A new horror series is coming to Netflix on January 14 starring Mamoudou Athie, Dina Shihabi and Martin Donovan. It’s about a young man tasked with recovering footage from videotapes that have been damaged in a fire. But the tapes reveal something sinister…
There is plenty of talent behind the scenes of the show, with some episodes directed by Justin Benson and Aaron Moorhead, known for their cerebral science fiction movies Spring, The Endless and Synchronic (starring Jamie Dornan and Anthony Mackie). Haifaa Al-Mansour (Wadjda, Mary Shelley, Nappily Ever After, The Perfect Candidate) is also directing some episodes. And Stranger Things‘ Rebecca Thomas is also directing and executive producing.
James Wan, who directed the most enjoyable horror of 2021 – Malignant – is also executive producing. Wan is known for the Saw, Insidious and Conjuring horror franchises, as well as Marvel’s Aquaman.
Mamoudou Athie has starred in Brie Larson’s The Unicorn Store, Prentice Penny’s Uncorked and Underwater starring Kristen Stewart.
The videotapes feature a woman named Melody (Shihabi) in 1994, who is investigating the history of an apartment building. In one of the apartments, a man tells her that there’s a voice he can hear, that calls to you.
Dan (Athie) then starts to experience strange things in the isolated research facility where he is trying to restore the tapes. Footage of Melody in the 90s seems to reveal some kind of cult activity in the apartment building (all very Rosemary’s Baby). The trailer ends with Melody saying into the camera “please find me.”
The eight episodes of Archive 81 will be available on Netflix to binge from January 14. You can view the trailer below;
If the wait until January 14 is too long for you, you can check out our guides to the best Netflix horror movies and the best Netflix TV series.