Studio 666

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🎙️ EPISODE 666: 03.16.23 There's a reason the Foo Fighters are a band and not an acting troupe. And that could be this entire review. When I saw all six of the band members listed at the top of the credits, I knew what I was in for: this is a soulless film based on an atrocious idea. Just the worst type of vanity project and there's only one person to blame at the end of the day: Dave Grohl. I never had any particular beef with him before this. Sure, his whole deal seems annoying and 90+% of his post-Nirvana output has been THE PITS, but he always came across like a fairly nice dude, genuine (to a degree) in a way that ultra-famous rock stars rarely are. But he's burned any good faith with this abysmal mess. Despite a commendable effort by director BJ McDonnell and the FX team here who lace this otherwise unwatchable garbage with legitimately creative kill scenes, I HATED this. And, even worse, felt offended by its very existence.

If not for those cool, extremely gory and over-the-top deaths (Whitney Cummings and the keyboard player are sliced clean in half by a chainsaw whilst boning each other, for example), this could have registered the dreaded score of ZERO on principle. I thought there was a decent chance this would be bad but I didn't think I'd be wishing I were watching a third straight Asylum movie before the end of act one. The premise here is that the Foo Fighters have to deliver their 10th studio album and are set-up to do so in a haunted mansion where a musician went crazy and murdered his bandmates thirty years earlier. Movie Dave Grohl has writer's block, but hey don't you guys remember that he wrote "Everlong" ???...

What is this pat yourself on the back, self-congratulatory bullshit?! Ugh. This might have worked a little bit better if Grohl could act but he spends the time alternating between a horrible Jack Black impression and some elevated version of his own persona. I guess. It's as hard to stomach as it is plainly boring. And the 'real' actors (Cummings, Jeff Garland and the great Will Forte, among them) aren't in this nearly enough to offset that onslaught of suck. If you think Grohl is bad, well, the other five are WAY worse and poor Taylor Hawkins (RIP) honestly looks like he doesn't want to be there. (I'll give a pass to Pat Smear who's just too likable and quirky to fully hate.)

I simply have to ask: who the hell is this for?


...if not for Dave Grohl and Dave Grohl only. But he's rich and famous enough to do anything he wants and so this is what he's gone and done. I suppose there are some uber Foo fans out there who lapped this right up and I'm not saying that those people should be put on some kind of list but I'm also not not saying that either. It's L# goddamit!

On top of everything, at 106 minutes long, this felt like it could have been cut almost in half and accomplished the exact same thing. Movie Grohl gets possessed by the evil spirit and kills his bandmates and we learn later that his manager (Garland) actually wanted all this to happen because rock n' roll has become too safe or something? Having a subplot about how "rock is dead" ends up being especially ironic given the real reason rock is dead (i.e., bad rock music, like new Foo Fighters!). If not for the cool gore/kills this would have ranked among the worst movies I've ever seen.

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 666D - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 666F ⫸

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Studio 666 is a 2022 American horror comedy film directed by BJ McDonnell from a screenplay by Jeff Buhler and Rebecca Hughes, based on a story by Dave Grohl. Grohl stars, alongside his Foo Fighters bandmates Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, and Rami Jaffee. Whitney Cummings, Leslie Grossman, Will Forte, Jenna Ortega, and Jeff Garlin co-star in the ensemble cast. In the film, the Foo Fighters move into a cursed mansion to record a new album. It was released on February 16, 2022.