Netflix's Archive 81 season 1 featured a number of movie references and nods to classic film throughout its run. The streaming platform's new horror outing references a lot of movies across its eight episodes, ranging from obscure arthouse flicks to Hollywood blockbusters. In a series all about media and how people interact with media, it makes sense that a lot of importance is given to these metatextual clues and Easter eggs.
Based on a popular podcast, Archive 81 tells the story of Dan Turner, a film conservator who is asked to restore numerous tapes recorded in 1994. They were initially recorded by Melody Pendras, a student working on her Ph.D. dissertation on the mysterious Visser apartment building. Pendras attempts to record an oral history of the Visser and its inhabitants, and, in the process, becomes embroiled in the plot of a sinister cult.
Archive 81 uses its many Easter eggs and references to old science-fiction and horror works in order to play with the audience's expectations. This appeal to genre codes and tropes adds a very meta dimension to the series, as viewers navigate the references, attempting to parse their significance and relevance to the story. Through this process, Archive 81 becomes a game, of sorts, in which the viewer is asked to decode these Easter eggs, mirroring the position of the main character, Dan, who is asked to restore the tapes and also finds himself lost in this labyrinthine plot. Here's each movie reference in Archive 81 season 1.
A Trip to the Moon
The first major reference to cinema occurs early on in Archive 81 episode 1, "Mystery Signals," when Dan goes to work at the Museum of the Moving Image. While this reference is perhaps not as immediately significant as some of the nods to classic horror fiction, the reference to Méliès' A Trip to the Moon does serve a purpose in the narrative. First of all, it sets up Dan's profession; he works with old films and George Méliès is one of the pioneers of early cinema. It also alludes to genre elements that will come to the forefront later on in the series. A Trip to the Moon is perhaps the first great science-fiction film, and while Archive 81 leans into supernatural horror, it also features a major element of science-fiction: the comet. By the end of the series, it remains unclear what exactly the supernatural entity known as Kaelego really is, but it could very well be an extra-terrestrial.
Night of the Living Dead
George Romero's classic zombie movie, Night of the Living Dead, also hints at some major developments in the series. A Night of the Living Dead poster can be seen in the background at Mark's apartment in Apartment 81 episode 1. This scene features the two friends watching footage of the presumed-dead Melody Pendras. The tone is already very somber and the presence of the Night of the Living Dead poster in the background only serves to highlight the morbid nature of what Dan's relationship with Melody will become. In a sense, she is a "living dead," trapped between two worlds.
The Twilight Zone
When a colleague asks about The Circle, the film Dan is currently restoring, he compares the obscure anthology series to The Twilight Zone. Of course, this reference to Rod Serling's classic series clues the viewer in to what kind of tone Archive 81 is going for, as well as suggesting that this series may feature a surprise twist ending, something very familiar to fans of The Twilight Zone. However, this reference may go a bit deeper. Perhaps this allusion to The Twilight Zone also hints at the future of Archive 81; the premise of the series lends itself well to an anthology format, after all.
Solaris
During his first night at the compound where he has been tasked with the restoration of Melody's tapes, Dan decides to kick back and watch Andrei Tarkovsky's 1972 sci-fi classic, Solaris. While, at first, this reference to an arthouse masterpiece may stand out in comparison to genre works like Night of the Living Dead or The Twilight Zone, Solaris is perhaps an even more significant reference. Andrei Tarkovsky's acclaimed film adaptation of Stanislaw Lem's novel sees psychologist Kris Kelvin being sent on a mission to the eponymous planet Solaris, in order to evaluate the status of the scientific research being conducted there. On Solaris, he is surprised to find his deceased wife, Hari, as an apparition produced by the planet itself. Kris' relationship with this apparition is very similar to Dan's relationship with "ghost Melody." Just like Hari, Melody is unaware of her circumstances and believes herself to be real.
The Shining
Episode 1 of Archive 81 features both a bookshelf full of Stephen King novels and an explicit reference to The Shining. Worried about Dan's mental state, Mark asks him over the phone: "You're not gonna go Jack Torrance on me, are you?" It is alluded to that Dan suffered a mental breakdown a few months before the series begins, and so, this reference to The Shining's Jack Torrance casts doubt on the veracity of what he is experiencing at the compound. Is it really happening, or is it all just a figment of Dan's imagination brought forth by his isolation? But perhaps this Stephen King reference relates more obviously to what Melody is experiencing at the Visser building. With its strange residents and occult history, it is very much Melody's own Overlook Hotel. And just as Jack is seemingly transplanted back in the Hotel's past by the end of Kubrick's adaptation, so too is Dan transported back to the Visser in Archive 81's twist ending.
The Secret of Nimh
Strangely enough, the most prominent reference featured in Archive 81 is probably The Secret of NIMH. This might come as a surprise considering that Archive 81 is a horror series about a haunted apartment building, and The Secret of NIMH is an animated movie based on a children's book about mice living on a farm. However, there are some surprising similarities between the two works. First of all, The Secret of NIMH is known for its dark and mature tone, as well as its spooky character designs and animation. The series of children's novels is also about the consequences of laboratory experiments conducted on rats. This relates to Melody and Anabelle's time spent in a psychiatric hospital, as well as Melody's relationship with Dan's father and his interest in her paranormal abilities.
Ministry of Fear
In Archive 81, Episode 3, "Terror in the Aisles," Dan can be seen wearing a Ministry of Fear t-shirt. This is a film noir from director Fritz Lang (best known for his 1927 sci-fi classic, Metropolis). Ministry of Fear opens with the main character, Stephen Neale, being released from an asylum. This mirrors the starting point of both Dan and Melody's stories in Archive 81. They each begin their respective journeys in the aftermath of a mental breakdown of some kind. The film also features a séance, as does Archive 81, Episode 4, "Spirit Receivers." Lang's film constructs a paranoid atmosphere through its meticulous use of shadows and stark compositions, an aesthetic integral to film noir. Of course, paranoia is also integral to Archive 81 (especially in Dan's storyline), but this anxiety and paranoia being linked to the characters' mental state and previous mental health troubles is the main connection between this series and Ministry of Fear.