An archivist examines old videotapes in a remote house and discovers messages from the dead… The new one Netflix series Archive 81 is full of horror and mystery. She even pushes some viewers to their limits.
| What is Archive 81 about? Archivist Dan (Mamoudou Athie) takes a job in a remote house, incommunicado. There he is supposed to restore damaged video tapes and quickly recognizes from the recordings that terrible things have happened… |
Netflix series “Archive 81”: This is how viewers react
“I started watching Archive 81 with my boyfriend yesterday and the spooky vibes still make me want to hide under my covers,” writes such as the Twitter user Viktoria Olmo. She’s not the only viewer who’s getting shivers down the spine of the Netflix series.
Nightfallrose explains on Reddit, for example, that she finished the first episode and couldn’t continue watching. “There’s something about this show that I find really terrifying (I’m a 32-year-old woman…). Am I the only one?” Other users revealed that they could only watch the series in daylight. Some write that the soundtrack has an extremely strong impact.
Twitter user and author SDFoik compares the Netflix series, among others, with horror films by Ari Aster: “If you like creepy and scary films à la Midsommar, Hereditary and The Ring, look at Netflix ‘Archive 81’.” The user rarely has something so intense and scary seen.
That’s what the reviews say
The reviews of “Archive 81” are almost entirely positive. With 32 reviews on the review collection site Rotten Tomatoes, 84 percent of the votes are positive.
“Like a jigsaw puzzle that gets more intriguing as each new piece is revealed, it’s the kind of show that the ‘next episode’ button was invented for.”
Keith Phipps in TV Guide
“Those looking for quick answers won’t find them, but the eight episodes plant enough bizarre seeds to effectively drag the audience through its fun-house mirror.”
Brian Lowry at CNN.com
“This is one of those series where the best thing you can do is sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.”
Luc Mangan in the Guardian
A similar picture can be seen at IMDb: More than 22,500 users give an average of 7.5 out of 10 stars.
However: Some critics and viewers are not very satisfied with the end of the first season. On Reddit, numerous users write that everything is good up to the fifth episode, but the end is a disappointment. The series begins differently than other comparable shows, but only ends with conventional horror.
Archive 81 is very popular
For the week of January 17-23, 2022, Archive 81 was number two on the Netflix global series charts:
| series | weeks in the top 10 | hours streamed | |
| 1 | Ozark Season 4 Part 1 | 1 | 77,010,000 |
| 2 | Archive 81 Season 1 | 2 | 70,980,000 |
| 3 | “Hands off!” Season 3 | 1 | 41,100,000 |
| 4 | “Whoever Lies” miniseries | 4 | 26,980,000 |
| 5 | “Ozark” Season 1 | 1 | 24,480,000 |
| 6 | Cobra Kai Season 4 | 4 | 23,840,000 |
| 7 | The Witcher Season 2 | 6 | 22,640,000 |
| 8th | Manifesto Season 1 | 9 | 20,760,000 |
| 9 | Cheerleading Season 2 | 2 | 20,700,000 |
| 10 | Emily in Paris Season 2 | 5 | 18,240,000 |
In Germany, the series is currently in 10th place (as of February 1, 2022).
So if you’re into horror mystery and don’t shy away from sleepless nights, Archive 81 might be worth a look. A Netflix series has also been added to the program for a few days, which may have the potential to become the new “Squid Game”.
Source: Twitter/Victoria Olmo, Reddit/nightfallrose, Twitter/sdfoik, Rotten Tomatoes, IMDb, TV Guide, CNN.com, Guardian, Netflix