Dave Grohl and the Foo Fighters camp it up in a humorous, but exceedingly violent B-movie gore-fest. Studio 666 has the global rock stars facing demonic possession in a haunted mansion. The film is loaded with vulgar language, bloody murder, and of course, shredding death metal music. I laughed much more than expected. Studio 666 never takes itself seriously. The biggest issue is the long run time. Thirty minutes could have easily been cut. A running gag has the band recording a song with no end. The audience gets the brunt of that joke watching their satanic shenanigans.
The carnage begins in Los Angeles with Dave and the band (Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, and Rami Jaffee) getting yelled at by their manager (Jeff Garlin). The Foo Fighters are late delivering their tenth album to the record company. Dave is suffering a bout of “musical constipation.” He wants to write something epic but continually rehashes old material. Their manager recommends they rent an old Encino mansion to get Dave’s creative juices flowing.
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The mansion creeps out the supporting bandmates from the start. Horrifying nightmares and a shocking accident don’t dissuade Dave from leaving. A sinister encounter energizes his songwriting. The band doesn’t understand Dave’s behavior but digs the rocking new music. A nosey neighbor (Whitney Cummings) warns that the mansion has a dark history. A famed nineties group met a grisly end in eerily similar circumstances.
Studio 666 Has Legitimate Blood and Guts Horror Scenes
Foo Fighters fans need to prepare for graphic slaughter. Studio 666 has a lot of laughs, but the violence isn’t meant to be funny. Humans and critters alike die horribly. There are legitimate blood and guts horror scenes. The supernatural storyline also embraces satanic imagery. The band has done nothing like this previously. This is not a concert film. There are no Scooby-Doo hijinks here. Studio 666 earns its hard R-rating.
Dave Grohl is front and center throughout. It seems like he has ninety percent of the dialogue. The other band members say little and are mostly reactionary. You get the feeling that he’s mocking himself and his perceived persona. Grohl’s hilarious as a prima donna. His demanding antics and diva behavior had me laughing out loud. Keyboardist Rami Jaffee is a slight scene-stealer as a new age guru lusting after the neighbor. It would have been nice to see the other bandmates more involved in the story.
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Studio 666 drags considerably in the third act. At this point, the jokes are gone, and it’s full-blown horror. I’m not a fan of gratuitous gore. A leaner edit would have preserved the good humor and added more balance. That said, the film works well enough. It never aspires to be more than an entertaining B-movie and mostly achieves that goal. The Foo Fighters have legions of fans in every age group. Leave the kids at home for this one.
Studio 666 is produced by Roswell Films and Therapy Studios. It will have a theatrical release on February 25th from Open Road Films.
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Julian Roman
(1466 Articles Published)
Julian Roman has been with Movieweb for nearly twenty years. An avid film buff, he feels lucky to have interviewed and written extensively about Hollywood’s greatest talents. In his spare time he plays guitar, treasures good company, and always seeks new adventures.
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