Netflix recently released another interesting series called Archive 81. It’s one of the streaming platform’s most popular shows this week, so I thought I would give it a look. I’m only through the first 2 episodes of the series, so this is just an initial reaction with some background on the show’s origins.
The Podcast
Archive 81 (the streaming series) is loosely based on a podcast of the same name. The podcast is a ‘found-footage horror podcast about ritual, stories, and sound.’ It is currently in its third season and is available on all the popular podcast platforms (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, etc.).
I haven’t listened to the podcast, so I can’t say exactly how much the TV series follows it at this point. But, I will probably check it out after watching the show.
The Premise
The show is a slow-burn style thriller, based on my initial reaction. It follows a video archivist and restoration expert named Dan Turner as he is hired to restore a set of badly damaged videotapes. The tapes comprise an unfinished oral history project from a graduate student named Melody from back in 1994.
Her project was to record an oral history about a Manhattan apartment complex known as the Visser and its current residents. Dan is hired by a mysterious company led by an equally enigmatic CEO named Martin Donovan.
Why does a large but secretive corporation want to restore videotapes from a student dissertation in 1994? Well, that’s a great question. To make matters odder, Dan must undertake the restoration of the tapes at a remote research facility in the Catskills. Because the tapes are apparently so fragile that they can’t be brought into the city. Not sure I’m buying that and neither does Dan. But, the money they offered him is impressive ($100,000), so he takes the job.
He arrives at the secluded facility, discovering that it is in fact a closed-up home/research facility (it’s hard to really tell which came first) where he will be working alone until the project is complete. The location is so remote that there is no internet connection and no cell service, so Dan’s only connection to the outside world will be through a landline.
The Structure
As Dan settles in to start work on the tapes, we watch them with him. This shifts the narrative into two timelines. One, where we are with Dan in the present day, watching the tapes. Two, where we actually see Melody recording the tapes in long flashbacks that come into play as Dan watches each tape.
It’s an interesting narrative structure, where we know a bit more than Dan as he watches the tapes since we see some of the story as a third person with Melody.
The story unfolds slowly as we learn more about Melody and her project - which is already very clearly more than simply a dissertation. I still don’t know the details, but she seems to be looking for a particular past resident of the Visser. This actually seems to be the real reason she is there.
The History
The apartment complex is appropriately odd. It was apparently built on the site where a mansion burned down many years ago. Not coincidentally, the Visser will also burn down, which accounts for the damaged videotapes. The hotel has some strange symbols carved into it and the residents are uniquely odd.
We get a sense they were all drawn to the Visser for a reason. We don’t initially know what happened to Melody, other than we assume she may have died in the fire. Dan also has a history that we slowly learn more about. He lost his family to a house fire when he was young.
Connections and Clues
I do not want to spoil anything as this show definitely reveals itself bit by bit. So, let’s just say that Dan will discover fairly soon that he may have a connection to the Visser and to Melody. He first noticed it when he sees a picture of Melody with a dog that looks exactly like Dan’s family dog growing up. Seems like a pretty thin reason to get involved, but let’s just say that Dan’s instincts are right.
Watch it or Not?
Only 2 episodes in, I’m going to say this is worth a watch. If you like slow, mysterious, possibly supernatural mysteries, this one could be a great addition to your watchlist. I'll be back with a review of the entire series once I finish it up.
