Hot Chip 'Spell' by Simon Owens

Pee Wee’s Playhouse just got a bit too real. In the throes of passion, a bed finally gets its revenge on an unsuspecting couple, in this wacky Hot Chip video by Simon Owens.

The couple are so absorbed in each other that they feel to notice the caress of the mattress or bedsheet until it is too late. The bed efficiently smothers and disposes of the man in the trundle while his partner looks on in horror. And the armchair is in cahoots! But there is a certain ambiguity here. Is this furniture truly malicious? Or is this the glorious moment that furniture finally frees itself from its oppressive human overlords?

Owens is a regular Hot Chip collaborator. This latest anthropomorphic creepshow follows his cute but eerie visual for Oh Baby, by Hot Chip frontman Alexis Taylor. The video featured a spectacularly spooky pair of “wandering” eyes, for which I blame puppeteer Oliver Smart. Smart joins Owens for this second outing.