Archive 81

Creator: Rebecca Sonnenshine
Starring: Mamoudou Athie, Dina Shihabi, Evan Jonigkeit, Julia Chan, Ariana Neal, Matt McGorry, Martin Donovan, Charlie Hudson III, Kate Eastman, Georgina Haig, Kristin Griffith
Original Airdate: 2022 

★★★ ½ (out of ★★★★)

Adapted from Daniel Powell and Marc Sollinger's popular podcast and advertised as something of a cross between The Blair Witch Project and The X-Files, Netflix's Archive 81 slowly builds its mystery with an attention to detail uncommon amongst previous media explorations of cosmic horror and supernatural cults. And that isn't faint praise, as creator Rebecca Sonnenshine has many moments where it seems she will follow through in delivering one of the streamer's tightest, most absorbing series to date, perfectly exploiting the medium to dole out just the right amount of chills and suspense. It almost makes it all the way, exceeding whatever expectations accompanied a series that probably hasn't been promoted or discussed enough.

Paced just right, this isn't one of those projects that feels like it's an hour and a half movie stretched over eight to ten episodes. It has two great leads, a genuinely unsettling premise and even some legitimate scares before delivering an ending that doesn't quite stick the landing, but comes close enough to set up all kinds of future possibilities. That is if Netflix chooses to renew it, which is far from a given since it seems like just the kind of underappreciated, high quality series they'd view as expendable and cancel without hesitation. This would be a shame, mostly because it gets a lot right and could go in any number of different directions that would amass a devoted (don't say cult) following. 

Despite some plot holes that seem to grow a bit in the final few episodes, there's some great storytelling going on, with a mood and atmosphere to match, as Sonnenshine has a good handle on how much audiences can take at once, revealing key pieces of information in carefully calibrated steps. The craziness does come, but we're eased into it since viewers will definitely need their hands held going down the ramp when the answers start coming.

Figuring out where all the characters fit into this larger equation is fun, so even as the series impresses more as a tense mystery early on than the sci-fi it finishes as, it's still something fans of either genre should get a kick out of. Starting somewhat grounded for what it is, the fantastical setup raises questions that get resolved without the pay-off feeling like a total letdown. That's a tough balancing act, but in avoiding the usual creative pitfalls that have plagued inferior found footage horror, they pull it off.

When media archivist Dan Turner (Mamoudou Athie) is approached by the mysterious Virgil Davenport (Martin Donovan) of the L.M.G. corporation to restore a collection of videotapes recovered in a fire that occurred in 1994 at the Visser apartment building in Manhattan, he reluctantly accepts the job. Upon arriving at the company's research campus in the Catskills to get to work, he discovers the footage was shot by Melody Pendras (Dina Shihabi), a grad student doing a visual history project on the Visser for her thesis. After the fire, she was never seen or heard from again, her videotapes somehow recovered.

As Dan fixes the tapes, more pieces of the puzzle start coming together while viewing Melody's interviews with the building's tenants, like troubled, seizure-prone pre-teen Jessica Lewis (Ariana Neal) and the friendly but suspicious college professor Samuel Spare (Evan Jonigkeit). But something very strange is going on in this building involving late night clandestine meetings, strange paintings, seances and group chanting. With her friend Anabelle (Julia Chan) soon joining her, Melody becomes determined to find out what's happening, while also trying to gain information about her biological, possibly deceased mother, who may have stayed there at one time.

For Dan, his selection for this job was more than mere coincidence, having suffered a mental breakdown a few years ago and still haunted by the death of his family in a fire when he was young. Left alone with his thoughts and constantly watched by Davenport, Dan uncovers a shocking connection his late psychologist father, Steven (Charlie Hudson III) could have to Melody and the footage. 

Hauled up alone in this house, the lines between reality and fantasy blur, as Dan utilizes best friend and supernatural podcaster Mark (Matt McGorry) as an invaluable investigative lifeline on the outside. Contracted by Davenport to complete the job while fearing for his life and sanity, Dan's in too deep to get out, determined to get an answer to the most important question: What happened to Melody Pendras? 

Discovering along with the protagonist each new piece of information that comes out through the tapes regarding the mystery of this fire and Melody makes for a gripping batch of opening episodes, alternating back and forth between the two timelines. Given the benefit of reacting along with Dan to the information contained in her tapes gives the series a momentum that carries it to the finish line, where answers emerge. 

These opening chapters are its best, largely because both characters' stories are equally compelling, with Melody's intentions coming across as so completely honest and true in the footage that you can't blame Dan for being unable to let this go. There's also an authenticity to her story very early on that morphs into pure fright and creepiness the deeper down the rabbit hole she slides. And that's not even accounting for the personal stakes Dan has in all this, the full extent of which he's yet to discover.

Davenport's motivations for selecting this young man for the job are kept intentionally vague, building intrigue as to whether this shadowy corporate figure is as nefarious as he seems. While you'd figure most of the jump scares come in the '94 footage, and do, there are some genuinely unnerving moments with Dan trapped alone in this house and outside in the nearby woods being trailed, mentally unraveling with each tape he fixes and views. But what both time-bending storylines most have in common is that either he or Melody could just leave their environments should they choose, if not for the shared desire to get to the truth, albeit in different places and eras. But soon enough, doubt surrounds even that, as the line separating them shrinks with each passing episode. 

As Dan, Athie is a stoic, everyman presence on screen, conveying a fearful determination that often straddles the line between obsession and heroism as the story takes its surprising turns. Just as strong is  Shihabi, a Shannyn Sossamon lookalike whose magnetism shines through in the found footage and flashbacks that comprise the majority of the series. 

Shihabi probably has to do the heavier lifting, but it's a credit to both actors that they somehow keep their characters grounded and relatable when eventually dragged into pure madness. There's similarly rewarding work from the supporting cast, like Jonigkeit as the suspicious Samuel and Ariana Neal, who's a whirlwind of emotions as young Jess. As Dan's ride or die buddy Mark, Matt McGorry takes the recent podcaster horror trope and humanizes it, emerging as a more trusted resource for his friend's survival than you'd expect. 

The true test of the series' sustainability comes in the reveal, with the writers holding little back,  laying all their cards out on the table. How satisfied you are with that result may vary, but the 1920's set flashback episode,"The Ferryman," devoted to the origin story of this sinister cult, ups the creep factor at the risk of losing some ambiguity. Featuring a brilliantly disturbing performance from Georgina Haig as the cult's enigmatic founder, it fills in the blanks before making a full turn into pure sci-fi for the finale, "What Lies Beneath." 

Up to this point, the mysticism surrounding ths cult combined the best elements of the similarly James Wan-produced Saw by way of The Wicker Man and Midsommar. But come time for the big fallout, viewers will undoubtedly be reminded of Stranger Things, minus the litany of period pop culture references (though they save a huge one for the end). 

Even as it's impossible to deny the looming presence of Netflix's most popular show in the finale, what leads the story down that road isn't a cheat. Still, it's fair to question the creative choice to put it all out there, making the hypothetical very literal. In a rare series that manages to scare with possibilities of the unknown and unseen, there's a risk in leaving so little left for the imagination. 

In Sonnenshine's defense, there were probably concerns of slipping into Lost territory and getting too tangled in its own mythology by holding back and stringing us along for another season that may not come. Archive 81 ends on a gripping cliffhanger that will leave fans cursing if this isn't renewed, as it cleverly sets the stage for the continuation of a series with real legs. But taken as a standalone, it still succeeds, with the two characters' intersecting story deepening as they cross the dimensions of time and space in ways Rod Serling probably could have appreciated.