Open Road Films
In general I have little patience for slasher movies, which often over-utilize jump scares, pretend at depth, and get fairly repetitive. So anything that’s at least trying to be different stands out, even if it doesn’t always work out as they might want. On the other hand, I am a fan of the Foo Fighters band, in that I like a bunch of their songs and own one of their albums — but I’ve never gone to one of their concerts nor am I familiar with all of the non-Dave Grohl people. Still, that doesn’t mean I have to dislike it.
Studio 666 comes from director BJ McDonnell (who has mostly worked as a camera operator until now) and written by Jeff Buhler and Rebecca Hughes, although Dave Grohl came up with the concept. And that concept is pretty simple, really — the movie starts with a young woman (Jenna Ortega, who was a scream queen in the latest Scream) getting killed by someone mysterious back in the 90s, and then it cuts to the present day.
Dave and the gang are being excoriated by the label dude Jeremy Shill (Jeff Garlin) for not having a new album, and they insist it’s all in their heads — just needs to come out somehow. Dave says that they need a special place, something sinister like wherever Led Zeppelin got into the weird stuff. Shill offers the perfect place, a rundown house in Encino where many rock bands had recorded throughout the decades.
Of course, naturally there’s supernatural evil afoot, and the band is in increasing levels of danger as murders are committed in increasingly violent, delightfully absurd ways (keep an eye out for the chainsaw). Dave Grohl is really the only one in the band who has on screen charisma past the ‘not bad for a non-actor’ thing, which is good because his quixotic quest for the perfect hard rock song with mysterious evil acoustics drives the whole thing. I can’t speak for the rest of them, but they’re all fine enough for this sort of thing — no real hard acting to worry about.
Supporting them as a cast are a nosy, odd neighbor (Whitney Cummings) and Shill’s assistant who is helping the band at the site (Leslie Grossman). These two actual actors add some more potency to their scenes, but in general the movie is about a slow madness and a non-slow murder spree. The effects of the killing moments are cheesy but effective, while some of the other pieces (demonic entities and spirits, mainly) aren’t quite as good — but ultimately it mostly works.
As a horror movie, it’s a throwback, a self-aware piece that loves that old fashioned connection between demons and rock and roll. Dave Grohl actually recorded an entire hard rock soundtrack for the movie, which is sprinkled liberally throughout. It’s pretty fun. I’m sure there will be even more ideal audiences out there, as I can’t imagine that the intersection between Foo Fans and campy horror flicks is that small.
For me, I still enjoyed the over-the-top nature of it, which delved more into psychological nonsense than cheap jump scare tricks. It almost makes me consider buying their latest album, or at least streaming it. Still, it’s not really for you if you don’t like rock music or horror movies at all, even funnier or sillier ones like this one. As long as you’re okay with either one, and definitely even if you’re into both, this movie is a decent recommend.
Studio 666 has a run time of 1 hour 46 minutes and is rated R for strong bloody violence and gore, pervasive language, and sexual content.
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