Created by Troy Wagner of Marble Hornets fame, ECKVA embodies the cryptic, minimalist, medium-blending sensibilities that made his previous horror projects such a hit in the first place. Rising phoenix-like from the ashes of the tragically cancelled Clear Lakes 44, a show with a very similar premise that was advertised to tangentially spin-off from Marble Hornets, ECKVA had a lot to live up to, but has unfortunately turned out to be a somewhat frustrating, time-wasting experience.
Troy's other work is known for being very slow-paced and long-form, with the intervals between uploads often being crucial to the viewer's digestion of the plots being told. However, ECKVA takes the intentional THAC-patented sluggishness to a new extreme. We follow a new faceless cameraman protagonist, Hawkins, as he investigates mysterious goings-on surrounding a seemingly defunct, low-budget local cable television channel known as ECKVA. The narrative is partially told through Hawkins' video-logs, much the same as Jay the protagonist of Marble Hornets, and through the crude, bizarre broadcasts from the ECKVA channel itself. The broadcasts mainly consist of Deranged Animation that is probably meant to be creepy and unsettling in an ironic kind of way, but usually comes across as laughable and repetitive. It becomes truly gruelling when every other episode is mostly comprised of these animated segments. To paraphrase a Reddit user who accurately summed it up: "Right gang, see you all in three months so we can watch more of the same shit!"
The fundamental problem with ECKVA is that there simply isn't enough ground for me to relate to. The only memorable episode sees Hawkins investigate a creepy abandoned house, only to encounter a terrifying digital creature. Clear Lakes 44 alienated a lot of people and had obvious behind-the-scenes production issues despite the
higher budget, but it followed real people being affected in scary ways by preternatural surveillance forces. ECKVA goes for a similar angle but fails in presenting anything for the audience to invest in, even from arm's length. What do ECKVA even do that's so bad or invasive? Advertise dodgy pills, broadcast weird programs and occasionally mess with this one dude snooping in on them. Great? People mock the Operator for being a Non-Action Big Bad, but this takes the cake.
It often feels like much more effort was put into the various Alternate Reality Game mysteries, which hardly anyone watching would ever see, than the series itself. It must be even more frustrating if you're an avid online puzzle-solver who put effort into finding more layers that hint to a wider narrative, only to wait months for yet another uneventful upload. Although the circumstances behind its predecessor's cancellation were unavoidable, it's still sad that the promising story of Clear Lakes 44 got unceremoniously shafted to make way for this, with ECKVA even buying Clear Lakes 44's parent company out in the backstory.
WebVideo Memoriam Clear Lakes 44
Created by Troy Wagner of Marble Hornets fame, ECKVA embodies the cryptic, minimalist, medium-blending sensibilities that made his previous horror projects such a hit in the first place. Rising phoenix-like from the ashes of the tragically cancelled Clear Lakes 44, a show with a very similar premise that was advertised to tangentially spin-off from Marble Hornets, ECKVA had a lot to live up to, but has unfortunately turned out to be a somewhat frustrating, time-wasting experience.
Troy's other work is known for being very slow-paced and long-form, with the intervals between uploads often being crucial to the viewer's digestion of the plots being told. However, ECKVA takes the intentional THAC-patented sluggishness to a new extreme. We follow a new faceless cameraman protagonist, Hawkins, as he investigates mysterious goings-on surrounding a seemingly defunct, low-budget local cable television channel known as ECKVA. The narrative is partially told through Hawkins' video-logs, much the same as Jay the protagonist of Marble Hornets, and through the crude, bizarre broadcasts from the ECKVA channel itself. The broadcasts mainly consist of Deranged Animation that is probably meant to be creepy and unsettling in an ironic kind of way, but usually comes across as laughable and repetitive. It becomes truly gruelling when every other episode is mostly comprised of these animated segments. To paraphrase a Reddit user who accurately summed it up: "Right gang, see you all in three months so we can watch more of the same shit!"
The fundamental problem with ECKVA is that there simply isn't enough ground for me to relate to. The only memorable episode sees Hawkins investigate a creepy abandoned house, only to encounter a terrifying digital creature. Clear Lakes 44 alienated a lot of people and had obvious behind-the-scenes production issues despite the higher budget, but it followed real people being affected in scary ways by preternatural surveillance forces. ECKVA goes for a similar angle but fails in presenting anything for the audience to invest in, even from arm's length. What do ECKVA even do that's so bad or invasive? Advertise dodgy pills, broadcast weird programs and occasionally mess with this one dude snooping in on them. Great? People mock the Operator for being a Non-Action Big Bad, but this takes the cake.
It often feels like much more effort was put into the various Alternate Reality Game mysteries, which hardly anyone watching would ever see, than the series itself. It must be even more frustrating if you're an avid online puzzle-solver who put effort into finding more layers that hint to a wider narrative, only to wait months for yet another uneventful upload. Although the circumstances behind its predecessor's cancellation were unavoidable, it's still sad that the promising story of Clear Lakes 44 got unceremoniously shafted to make way for this, with ECKVA even buying Clear Lakes 44's parent company out in the backstory.