Revenge in the House of Usher

Name: Revenge in the House of Usher
Genre: Horror
Released: 1988-05-06
Duration: 1 h 33 min
Rating: 3.4
Cast: Howard Vernon, Antonio Mayans, Lina Romay

IMDb RATING

3.4/10

588

YOUR RATING

Horror

A young doctor visits the secluded home of his ailing mentor - Eric Usher - who believes the house itself is alive and plotting to drive him insane, manifesting itself through ghostly appari... Read allA young doctor visits the secluded home of his ailing mentor - Eric Usher - who believes the house itself is alive and plotting to drive him insane, manifesting itself through ghostly apparitions.A young doctor visits the secluded home of his ailing mentor - Eric Usher - who believes the house itself is alive and plotting to drive him insane, manifesting itself through ghostly apparitions.

Directors
- Jesús Franco
- Olivier Mathot
Writers
- Jesús Franco
- Edgar Allan Poe
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

IMDb RATING

3.4/10

588

YOUR RATING

Directors
- Jesús Franco
- Olivier Mathot
Writers
- Jesús Franco
- Edgar Allan Poe
Stars

See production info at IMDbPro

Trivia
Several scenes in black and white from "The Awful Dr. Orlof" (1962) were used in the third cut of the film as flashbacks of a young Usher, since Usher and Orlof were interpreted by the same actor, Howard Vernon.

Alternate versions
There are three different versions of this film:
The first one, which is considered the original cut of director Jesús Franco, is called "The Hundimiento de la Casa Usher" ("The Fall of the House of Usher"), and was shown only once on his premiere on Imagfic - Festival Internacional de Madrid de Cine Imaginario y de Ciencia-ficción, on 23 March 1983. Due to the bad reception from the audience - who laughed and booed from start to finish -, Franco could not get commercial distribution of the film. This version is now alleged to be a lost film.
In 1984, the director filmed three new scenes showing the actor Howard Vernon murdering three victims (among them, actresses Flavia Hervás and Helena Garret, who did not appear in the original cut). He then added these scenes to the film, considerably altering the original plot, and creating the second version, called "Los Crímenes de Usher" ("The Crimes of Usher"). It had a very limited release in some Spanish cinemas in 1986.
Finally, the third version was produced by Eurocine and is the only one that had commercial video release with the title "Neurosis/Revenge in the House of Usher". This version eliminates all the scenes shot for "Los Crímenes de Usher" and inserts new scenes shot with other actors (Françoise Blanchard, Olivier Mathot, Valerie Russell and Jean Tolzac, among others), creating a new plot that turns Usher in a mad doctor who keeps his daughter alive with the blood of innocent victims. Also, this cut reused about 15 minutes of footage from an old Franco movie, The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962), as flashbacks of the main character. "Revenge in the House of Usher" is the version that has less in common with the original cut, or even with the short story by Edgar Allan Poe that inspired the film.

Connections
Edited from The Awful Dr. Orlof (1962)

User reviews26

Review

Featured review

3/10

Boring, Lame and Messy

Dr. Alan Harker (Robert Foster) receives an invitation and arrives at the house of his former professor at the Prague University, Roderic Usher (Howard Vernon), who lives with his housekeeper Helen (Lina Romay) in an old castle. Dr. Usher is insane, living with ghosts, and invites his former student Harker to proceed with his research. He tells to Harker that when his daughter Melissa (Françoise Blanchard) died many years ago, he had developed a means to reanimate her using the blood of prostitutes. Along many years, Dr. Usher and his assistant Morpho (Olivier Mathot) kidnapped and killed many young women to keep Melissa alive. But when Harker meets Dr. Seward (Daniel Villiers), who is the doctor of Dr. Usher, he explains that Dr. Usher is delusional. What is the truth about Dr. Usher and his secret?

"Revenge in the House of Usher" is a boring, lame and messy movie by Jess Franco based on the story of the Edgar Allan Poe. The plot is a senseless mess, the old castle is actually a preserved castle, there is no continuity in the edition in this forgettable film. My vote is three.

Title (Brazil): "A Queda da Casa de Usher" ("The Fall of the House of Usher")