A troubled archivist finds himself drawn into the mystery of a woman who disappeared two decades ago in Archive 81, a new horror series from Netflix. Technically, the show belongs to the found footage subgenre of horror, but tonally, this spookily addictive eight-episode series evokes classic supernatural horror fare like Rosemary's Baby—exactly what one should expect when James Wan (of the Insidious and Conjuring franchises) is among the producers.
(Some spoilers below, but no major reveals.)
The series is loosely based on the popular found footage podcast of the same name created by Daniel Powell and Marc Sollinger, in which the creators play fictionalized versions of themselves. The podcast tells the story of Daniel Powell, an archivist who goes missing after taking a job with the Housing Historical Committee of New York State. After Daniel's disappearance, his best friend Mark Sollinger finds hundreds of hours of audio tapes that Daniel had been archiving; the audio features interviews with residents in a high-rise building in 1994. Mark releases the tapes in the form of a podcast. The podcast is now in its third season.
The series preserves much of the original concept and several main characters while making a few tweaks to adapt the story for streaming television. According to showrunner Rebecca Sonnenshine, "We’re hoping to give the supernatural horror genre a new twist—while keeping a dark, deeply emotional romance as its core."
Per the official premise:
Archive 81 follows archivist Dan Turner, who takes a job restoring a collection of damaged videotapes from 1994. Reconstructing the work of a documentary filmmaker named Melody Pendras, 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.
Sonnenshine has assembled a terrific cast for the series. Dan (Mamoudou Athie, The Get Down) has a steady if mundane staff job and a tragic past. His entire family died when their house burned down, around the same time as the Visser did. Young Dan survived because he was out walking the family dog. He's estranged from his wife, he's had at least one nervous breakdown, and he mostly hangs out with his best friend Mark (Matt McGorry, How to Get Away with Murder), who hosts a podcast.
When a wealthy businessman named Virgil Davenport (Martin Donovan, Big Little Lies) approaches Dan with a lucrative freelance job offer to restore the aforementioned damaged videotapes, the archivist accepts—even though it requires him to work alone at a remote facility upstate with no cell phone reception. He begins watching Melody's (Dina Shihabi, Altered Carbon) tapes as he restores them, and his own grip on reality gradually begins to unravel as he is drawn into her story. Plus, Davenport might have ulterior motives for hiring Dan in the first place.
The story shifts nimbly between Dan's present and Melody's experiences in 1994, beginning when she moves into the Visser—against the advice of her best friend, an artist named Anabelle (Julia Chan, Katy Keene)—in hopes of tracking down her biological mother. She befriends a young girl named Jess (Ariana Neal, Hidden Figures) and discovers that her affable yet vaguely creepy neighbor Samuel (Evan Jonigkeit, X-Men: Days of Future Past) leads regular clandestine meetings that involve strange tonal chanting in front of a pagan sculpture. Whatever Samuel is up to, he is grooming both Melody and Jess, and there's a rumored snuff film from the 1920s suggesting that his plan isn't likely to end well for either of them.
There's something innately unsettling about archival video footage, and Archive 81 makes good use of that aspect to bring the chills, especially when Dan catches the occasional glimpse of a demonic face lurking in the static on the tapes—or is it just his fevered imagination? And it's oddly satisfying watching the montages of how he repairs the fire-damaged tapes. The suspense builds slowly without ever bogging down the storytelling, and there are plenty of twists to keep viewers on their toes. The connection between the two timelines—and the respective fates of our protagonists—is finally revealed in a genuinely shocking season finale that opens up a lot of new possibilities for future seasons.
There's no word yet on whether we will get a second season, but Sonnenshine has said her team has already been discussing ideas for where they could take the story next, now that one piece of the puzzle has essentially been "solved." I'd like to see what they come up with, but even if the show isn't renewed, this highly entertaining first season stands well on its own.
Archive 81 is now streaming on Netflix.
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