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| Courtesy of Open Road Films |
Back in 2006 Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters played
Satan in the rock musical comedy dose of fanservice Tenacious D in the Pick
of Destiny. Designed to highlight
the musical talents of the rock band while also serving up a comedy bent to the
proceedings ala The Beatles’ Help! with just enough of the gonzo music
oriented zaniness of Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey or UHF to steer
audiences off the beaten path. In other
words, it’s a subgenre of film we don’t see come around that often. Fast forward to 2022, the newest and most
welcome return to this kind of take no prisoners style of screwball musical
comedy that goes down really well with beer and pizza finds none other than
Dave Grohl literally being demonically possessed in the Foo Fighters original
horror comedy film Studio 666.
In 1993, a rock band is murdered by their frontman before
taking his own life within a remote mansion.
Circa 2019, that same mercurial location finds the Foo Fighters happening
upon it in search of a new recording studio for their impending tenth album. Days into sprucing up the interior and
beginning recording sessions, Dave Grohl finds a basement containing satanic
artifacts (The Evil Dead is referenced throughout) and finds himself
becoming possessed by the evil spirits dwelling within the mansion. It doesn’t take long for possessed Grohl to
start murdering off his own bandmates in what quickly shapes up to be a mashup
between the lowbrow humor of Grandma’s Boy with heavy shades of John
Carpenter’s The Fog by way of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead II.
Penned by Dave Grohl and shot in secrecy during COVID as
well as featuring original music by John Carpenter who plays himself in the
film, Studio 666 from Slayer: The Repentless Killogy and Hatchet
III director BJ McDonnell though wearing influences heavily upon its sleeves
is an inspired little low budget rock horror comedy sure to take viewers back
to the heyday of like-minded heavy-metal horror comedies ala Trick or Treat with
Ozzy Osbourne.
Though floundering at the box office, this is destined to
become a cult comedy with frequent home video replays with friends gathered
around the TV screen eager for a blood and gore-tinged rock music laugh. Unlike the recently released short-horror
film from Boy Harsher called The Runner which is partially a
music video oriented horror short, partially a behind-the-scenes look at
recording sessions, Studio 666 from start to finish is thickly tongue in
cheek and means to have fun.
Visually the film looks fine with two cinematographers
operating the cameras and fans of the Foo Fighters as well as John and
Cody Carpenter’s opening theme song will find much to enjoy sonically. For the most part the sound design and
musical performances in the studio recording sessions upstage the visuals which
fluctuate between being CG heavy and practical effects driven. Acting-wise, the cast members are clearly
goofing around and aren’t giving what one would call heartfelt performances,
just sort of like a Happy Madison production of friends making jokes or hamming
it up for the camera. Most everyone in
this plays themselves with Lionel Richie making a hilarious cameo and The FP
writer-director Jason Trost making a most unexpected guest appearance.
The best way to enjoy something like this music-horror-comedy
yarn is to check your brain at the door, put your feet up and have some
mindless fun for two hours. As horror
comedy it didn’t necessarily do anything we haven’t seen before, but that’s
part of the film’s charming fanservice. Easily
the funniest movie to hit theater screens as of recent since Jackass Forever
with just as many belly laughs contained therein, Studio 666 is
crass, idiotic but in the end exactly what it aspires to be, a rib
tickler. Serious minded horror fans will
write this off as another lowbrow quasi-music video promo for the band, but
even as a casual fan who admittedly doesn’t own any Foo Fighters albums
on hand at the moment, Studio 666 was some of the most dumbass fun I’ve
had at the movies so far this year.
--Andrew Kotwicki
