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.

Typically adaptations of literature in this style do not operate well--where the original text is overlaid in voice over against images, either the words clash with the imagery or reinforce it too much, making the experience of either watching or reading redundant. Instead of populating the house with Usher, his sister, and his friend, however, Svankmajer lets the elements, space, and furniture speak of its own characterization while a very good reading of the short story plays over some of Svankmajer's signature stop motion animation. It has been a while since I've read the short story, but from my memory of it this is the text in exactness and entirety, so that's really good. The storm and the abode are satisfyingly Gothic, and a really good graphic match between animated clay and a tree's roots are but one of many examples of the muddy and hazy quality of all of the imagery in this movie which weighs down with its dark Romantic tone. Svankmajer at least managed to hit the spirit of the story, if not the character's faces.--PolarisDiB

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.

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.