Stage director Frank Castorf “might have been born to direct From the House of the Dead” (Opera Today). His gritty, visually striking adaptation brings bold modern and postmodern touches to Janáček’s masterwork without ever overshadowing the intense forward momentum of the music, conducted to dramatic perfection by Simone Young and sung by an all-star cast in Munich. Janáček adapted Dostoevsky for this powerfully compelling opera set in a Siberian prison camp, full of starkly contrasting moods and motifs, unusual in its episodic structure. The last opera Janáček ever composed, its third act was on his desk when he died in 1928; attempts by his students to “complete” his orchestration have largely fallen away over the decades in favor of the original version. Despite the grimness of the setting and the brutality of several characters, the composer’s compassion shines through in tender moments, movingly illustrating his motto for the work: “in every creature, a spark of God.”

Life for a single mom in Los Angeles takes an unexpected turn when she allows three young guys to move in with her.

Police in Paris recruit an English ship's officer (Michael Craig) to help trap counterfeiters by joining them.

Upon arriving at the dilapidated estate of his mentor, Dr. Harker finds his former professor, Dr. Usher, radically changed. Instead of the reasoned scholar he once knew, a paranoid man is in his place and he's spiraling into madness.

Victor Reynolds arrives at the notorious House of Usher, whereupon he is greeted by old acquaintances Roderick and Madeline Usher and their servant, Markus. As Victor uncovers more about the history of the house and the disappearances of those that entered it previously, he begins to realize that he is in mortal danger.

When Kyle and Evie Preston start exploring the grounds of their late grandmother's house they discover an old, abandoned mine shaft and soon find that the old lady's stories about fairies trapped underground were true.

A young man, barely entering the world of adults, feels lost in the modern prison of cities, houses and buildings and their system of complex bureaucracy and false meritocracy. Aspiring to a simpler life far from the masses and their madness, he will try to leave everything...