Scotty’s Horror Short Showcase: ‘Spell Claire’

Written by Scott Edwards 

It is easy to fall back into nostalgia mode from time to time. While it seems to be getting played upon much more these days in movies and television shows, it is hard to believe that the fad might actually get burnt out. Yet there are other things that can play with your nostalgia bone, with old toys showing up on internet sites and even vinyl records making you miss the old days of a song skipping along. Even though it may cost a couple more bucks to get some of these things from your past, if it makes you feel like you are living in the good old days, you should be all for it, just make sure however that you know what you are getting yourself into when you do.
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While at a garage sale, Claire is looking around and finding all kinds of things from her past. With most of the items giving her some flashbacks to a better time in her life, she spots something that she could have not grown up without. Picking up the old Speak and Spell game, Claire admits that the game was her best friend growing up and pays a steep price in order to make it her own once again. Proud of her new purchase, Claire stops at a photo booth to express her love for her new/old game and finally makes her way back home to give the game a go.

Opening up her record player and putting on an old ’45, Claire finds some batteries for the old game and plugs them in. As the game comes back to life, the familiar voice is bringing back memories that Claire will never let fade away. Playing the game and getting all of the words right, Claire tries some different game modes and finds that she is not able to pass the Mystery Word mode and comes up with a different plan. Getting out her pipe and loading it with weed, Claire goes off script from what the game is designed for and starts putting in words and now common abbreviations that the game does not understand. Blowing smoke into the game and passing out on the couch, Claire is surprised when the game comes back to life without her giving it a command. As the game asks for its next spelling, LOSER is asked and after spelling it correctly three times, the game disagrees and provides her with the proper answer and Claire is shocked to find out that her name is the correct spelling for a word that is loaded with negativity.

Even though Artificial Intelligence has come a long way, it is nice to see where it was in the simple stages and a game that says ‘I Win’ should never be looked at the same. This horror short really reminded me of the days when games took pride in beating you at the simple things and even though I never really liked the spelling games, my old handheld football game loved yelling ‘Touchdown!’ when it scored and shutting down when I did. I liked how Claire choose to retreat back into her gold old days when the game got too difficult and how she introduced the game to how words have changed over the years, especially when she started putting in the abbreviations that are used on a daily basis, it appeared to upset the game into creating its own rules. With a trip down memory lane, a Speak and Spell game, a photo booth, an old record, an easy spelling game, some pot smoking, an introduction into the new times and a game that refuses to be beat, this short will remind you that the good old days may have not been as good as they seemed, especially when you try to change the rules. Stay Scared.

See ‘Spell Claire’ on Amazon Prime Video.

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