The Fall of the House of Usher is packed with homages to the works of Edgar Allan Poe, from names of characters to the ways in which the doomed Usher family members die one by one. They’re pounding throughout the series, like a heartbeat trapped inside the walls. (See what we did there?)

But while you were keeping your eyes peeled for those ominous twists and turns, series creator Mike Flanagan also snuck in a nod to another one of his must-watch works. If you missed it, allow us to catch you up:

In Episode 6, “Goldbug,” young Lenore Usher (Kyliegh Curran) is watching a movie with her mother, Morella “Morrie” Usher (Crystal Balint), who’s recovering from the chemical burns she received at Prospero’s deadly rave in Episode 2’s “The Masque of the Red Death.” The first interesting thing to note is the mother-daughter duo are watching the 1961 Vincent Price film The Pit and the Pendulum, another Poe adaptation and an especially fitting one, considering how their father and husband, Frederick Usher (Henry Thomas), meets his grisly end one episode later. 

The Flanagan reference comes when they’re picking what they should watch next and hover over… none other than Gerald’s Game.

For anyone unfamiliar, Gerald’s Game is another literary adaptation from Flanagan, this time a retelling of a Stephen King book long thought to be unfilmable (even by the director himself). The 2017 film centers on a couple, Gerald and Jessie, who head to a remote lake house for a getaway intended to save their marriage. Things take a dark turn, however, when Gerald reveals his intentions to enact an abusive fantasy and handcuffs Jessie to the bed — and then dies of a heart attack, leaving her trapped. The rest of the film follows Jessie as she grapples with hallucinations and old memories as she tries to escape.

The connections between Gerald and Usher make this an especially interesting throwback. Both are adaptations from famed horror authors, as brought to the screen by Flanagan. But in the world of the series, Morrie is also trapped in a bed by an abusive husband (who drugs her with a paralytic and extracts her teeth as punishment for being at the rave that night). Making things even more interesting is the fact that Gerald’s Game’s Gerald and Jessie are played by none other than Bruce Greenwood and Carla Gugino, who star in The Fall of the House of Usher as Roderick and Verna, respectively. 

Flanagan frequently brings back actors from his various projects, so it’s no surprise he cast Greenwood and Gugino again here — but it makes watching their dynamic in Usher that much more exciting.

And for those who’ve seen all of Flanagan’s scary-good horror series, there are other recurring themes and motifs to look out for — like the significance of a New Year’s party, for starters. It’s as good a reason as any to watch them all over again.

The Fall of the House of Usher is streaming now, as are seven more spine-tingling Flanagan shows and films to enjoy (…if you dare).

Spine-Tingling Mike Flanagan Series and Films to StreamWatch if you dare.