**This is a spoiler-free review so feel free to read on!**
“Please find me…”
Archive 81 premiered on January 14th 2022 on Netflix. All eight episodes are available to stream now. The horror mystery series stars Mamoudou Athie, Dina Shihabi, Matt McGorry, Ariana Neal and Evan Jonigkeit. Each episode runs for approximately 55-57 minutes.
An archivist named Dan takes a job restoring old videotapes up in the Catskills, uncovering a mystery surrounding the missing director and a supernatural cult.
Here is the trailer:
Archive 81 reels you in with a slow burn approach that manages to transform into something truly disturbing as we are along for the ride to discover what truly happened to the girl on the tapes. Is it worthy of your next binge-watch? Let’s find out…
The Pros:
A mystery that pulls you into the rabbit hole with each episode.
I love feeling like I’m a part of the mystery and I thought that this series managed to bring the audience in effortlessly. I found myself trying to piece together all of the clues and my eyes were glued to the screen the entire time. Much like the archivist, Dan, I felt a need to find out what truly happened to the girl on the tapes, luring me in more and more.
The series gave me some Last Night in Soho and 1BR vibes, so if you enjoyed those films, you will feel right at home with this one.
A show you’ll think about long after it is over.
I can always tell when I truly appreciate and love a series. It always comes back to the shows that create a dialogue worth having, leaving you with even more questions and theories. It’s a show that you just want to talk to someone about. It’s that good! It will resonate with you and really make you think even after we witness many of the reveals.
We also got that major cliffhanger at the end to contemplate so I’m crossing my fingers that we will see a season two!
The Cons:
Slow moving at times…
The episodes are super long and the opening episodes dragged a little for me. At one point I thought I had been watching it for over two hours and realized I had only been actually watching for thirty minutes. I think the pacing drastically improved by the time we got to episode three and thinking back on it, I actually felt like the slow burn approach worked because it mirrored what Dan was going through as the archivist.
That being said, I would have preferred the episodes to be just a little shorter but I still managed to watch this series in almost one day!
So am I in or out?
I’m in 100 percent!
Chilling and disturbing on so many levels! A worthy mystery that will keep you guessing until the end and well after that!
I absolutely loved this series and I can’t stop talking about it!
I hope you enjoyed the review and feel free to post your own thoughts and theories on Archive 81 in the comments section below. Thanks so much for reading and happy viewing!
Best,
Amy Koto, TV Fanatic Girl
DON’T TAKE THE JOB…
It was only supposed to be temporary…but when Olivia Crewe accepts a new position that seems too good to be true, she soon discovers that twelve other girls previously had the same job as her. Only none of them lasted for more than thirty days. No notice. Nothing…right before they mysteriously disappeared without a trace.
My new supernatural thriller Girl Number Thirteen is out now! I hope you enjoy!
Girl Number Thirteen is available here!
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