How Everyone Dies In ‘The Fall of House of Usher’ Ranked By Grossness

Mike Flanagan’s latest horror series The Fall of the House of Usher is a gory romp filled with crazy and unpredictable deaths. In a way, the show feels like Final Destination meets Succession, with a touch of Flanagan’s usual flair and the gothic weirdness of Edgar Allen Poe. 

The story unfolds over eight episodes which follow Roderick (Bruce Greenwood) and Madeline Usher (Mary McDonnell) — a pair of siblings who run the corrupt company Fortunato Pharmaceuticals — as their family begins to die in mysterious and gruesome ways as a result of their dark past.

The new show is inspired by the works of Poe, including his short story of the same name, “The Black Cat,” “The Tell-Tale Heart,” and “The Raven.”

The Fall of the House of Usher opens with a funeral and Roderick is sitting mostly alone, with only his granddaughter present. He sees flashes of his family’s deaths, along with a masked face. Then, newspaper articles about the series of deaths appear on the screen.

As the series continues, the timeline bounces between past and present, and the deaths play out as Roderick reflects on the tragedies to a police investigator. 

Now, these aren’t normal deaths. In fact, they are caused by a supernatural force that is preying on the family’s weaknesses and insecurities. From an acid bath at an orgy to a chimpanzee attack, here is how everybody dies in The Fall of the House of Usher – ranked by grossness.

Obviously, there are spoilers past this point.

1. Lenore Usher: Dies in Bed (Episode 8)

   We couldn’t be happier that Roderick’s granddaughter Lenore (Kyleigh Curran) suffered a painless, boring death. The teenage girl was an unfortunate example of being at the wrong place at the wrong time, or even worse, just being born into the wrong family. Spare her! She is innocent! In Episode 8, Lenore is visited by Verna (Carla Gugino) while staying at Roderick’s house. After preparing for bed, Lenore exits the bathroom and has a heart-to-heart with the supernatural being, who kills her while they are perched on the guest bed. “There’s a lot about my job that I love, but there are moments like these that bring me no joy,” Verna tells Lenore. Looking into the future, Verna shares with Lenore that her mother, who was injured in the second episode of the season, has a steady recovery and uses her inherited wealth to start a nonprofit, which she names The Lenore Foundation.

2. Camille L’Espanaye: Attacked by A Chimp (Episode 3)

   Hey Flanagan! Nope called, they want their evil chimp back! Fortunato PR boss Camille L’Espanaye (Kate Siegel), one of Roderick’s children, is brutally murdered by a test subject animal in the third episode of the season. Sure, it is gory, but we saw it coming, just as much as she did. Prior to dying, Camille argues with Verna, who is disguised as a security guard. The scene cuts before the chimp attack, but the bloody aftermath is shown the next day.

3. Eliza Usher & Mr. Longfellow: Buried Alive/Choked (Episode 1)

   Due to watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer at too young of an age, I have long developed a deep fear of being buried alive, and The Fall of the House of Usher surely tapped into that. Prior to Roderick and Madeline’s corrupt lives, they were just two children living with their single mother, Eliza (Annabeth Gish). Eliza falls ill and Mr. Longfellow (Robert Longstreet), the CEO of Fortunato Pharmaceuticals (and not-so-secretly the twins’ father), refuses to help despite the children’s insistence. After they suspect that their mother has passed from the illness, they decide to bury her, unaware that she is still alive. Later, she digs herself out of her grave and attacks the two before journeying to Mr. Longfellow’s house and strangling him… as deserved.

4. Roderick Usher: Crushed By House (Episode 8)

   Oh Roderick, we knew it would eventually come to this. The Fortunato CEO went out in a blaze of glory. Even though, honestly, he deserved much worse for, you know, the whole “cursing your entire bloodline” thing. Towards the end of the series, Roderick kills Madeline by knocking her out and embalming her body. However, he later finds that she isn’t fully dead. Roderick’s sister bursts into his living room after being left in the basement in a fit of horrific rage and begins to strangle him. As the fight ensues, Verna watches from outside the house and causes it to crumble, crushing both Roderick and Madeline to death.

5. Frederick Usher: Sliced In Half (Episode 7)

   “Rest in pee, fuck face.” Famous last words. Frederick Usher (Henry Thomas), the eldest Usher son, is brutally slain by sharp equipment while demolishing an abandoned building. He is drugged with a paralytic by Verna, which leaves him unable to move or speak. Frederick falls to the ground of the building that is set to be destroyed in five minutes, and Verna tells him, “He did you wrong, Freddy. You only ever wanted to be loved by him. You only ever wanted his approval — but, it’s still no fucking excuse,” referring to Roderick, and Frederick’s actions in mutilating his own wife. Technically he dies of the building falling on him, but the pendulum-esque blade that slowly sliced him in half didn’t help.

6. Napoleon Usher: Jumps Off Balcony (Episode 4)

   Sad to see you go, but love to watch you leave. Rahul Kohli plays an underachieving douchebag in the horror series, who is honestly, quite innocent in the grand scheme of things. Roderick’s son Napoleon Usher is a video game developer with nothing to do with pharmaceuticals or scammy businesses. The dude’s main crime is being a jerk to his partner, Julius (Daniel Jun). Earlier in the season, Verna seemingly coaxes Napoleon into killing Julius’s cat Pluto, while high on drugs. The video game developer freaks out and gets rid of the body, telling Julius that Pluto must’ve escaped from the apartment. Napoleon goes to an adoption clinic to get a new cat, and lo and behold, Verna is there to sell him one that looks identical. Once home, the new cat is evil and ruthlessly attacks him. In Episode 4, Napoleon becomes fed up with the beast and uses his replica of Thor’s hammer — given to him by Chris Hemsworth himself — in an attempt to kill the new cat. Napoleon follows the creature onto the balcony and as he lunges towards it, he falls over the ledge and onto the sidewalk. He’s dead, but, uh, Flanagan, we’d love to know if Pluto is okay.

7. Rufus Griswold: Brick by Brick (Episode 8)

   Honestly, Rufus had it coming. The Fortunato head decided to throw Roderick and Madeline under the bus for the company’s misleading business dealings, which left the two siblings ready for revenge. The two disarm Rufus Griswold (Michael Trucco) with liquor and a paralytic agent (the same one that knocks out Frederick, and Roderick uses on Madeline) and tie him up against a wall in a basement, where they slowly build a brick wall to cover his body. It’s just like being buried alive, but a hundred times worse. Rufus regains consciousness as the wall grows in size, though it’s too late. We can only imagine how claustrophobic the experience was, but maybe he should’ve been nicer to the Ushers.

8. Victorine LaFourcade: Stabs Self (Episode 5)

   Victorine, I was rooting for you. The inventor’s death is an impressive psychological game of cat and mouse. Victorine LaFourcade (T’Nia Miller) took a life before taking her own, and for that, she gets extra points. The Usher daughter has developed a new heart technology and decides to cheat through the clinical trials to begin testing on humans. After arguing with her girlfriend and co-worker over her dubious behavior, she accidentally kills her. Victorine decides to use her technology to bring her partner back to life, but it is too late. Victorine grows haunted by the sound of a beating heart, and when Roderick comes to check on her, she brings him to her partner’s body, which is dead, but has equipment inserted in her heart, mimicking the pumping motion. Victorine mumbles nonsense to Roderick about needing “a better heart” to succeed before stabbing herself. Girl! Therapy would’ve been cheaper!

9. Madeline Usher: Lobotomized & Mutilated (Episode 8)

   Does this count? Madeline and Roderick Usher’s deaths probably shouldn’t count. Roderick’s death definitely doesn’t count, as the real pain he suffered was watching everybody around him die, but Madeline’s death… I guess. Madeline is knocked out by Roderick in the final episode, and once she’s down, he tells her, “You are a queen. You are a goddess. And you’re going to live forever,” before stabbing a knife into her torso. The plan? Use the Egyptian embalming technology Madeline has amassed over the years to lobotomize and mutilate her the same way they treated Egyptian queens and kings. The only problem is, that Madeline is still alive while this is happening. Madeline crashes through the basement door, stones in her eyes and tongueless, and attacks Roderick while covered in blood. Verna appears during their battle and crushes them both inside of the house…. the house of Usher. Get it? The title.

10. Prospero Usher: Acid Orgy (Episode 2)

    ACID BATH ORGY! ACID BATH ORGY! ACID BATH ORGY! Prospero, we knew you for a short time and loved you for every minute of it. The youngest Usher son Prospero (Sauriyan Sapkota) grows tired of being ignored by the Usher dynasty and decides to take things into his own hands. That’s right — blackmail! And what better way to do that than to invite every powerful person you to know a big orgy and secretly film them? The party animal planned to end the night with playful water sprinklers, but instead, Verna taps into a secret acidic formula left behind by the Ushers in the abandoned warehouse, thus causing all of the dancing bodies to be bathed in acid??? Good luck getting the sound of the sticky, melted flesh in this episode out of your head. Honestly, I’m just glad this isn’t year 3000 and Netflix hasn’t yet invented an immersive smell feature for their shows.

11. Tamerlane Usher: Glass Ceiling (Episode 6)

    Thanks! I have a new fear of glass ceilings! Tamerlane Usher (Samantha Sloyan) suffered a haunting death in Episode 6, which saw Verna destroying the launch of her new Goop-esque wellness subscription box after getting in her head about her sexual relationship with her husband. Already driven to madness, Tamerlane begins hallucinating while alone in her house and works to fend off the voices with a sharp object. Eventually, Verna leads Tamerlane into her bedroom where she sees the hallucination in her glass ceiling and immediately goes to attack it. With the mess all around her, Tamerlane falls back onto her bed and is impaled by a shard of glass as more glass continues to shatter around her. Ummm… ouch!