Unsettling Found Footage Web Series Is Equal Parts Survival Horror And Lifestyle Blog
Most movies and series about society collapsing are about overcoming all odds and figuring out how humanity will endure in the face of extreme adversity. But what if you simply woke up one day and found out you were the only surviving human on Earth? That’s the question The Glendale Archives (2025) tries to answer, and the answer may surprise you. Our protagonist, simply billed on IMDb as “Unnamed Survivor,” doesn’t try to rebuild society or search for his loved ones. If he did any of this before the series begins, it’s not on the recordings being compiled by the Archivist, who’s allegedly uploading the series to YouTube as she finds more footage.
So what does our protagonist do with his time? He shops, cooks, walks you through his skincare routine, and loves living his influencer lifestyle. The problem is that there’s nobody around to influence, and when it gets dark out, he has to worry about the “Nesters,” which are never fully explained but seem to be zombie-like creatures that are either infected humans or the kind of creatures that use human bodies as hosts
A Wholesome Loneliness
Our protagonist, while he doesn’t seem like the influencer type by any stretch of the imagination, seems like a pretty easygoing dude in The Glendale Archives. By day, he gathers supplies and roams the vacant cities that used to be heavily populated. He often gravitates toward places he has fond memories of, like the boardwalk hotel where his family used to vacation when he was a kid, his childhood home, and other places he’s familiar with because he’s nostalgic for better times, but also for practical reasons. It’s easy to weaponize a house if you know the lay of the land.
He also needs the routine between adventures, so the occasional trip to the grocery store or Target is part of his daily life. He never takes more than he needs. Even though he could very easily loot these places, he doesn’t overload his cart, and he only gets what’s on his shopping list
While walking through the streets during the day has proven safer than venturing out at night, our protagonist still encounters the Nesters and has to remain on heightened alert. But the one thing that keeps him going is his three-ingredient cookie recipe that he prepared before foraging, which he’ll be able to enjoy upon returning from his various reconnaissance missions
The entire premise is unnerving and painfully lonely, especially when the protagonist sits down with his homemade chicken parm and pours his heart out during his confessional moments. He’s beyond lonely and living the way he is because he needs his creature comforts. He acknowledges past addiction problems and admits that he doesn’t really want to get better at this point. He remains grateful that most dwellings still have electricity and running water, but he desperately wants to share his time with somebody else. Unfortunately, he has not met a single living soul since the documentation of his journey began.
Nostalgia As A Weapon
The loneliness at the core of The Glendale Archives is specifically millennial. During the vacation sequence, when our protagonist decides to stay at the beachside hotel his family used to visit every year, he brings his Nintendo 64 because it reminds him of when he used to play GoldenEye 007 with his brother. He realizes over time that playing these games by himself offers no relief, and tragically, when a Nester finds its way into his room, he has to beat it to death with the console. He gives the Nintendo 64 a proper burial before moving to his next location, defeated.
Despite the crippling loneliness our protagonist experiences, he remains hopeful throughout the series, even after horrific encounters with the humanoid creatures stalking him at night. The cooking tutorial sequences are simultaneously relaxing and terrifying because I actually want to know how soothing that coconut curry soup tastes, but I’m also waiting for a crazed creature to come crashing through the front window and kill the mood
The Glendale Archives, which is still releasing new installments on YouTube, is unlike any other found footage horror you’ve ever seen. It’s slow-moving and offers a slice-of-life look at the apocalypse. Maybe somewhere across the country, there’s a new savior of the wasteland mowing down Nesters with a machine gun. But here, we just get a regular guy trying to make the best of an empty world
You can watch the full chronological record of The Glendale Archives on YouTube
THE GLENDALE ARCHIVES SCORE
