Netflix's latest entry into the horror genre, adapted from the 'Archive 81' podcast, is an hour-long descent into a thrill of a nightmare.
”-like madness. Trailers for the eight-episode series suggest a monster horror show, but the slow-building, addictive hour-long drama is smarter than your average ghoul fest. Loosely based on a podcast of the same name, this mind-bending puzzle pits sanity against reality where the pursuit of lucidity is both a nightmare and a thrill.
Adapted for television by Rebecca Sonnenshine and directed primarily by Rebecca Thomas, “Archive 81" follows film restoration expert Dan Turner who is with New York’s Museum of the Moving Image. The fun begins when he accepts a lucrative freelance opportunity from the enigmatic billionaire Virgil Davenport to restore a collection of videos damaged in a deadly 1990s NYC apartment building fire.
The mangled cassettes are stored at a desolate, upstate facility of Davenport’s and can’t be moved, so Dan must live and work on the premises. It’s a creepy ’80s-era compound with no internet, cell signal or color scheme beyond cement gray. It’s filled with locked rooms and empty corridors. Dan is a nervous recluse with depressive tendencies and one mental breakdown already under his belt. What could go wrong?Call it a mix of “Lord of the Flies” and “Heathers.
On day one he discovers the fire-damaged footage he’s bringing back to life was shot by grad student Melody Pendras in the early ’90s as part of an oral history project about a storied apartment complex, the Visser. Melody always has a camcorder in hand. It’s downright annoying, but that’s not entirely why the eccentric tenants of the building treat her as an interloper. They appear to be members of a dangerous cult.
The season unfolds across two main timelines, and spoilers abound so I need to be careful here, but when old-school technology and old-world occult practices merge, all hell breaks loose in the creepy compound. Luckily Dan’s best friend Mark is the host of an occult podcast, so he helps investigate the history of the Visser mystery.