Everyone loves the Foo Fighters. In their massive selection of tracks and albums, there is at least one song that you will like. From Everlong to Times Like These, the iconic band will go down as one of the best bands in music history; and no, that isn't an understatement. So, after twenty-eight years of making music, Dave Grohl and his crew have finally released a horror-comedy called Studio 666. Yet, after being incredibly interested in the project, I hate to say that it was thoroughly disappointing.
Directed by B.J. McDonnell, the film follows legendary rock band Foo Fighters who move into an Encino mansion steeped in grisly rock and roll history to record their much anticipated tenth album. Once in the house, Dave Grohl finds himself grappling with supernatural forces that threaten both the completion of the album and the lives of the band.
Studio 666 is a film of two halves: the first being a legitimately funny comedy with each member of the band making jokes, the second being off-the-rails insanity. The film begins with a fantastic sequence that really shows the brutality of the movie; it sets a clear tone and gives the audience an insight into what the violence in this film is like. It then subverts this by cutting to the present day where we see each band member cracking jokes and, honestly, just acting like themselves. This is when the film truly shines – when it is focusing on the lead characters.
All the actors are trying their best here. We obviously know Dave Grohl, Pat Smear and the rest of the gang aren't professional actors and it does show. Nobody truly shines as an actor but everyone is commendable for their musical talent and for giving it their best.
However, that's about it when it comes to positives for this film. Studio 666 is a complete mess; dialling down on some of the most cliché horror movie tropes when it could've been something actually memorable. Once the supernatural elements enter the film, everything goes off-the-rails to the point of stupidity, making it not fun in the slightest. It becomes so chaotic when it didn't need to. It feels like it cannot stick with any of the ideas it has set up and decides to go full-blown slasher movie out of nowhere making the whole movie seem scattered.
The movie also has an ending problem where it just keeps going and going when it should have ended twenty minutes earlier. Early on in the third act, it is obvious what needs to be stopped then, ten minutes later, a new threat is introduced and it does that repeatedly for a solid thirty-ish minutes. It never feels final and its final moments felt like the worst possible way to end the movie because it felt redundant and, well, rather pointless.
Studio 666 has a promising opening act but slowly morphs into a violent, irritating, mess which went so off-the-rails that leaves you more bewildered than actually enjoying it. I love Foo Fighters so much but this was a crushing disappointment.
Studio 666 is out now
