2022 Show
Rebecca Sonnenshine · United States of America · English
An unsettling thriller co-produced by horror veteran James Wan
This sci-fi thriller based on a podcast by the same name is about Dan (Mamoudou Athie), a video archivist who takes a job to restore a set of burned Hi8 videotapes. When he starts seeing the footage, he discovers that it is from a now-missing woman trying to document a cult in the ’90s.
The events of the footage take place in an unassuming apartment building in New York City; after the building mysteriously burned down, many were left dead and missing in its wake. As Dan tries to understand what happened, he uncovers details about the woman filming and something that links even his own family to the fire.
The show is at times more of an unsettling horror than a supernatural thriller, but it features a stunning performance from Mamoudou Athie. It’s also notably co-produced by James Wan, co-creator of the Saw, Insidious, and Conjuring franchises.
An archivist takes a job restoring damaged videotapes and gets pulled into the vortex of a mystery involving the missing director and a demonic cult.
"Even with its missteps, the trippy toxicity of Archive 81's imagined world is difficult to shake off."
— Roxana Hadadi
"It's daring storytelling, especially when it's able to work more in confusion and gray areas than when it's even trying to answer questions."
— Brian Tallerico
Bilal Zouheir is the founder of A Good Movie to Watch. He is US-based and a member of the Nevada Film Critics Society. He grew up in Morocco, where he learned English from watching movies. Bilal's work with A Good Movie to Watch is focused on offering an alternative to streaming algorithms, which are often used as commercial tools by streaming services.
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