A mind-bending mystery story about how footage can be used as an occult medium.

• Entertainment factor: ★★★★★
• Mystery factor: ★★★★★
• Creepy factor: ★★★★☆
• Liminal horror factor: ★★★★★
• Occult & cult factor: ★★★★★
• Cosmic horror factor: ★★★★☆
• Originality factor: ★★★★★

Archive 81 is a brilliant series about footage, the power it holds and how it can be used as a conduit for reality-bending occultism. With interesting characters the story slowly unfolds a supernatural mystery that offers an ominous atmosphere and an uncanny vibe. It is based on the podcast Archive 81. It stars Mamoudou Athie, Dina Shihabi, Matt McGorry. Created by Rebecca Sonnenshine. 

It consists of 8 episodes (45-58 min)

Plot

Dan Turner fixes and restores damaged tapes, film and footage for a living. His family died in a house fire when he was young and he was the only survivor. He still has a trauma about that event. Now he is asked by Virgil Davenport a wealthy entrepreneur to restore some old tapes and offers him 100,000 dollar. On top of that he seems to know a lot about Dan while this information isn’t public. He agrees and is brought to a secluded mansion in the Catskills to work on the tapes. 

The tapes contain footage from 1994 of Melody Kendra at the Visser building that burnt down soon after. She was searching for her birth mother, just before the Visser burnt down and Melody may died in the fire. She got a letter sent from the address of the Visser building. So now she is moving in under the guise to do a school project about the building and its residents. She interviews people and tries to figure out if any of them knew her mother. She befriends 14-year-old Jess who lives in the Visser and does odd jobs for the people. When she interviews her she says: do you think I’m strong enough to hold a whole world inside of me? It’s a strange question and then Jess gets a seizure. 

While Dan recovers more of the tapes, he sees something strange in the images, a figure of a demon-like entity. He also starts to dream about Melody and they seem all too real. He also discovers disturbing things about the house he is currently staying at and Davenports ulterior malignant motives.

In 1994 Melody discovers that there’s something strange going on at the Visser. At night she hears a strange singing and goes to the basement. There she finds quite a few residents sitting in front of a statue, like they are worshipping it. Now she is adamant to find out more about that cult. But the more she discovers the more dangerous it becomes. 

Dan finds out that his father shows up on the tapes and knew Melody. Everything he thought he knew about his father, about the world and reality starts to shift and bend. He only knows that he wants to save Melody. 

Continue reading below this announcement.

Short Review

It’s a series that is all about footage. Footage shot by Melody, even by Jess, recorded tapes of soap operas and the power footage can have. The way this footage bends and distorts reality is very creepy and creates a form of liminal horror. It’s a very interesting concept that blurs reality and bends time, space and dimensions in a creative new way. 

The footage is the thread that weaves the story together but also intertwines the stories of Dan and Melody in a supernatural way. It feels sometimes that 1994 and the present are happening simultaneously. 

Both Dan and Melody aren’t emotional stable persons due to the trauma they carry with them. They are kindred spirits that find each other in dreams. Dreams that might defy reality, time and space. It’s a very intriguing concept that result in some pivotal scenes. 

While Dan and Melody are the main characters, they both have a best friend who play important parts. Dan has a best friend Mark who has a successful podcast Mystery Signals and tries to help him with this mystery with no ulterior motive. It’s very interesting that Davenport asks Mark what he gets out of this relationship, because a reciprocal relationship doesn’t have to be the main reason to be friends. 

In contrast to Mark, Melody’s best friend Annabel might look more stable than Melody but she is easily reeled in by the cult of the Visser. She is receptive to become a successful artist by being selfish. While Melody cares for others, puts her own life in danger to help others and is called a smothering person. Dan, in his turn, feels the need to help her. 

The story is a slow burn, where we discover together with Dan what happened to Melody and with Melody what is going on at the Visser. It unfolds in an intriguing way, discovering more disturbing things while strange things are happening to both of them. The cult is a creepy one, like cults ought to be. The people of the Visser are eccentric and manipulative.

We watch Dan watching Melody. It’s smart move to combine her footage, grainy and showing only partially what happened, with normal footage of Melody like a normal tv series. So that we not only see her point of view but also a more complete story, showing that what she is going through is real and not a figment of her imagination. Most of the story is told from either Dan’s or Melody’s perspective, but we also follow Mark on his quests that Dan sent him on. That adds more body to the story, and veers us away from Dan and Melody to realize that what is happening isn’t entirely in their heads and doesn’t make them unreliable narrators. 

The story of the Visser and the cult goes all the way back to 1928 and a whole episode plays out in that time with the cult that performed a ritual that has set everything in motion what is happening in 1994 and the present. It fully explains the cult and the entity they are invoking. The final episode explains everything about the cult, the Visser and what is happening and why and who are involved. 

While is does explain the story in a very satisfying way, the series ends with a huge cliffhanger that could have been an easy set up for a second season. Now the tables are turned and is Dan the one who needs saving. It could have been a wonderful new story about the Otherwold and the demon Kaelego, if it wasn’t cancelled. It’s such a shame that this interesting series that has a lot of mind bending mysteries to offer didn’t get a renewal. 

Archive 81 is a very original and intriguing horror mystery that slowly reels you in. If you want to know more about this story and how it continues, you can listen to the podcast Archive 81. Although the tv series differs from the podcast, it’s about Dan and Melody. It has threes seasons and 35 main episodes. But there are also side stories and bonus material.