novellas, and short fiction › Films based on 19th-century classics*\n\n*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*\n\n*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*\n\nLicense: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license\n", "same_as": [], "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/house-of-usher", "markdown_url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/house-of-usher.md", "license": { "name": "Edgepedia Community License 1.0", "url": "https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license", "summary": "Free with credit, commercial use included. AI training is open to everyone. For other uses, organizations over USD 100M in revenue or 100M monthly users license separately.", "spdx": "LicenseRef-Edgepedia-Community-1.0" }, "credit": "\"House of Usher\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/house-of-usher. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "credit_md": "\"[House of Usher](https://www.edgepedia.org/house-of-usher)\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), [https://www.edgepedia.org/house-of-usher](https://www.edgepedia.org/house-of-usher). [Edgepedia Community License 1.0](https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license).", "credit_html": "\"House of Usher\", Edgepedia (EdgeChat), https://www.edgepedia.org/house-of-usher. Edgepedia Community License 1.0.", "speakable": "House of Usher, aka The Fall of the House of Usher, is Roger Corman's 1960 AIP horror film starring Vincent Price, the first of his eight Poe adaptations, shot in 15 days for $270,000 and grossing $2 million." }