Jean Epstein's early, silent take on Edgar Allan Poe's popular short story, with the head of title house receiving a visitor and, along with his sister, giving way to melancholia and madness, is a surrealistic, unsettling, and nightmarish experience. Unconcerned with narrative continuity or traditional storytelling approaches, The Fall of the House of Usher is an atmospheric triumph abetted with the aid of many incredibly effective and what have to be (at least in a few cases) introductory camera techniques.
*** 1/2 out of ****
