Archive 81

Daniel Turner works as a restorer of damaged film and video tape. One day he is approached by Virgil Davenport who wants him to undertake a project for him. It will involve working in a remote house in the Catskill Mountains; here he is to restore a set of fire damaged Hi-8 video tapes. They were shot in 1994 by PhD student Melody Pendras. She was working on a project concerning the inhabitants of the Visser Building. She is now missing but it is assumed that she died in a fire that destroyed the building. As Dan works through the tapes he learns more about Melody, the Visser Building, its inhabitants and a strange cult active their... he starts to feel a connection to Melody and even feels that somehow he may be able to save her!

I rather enjoyed this series. In the early episodes I was intrigued to see which way it would go; especially after Melody discovered the cult... would the cultists be misguided or would they be tapping into something supernatural; and if so what. The way the series switched between Dan's work in the present and Melody's in 1994 was effective; it would have got irritating if we'd only seen her footage of her research. There are some impressively creepy moments and a few shocking scenes; nothing too disturbing though. The cast is solid; especially Mamoudou Athie; who is frequently in scenes by himself as Dan and Dina Shihabi who impresses as the increasingly perturbed Melody. Overall I'd certainly recommend this to anybody who likes a good chiller. I hope we get a second season.

Archive 81 is a fine series that limits itself in many ways.

It never goes full mystery and never tries to bend your mind and leave you confused for a couple of episodes.

What it does most of the time is it builds up to something, leaves it right away, builds up 5 new things and 2-3 episodes later tries to pick up on these but gives up. Some episodes are also tonally very different, which shows in random motivation and attitude changes, like when our main lead suddenly goes Oceans 11.

Surprisingly enough, the most mysterious episodes were done by Benson&Moorhead duo, although I dislike their other films.

If you strip the series of all the basic "cult" shenanigans (overused by Kill List, Hereditary, The Empty Man), the story becomes so simplistic they sum it up in a few sentences in the last episode.

The series has a nice feel to it, the atmosphere is great, although sometimes it's grainy, sometimes not, and color correction changes, there's probably a reason for that.

Acting-wise only the supporting cast performances can be enjoyed (although sometimes completely misdirected), the main archivist lead is wooden and a complete bore, lost girl Melody is memorable, but not due to the acting, she's unique in some way, but I can not say for sure why. Sadly we didn't get enough supporting characters on screen. Even though some of them were barely believable, like the Davenport brother, who is so useless you can't buy him for a powerful company CEO.

The 90ties setting was ok, they didn't go full nostalgia, but kept some of the pop culture references.

If the ending wasn't such a cliched failure, I'd give Archive 81 an 8-9. It is still a good watch, just drags a lot, wasting too much time on boring leads. Additional creativity would've greatly improved this. Like seriously, if the most intriguing part in your series is the otherworld and the demon-god, at least try to make these look good.

Finally great supernatural horror drama. Yes, it is slow and definitely not for people with short attention span. Also, not for people who look for gore or silly jump scares. But it is super creepy. I started to watch at night and had to stop because felt uncomfortable alone in apartment with this show. Finished the next day when sun was shining. It is well done, the atmosphere is intense, actors are great. Highly recommended for people who like slow burn mystical shows.

Because episode 4 changes everything.

Sometimes people need to have patience to see where it goes and don't give up after one episode... Yes! The first 3 episodes are a bit slow which doesnt't mean they are boring and the acting is not bad, but episode 4 gets things in motion in a good way, at least for me.

For now it's a 8.

Archive 81 is the most watchable series I have come across for some time. It manages to combine so many genres into 8 very different, but very entertaining episodes.

We are given sci fi, horror, thriller and surreal elements, no two episodes are alike, it really is the most incredibly varied show.

For me, this peaks in the middle, where they really deliver several scares, in the last few parts it takes you on a somewhat different journey.

Very nicely acted, with two very strong leads, it's very well presented, with some nice special effects. Part 7 in particular looks great.

You could easily lose interest part way through episode 1, but stick with it, it takes a little time to open up, by episode 3 you'll be binge watching it.

It seems likely we'll be getting a second series.

Overall, a very good watch, 8/10.