Studio 666 (2022)

Studio 666 (aka Untitled Foo Fighters Project) review by Mark McPherson - Cinema Paradiso

The Foo Fighters are not good actors. Dave Grohl is alright but the rest of the band are clearly not adept at getting into characters. Thankfully, the rock band is placed in a film where they are expected to play themselves. It’s also an absurd horror movie so there’s even less pressure for them to perform anything more than the band who comes to play in a haunted house and get slaughtered.

The premise is relatively simple that The Foo Fighters can have a bit of fun with the concept. The band needs to turn out a new album soon or their producer played Jeff Garlin is getting pissed. Before Garlin blows a gasket, he gets a devilish idea that will inspire the band. He hooks them up with a mansion to record in with a history of murder. It sounds cool and the Foo Fighters agree it will be the perfect place to record a whole new album and a brilliant new song.

Things don’t go well at first. Grohl finds himself frustrated while trying to come up with something original. Every attempt is a failure, to the point where he plays the music of other popular celebrities who apparently can overhear him playing their songs from miles away and tell him to cut it out. He needs some big burst of inspiration.

When Dave takes a trip down to a smoke-filled basement, he finds that inspiration. Overlooking the gored raccoon on the wall, he takes note of a music reel and discovers something amazing. A new sound. The perfect sound. Perhaps if he plays a few riffs, he’ll find his new song. And he does. The Foo Fighters are ecstatic at first. But as the practice continues, Dave’s song gets longer and longer. Also, Dave starts growing fangs and secretly killing people. There’s a demonic hand guiding his guitar, leading to a bloody third-act of supernatural forces that aim to literally tear the band apart, limb from limb.

The Foo Fighters attempt to be quirky in this picture but they just can’t pull it off. The good news is that it feels like they don’t have to be as much for a picture that really wants to satirize showbiz and also kill off the band. It makes their flat delivery of silly bits about meditation and sleeping in the kitchen more cute than cringy. It’s kinda like watching the kids run their own play, more impressed by their ambition than the results.

That being said, wow, this film doesn’t skimp on the gore. It’s incredibly gruesome and bloody, never shying away from the most disgusting of kills. There are heads cut off with hedge clippers. Body parts are thrown on the BBQ and eaten. One incredible kill involves two people having sex and a chainsaw under the bed. The results are brilliantly bloody and over-the-top enough to be an enjoyable romp and make up for the fact that most of the Foo Fighters can’t hold back their smiles in scenes where they need to play it straight.

There are some supporting comedic performances that don’t slack. Garlin is a lot of fun for his constant anger and also for a scene between him and Dave who kick each other in the balls many times. Will Forte is pretty fun as an eager fan of a delivery guy who keeps trying to find a way for Dave Grohl to listen to his indie album. I also gotta give it up to Whitney Cummings playing both a perky neighbor and a knowing woman of supernatural forces.

Studio 666 is mostly going to appeal to Foo Fighters fans who want to see the band in a horror movie but there’s just enough present to please horror fans in general. There’s a winking nature always present and the gory kills are reason enough to watch. The message is unfortunately rather mixed by the end of the film and doesn’t really say much about the nature of how the music industry is evil. That being said, if you just want to see some unique ways the body can be gored in a haunted house picture with a B-movie nature, this is a decent choice.