Plot: Archive 81 follows archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie), who takes a job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994. Reconstructing the work of a documentary filmmaker named Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi), he is drawn into her investigation of a dangerous cult at the Visser apartment building. As the season unfolds across these two timelines, Dan slowly finds himself obsessed with uncovering what happened to Melody. When the two characters form a mysterious connection, Dan becomes convinced he can save her from the terrifying end she met 25 years ago.
Review: Horror is one of the most subjective genres and thus what is scary for one person may not be remotely terrifying for another. Some people respond to gore and others to what is not seen on screen. When a filmmaker can creep you out or unsettle you without relying on jumpscares or a drop of blood, you know you have found someone capable of delivering true horror. The new Netflix series Archive 81 is going to be a series that gains some serious word-of-mouth buzz thanks to its eerie and uncomfortable mix of chills and a distinct take on the found footage genre. While it may not be as visceral as American Horror Story or Channel Zero, Archive 81 may be the creepiest show since AppleTV+ series Servant.
Told as a story within a story, Archive 81 is based on the podcast of the same name. Rather than adapt the narrative from the audio series, creator Rebecca Sonnenshine has crafted an original tale. With relative unknowns in the main cast, Archive 81 benefits from the name recognition of producer James Wan whose name is plastered over the marketing for this new series. Archive 81 is far more subtle than Wan’s feature work but does echo the tone and mood of the Insidious films and the first Conjuring. Watching this series, I was reminded a great deal of Mark Z. Danielewski’s brilliant (and unadaptable novel) House of Leaves as well as Shudder podcast Video Palace. Both deal with mysterious footage that infects the viewer. Archive 81 manages to deliver a complex storyline embedded within another complex story which makes this a puzzle box viewing experience.
The main story takes place in the present day and follows film restorer Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie) who is contracted by Virgil (Martin Donovan) to preserve a collection of film and video which is so fragile it requires him to be isolated at a remote compound. As Dan watches the footage, he witnesses a story from 25 years earlier. The second part is that story set in 1994, centering on documentary filmmaker Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi) is chronicling the Visser apartment building whose residents are more bizarre than she expected. Slowly, Dan and Melody’s narratives intersect in unexpected ways, drawing these two seemingly unconnected tales into one terrifying story.
As their tales unfold, Archive 81 relies on using tried and true elements from classic horror films like Rosemary’s Baby, The Tenant, The Sentinel, The Omen, Don’t Look Now, and so many more to populate the surreal settings of the Visser building as well as the compound where Dan analyzes the footage and pieces together the story. It is interesting to watch as each of the eight episodes reveals new clues to the mystery via many different avenues. The effectiveness of these scenes is going to depend on what scares the viewer, but they range from faces or figures hidden in plain sight, characters staring into nothing, and the grainy look of VHS footage which can make shadows look like so much more.
The series benefits from strong performances from Athie and Shihabi who both anchor their parts of the series. There is also kudos due to Sonnenshine and her writing staff for weaving these disparate stories into a unified tale that works overall to deliver chills. Rebecca Thomas (Stranger Things) directed four of the eight-episode season, helming the first and final two chapters. Her visual style is crisp and never overuses the found footage element. Most of the time, we see Dan watching Melody’s footage before it transitions to traditional scenes rather than the shaky camcorder look of movies like Paranormal Activity. The directing team is complemented by Haifaa Al-Mansour and the team of Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead (Spring, Synchronic) who each helm 2 episodes of the season. There is also a very minimal amount of music which means the sound editing is vital in driving the atmosphere of this series.
For all the reveals that Archive 81 unspools over this season, the ending does manage to answer most of the mysteries teased through these eight episodes. There is enough left open at the end for a sophomore season to either connect to this story or for the creators to turn this property into an anthology. Either way, I found Archive 81 to be satisfyingly creepy, just nostalgic enough, and well-acted. Not everyone is going to find this show as scary as the trailer purports it to be, but enough people will be drawn in by the atmospherics to invest in a binge session. This is the best use of found footage I have seen in quite some time and a worthy homage to old-school horror movies that manages to still stand on its own. Archive 81 starts strong and will reel you in and definitely make you turn on all the lights as you watch.
Archive 81 premieres on January 14th on Netflix.