Studio 666 Review

Four years ago I got to see them under their ‘secret show name’ The Holy Shits in the Hollywood Palladium parking lot with Taylor Hawkins’ Chevy Metal cover band opening. I got to catch a drum stick that day and was under the impression I’d get to see them under their more well known band name at least two more times. As I write this the Foo Fighters have cancelled all shows for the foreseeable future in honor of the late drummer…

The potentially final outing we have from the beloved rock band is a horror comedy that critics unanimously decided to shit on despite it actually being kinda great. 

The Foo Fighters are on the hot seat with their record label as they’re tasked with making a record that will finally make them money (when were they ever able to do that?). In need of a recording space to creatively spark them, the record label head played by Jeff Garlin sets them up with a haunted monster of a location played by the Houdini Mansion. After staying in the mansion for 2 weeks, they come across an analog tape in the basement that leads the Foos to complete a song that summons a demon. Hilarity, gore, and heavy riffs to equal measure are abound in Studio 666. 

As I mentioned previously the critics completely missed the point of this movie which I can best approximate to Tenacious D and the Pick of Destiny in terms of tone and production value. You got John Carpenter scoring and appearing in the film as the studio engineer. Kerry King being a disgruntled roadie, the first kill, and first in-movie monster. Dave Grohl making fun of himself non-stop as well as making a metal album under the fictional in-film band. Lionel Richie playing an apparition version of himself that tells Dave to get his own ideas after covering Hello on keyboard. It is worth your time for those reasons alone.

The only real criteria for a horror movie to be beloved by the community is good kills and Studio 666 in fact has great kills! Particularly the one where Dave cuts Whitney Cummings and Rami Jaffee in half with a chainsaw to Lumberjack by Jackyl.  If you liked Grohl’s performance as the devil in Tenacious D, you get that void filled with a similar level of crazy evil acting. A particular standout to me is Pat Smear who brings the ‘I can’t act’ tier camp that I’ve come to love in these kinds of movies. 

The one thing I didn’t really care for that is unfortunately a stamp among certain filmmakers as a whole is one where homophobia is funny. No one particular person in this movie hates gay people or anything like that to my knowledge but the whole thing of calling someone male presenting a cocksucker to get a laugh and or degrade them is never funny nor does it advance the story. That kinda thing would barely pass if it was a period piece but it’s especially tired seeing as many movies as I have that still do it. 

Whether or not you do see the movie (which I do ultimately like), Dave Grohl’s metal album he made for the movie under the group name Dream Widow is so fucking good, and I’m so fucking mad I let other critics’ reviews affect my decision to hear it in a theater in trade for hearing it on my MacBook with headphones on. What’s the lesson here? Don’t listen to critics… With that, thank you for reading my review and any of the other fine reviews you may find here on Mad Monster :p