A wickedly funny combo of music and gore with the Foo Fighters.
To be a Beatles fan, you have to see their 1964 comedy classic “A Hard Day’s Night.” To admire the satire of the Rock n Roll world, you have to see Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, and Harry Shearer in Rob Reiner’s “A Hard Day’s Night.” And when “Studio 666” wants the Foo Fighters to be slaughtered during a recording, obviously, torture porn fans have seen the likes of “Texas Chainsaw Massacre” or “Saw.”
To see the wickedly funny meets stupid funny satire inside, you have to be eased in to how the band members are able to improvise on such a vicious script. How the band must play their music is beyond me, but it’s still funny the way they handle the scene. And it’s also fearless with all the blood and gore that comes in with a more ambitious taste than any “Saw” movie or its Chris Rock spin-off “Spiral.”
In this movie “Studio 666,” and three 6s is never a good sign, the Foo Fighters play fictionalized versions of themselves as they need the perfect place to record their tenth album. That’s right. Their tenth album. The place they rent has a certain kind of vibe as the Overlook Hotel in “The Shining,” as a horrific massacre took place in the early 90s. But on the other hand, it could have the ambiance the album requires for it to be epic. And it does.
Dave Grohl, the lead singer of the Foo Fighters, is suffering from writer’s block so hard, that Lionel Richie’s spirit (he’s still alive BTW) tells him to write his own songs after singing “Hello.” Then, Grohl comes across a scary basement with cobwebs and recording tapes. The music from the tape not only gives him inspiration, but he also gets possessed by some kind of demon that makes him go bat sh*t crazy. The kind that makes him want to eat raw steak and make the song to end all songs over 40 minutes long.
The other members-consisting of Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, and Rami Jaffee-all believe he’s out of his gourd, and he is, and then discover something much more sinister is going on. I mean sacrifices, rituals, and gore. Lots and lots of gore. There will be blood.
You get some cameo appearances from the likes of Jenna Ortega as a 90s victim, Will Forte as a delivery guy and would-be famous rocker, Leslie Grossman as the realtor, Whitney Cummings as the mysteriously nice neighbor, and Jeff Garlin as the band’s manager. And you also get some borrowed elements from “Fargo,” “This is the End,” “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “The Exorcist,” and “The Shining.”
I’ve grown weary of some of its recording scenes which go on a bit long as do some of the possessed Grohl behaviors, but I was also able to see its wicked intentions, and how “Studio 666” wants the Foo Fighters to express themselves, not just as musicians but also as actors.
David Grohl wrote the story with Jeff Buhler and Rebecca Hughes, and he’s entertainingly savage in the ways he transcends from a musician suffering from writer’s block to a possessed musician who would eat the ribs of a carcass. Taylor Hawkins, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Chris Shiflett, and Rami Jaffee are also fun with they allow themselves to be toyed with, and even Forte, Cummings, and Garlin have their flexible moments.
“Studio 666” is obviously rated R for all the blood and gore, but it’s also fun in how director BJ McDonnell presents them.
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