Studio 666 is not going to be some major discovery of the iconic rock band. The Foo Fighters are not stellar actors and they don’t seem to be trying to be in this picture. After all, it’s a tongue-in-cheek gorefest of an absurd horror movie.
The good news is that the film mostly works on this angle. For treating such an ensemble with kid gloves in acting and satire, this is a surprisingly charming horror picture. Even if it doesn’t always hit that winking aspect, it does deliver on the guts that matter for such a film.
A Faltering Flock of Foo
The Foo Fighters play themselves in this movie. They’re struggling to find a new sound for their long-overdue album and are turning up blank. They need some big inspiration to get their spark of creativity back.
Jeff Garlin plays an incredibly bitter executive who can’t stand Dave Grohl’s constant excuses. However, he does entertain their desires for a new space to record. He practically cackles at realizing just the right spot for the gang.
He sends them to a mansion that was home to a murderer’s massacre. The band members take quite a liking to the place. There’s an energy present that may give them just the inspiration they need for a new album.
A Song From The Devil
The most frustrated of the group is clearly Dave Grohl, struggling to find something original. He just can’t quite muster a new tune. He even plays a Lionel Richie song so fragrantally that Richie’s spirit literally visits Dave to tell him to knock it off.
But then Dave ventures down into the basement and discovers the dark secrets of the mansion. Sure, ther’es a gored animal, but there’s also some mix tapes with a great sound. It’s enough to make the desperate musician jump onto the guitar and strum up something new.
The Brutal Price of Music
Dave’s obsession with the new album turns him into a possessed demon. He starts favoring flesh and growing fangs, even screaming in demonic anger about finishing the music. The band only slowly starts taking notice of this when dead people start showing up on the property.
Dave’s murderous rampage is quite brutal. Heads get cut off, limbs are barbequed, and his kill with a drumset has to be one of the best death-by-drums ever put to screen. Another strong highlight is a chainsaw being used during a sex scene, something I wished would’ve been cleverly implemented in the new Texas Chainsaw Massacre movie.
The Foo Fighters As Themselves
The Foo Fighters are perhaps perfectly cast in such a film because they’re only expected to play themselves. That’s the best role non-actors can play and it’s certainly needed here. To be frank, they’re terrible actors.
Grohl is certainly the strongest of all of them, being no stranger to the camera. The rest of the cast, however, struggles to both deliver lines and muster emotion. Some of them seem to be trying too hard to hold back laughs for the moments requiring terror.
Thank goodness most of them can just play it off as cheesy acting. I’m sure that most Foo Fighter fans will be forgiving of their faults in this area. They can at least commit to enduring some gross-out gore sequences.
Some Silly Supporting Roles
At the very least, the comedic supporting cast delivers some fine performances. Jeff Garlin is in top form with his trademark aggravation. It’s also a bit funny to watch him and Dave Grohl kick each other in the balls during the climax over and over.
You also have Will Forte as food delivery guy eager to deliver his demo tape. I first thought that Forte seemed a little old for such a role but then realized how long the Foo Fighters have been around. He’s a bit of fun for his few scenes.
The highlight performance is by far Whitney Cummings as the next door neighbor. She starts off perky and an eager fan but soon transitions into being a paranormal expert. Her switching up of roles is a bit refreshing in a rather rigid horror structure.
Conclusion: Studio 666
There’s some fun to be had in Studio 666 but you really have to be in the B-movie mood. If you’re a fan of the Foo Fighters and just want to see them tossed into a gory haunted house tale, you’ll get that at the minimum. Just don’t be expecting much else.
While not as funny as it could’ve been, there’s a certain charm to its presentation that made it a passively pleasant experience. The gore is great, the cameos are comical, and the supernatural silliness never feels like it’s trying too hard for a laugh. It’s a decent mixture of meta-parody on rock culture and giggy gore.
Did you see Studio 666 in the theater? What did you think of it? Was it funny enough or gross enough? How does it compare to the other horror movie, Halloween Kills? Let us know in the comments below.
The Review
Studio 666
PROS
- Fantastic gore and horror
- Some charming silliness
- Unique meta angle
CONS
- Bad acting only goes so far in a B-movie
- Mixed message ending
- Some sequences fall flatter than they should
