Studio 666 (2022)

Directed by B. J. McDonnell. Starring Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, Nate Mendel, Rami Jaffee, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, Whitney Cummings, Leslie Grossman, Jeff Garlin, Will Forte. [R]

In order to bring their A-game to their tenth album, rock band Foo Fighters rent an Encino mansion to serve as their recording studio, unaware that the house was the site of several grisly murders. Amid a bad case of writer’s block, a mysterious spell overtakes frontman Dave Grohl, and the other band members come to realize demonic shenanigans are afoot and their lives are in grave danger. Goofy, gory horror-comedy is sometimes a gas, even if it’s a little too safe and never quite truly inspired. Director McDonnell knows the tropes (and gleefully plays into them), which puts most of the “pressure” into the hands of the veteran rockers, all of whom are both a) not trained actors, and b) still more comfortable on-camera than most other rock & roll ensembles—the line readings might be stiff at times, but the lived-in sense of brotherhood is gratifying. Although the atmosphere and blood-spray meets (and sometimes even exceeds) the demands of the genre, the movie would’ve benefited from even more self-deprecating/self-referential material—the key target demographic is the band’s fanbase, after all—so it’s a shame several fertile opportunities were missed. When Grohl becomes obsessed with an epic-length heavy metal song, why not have someone make a derisive comment about how this is turning into one of the singer’s metal-centric side projects? When one of the guitarists goes missing, why not have them shrug it off and admit that rock bands don’t need three guitarists anyway? That sort of thing. The bandmates all earn executive producer credits, and Grohl is credited for the story idea. John Carpenter shows up as a studio tech (he also co-wrote the main theme), Slayer guitarist Kerry King appears briefly as a doomed roadie, and Lionel Richie contributes a surprisingly funny cameo.

60.66/100