Foo Fighters’ Studio 666

Foo Fighter’s frontman Dave Grohl is the best rock star of all time. Why? Because if someone asked you – what do you think it would be like being a rock star? You’d probably answer – sounds pretty fun. And NO ONE has had more fun being a rock star than Dave F’n Grohl.

His biography of parlaying rock stardom into all manner of fun is unparalleled. Whether it’s making silly fun video clips, playing in a Foo Fighters “cover” band at a county fair, bringing kids on stage to jam with him, making a feature-length documentary about a mixing board, or apparently adding guitarist Pat Smear to the band, not for his guitar skills, but just because he’s funny, or playing the devil and the drums for comedy rock group Tenacious D just for fun, Dave does Dave, and Dave does fun.  

So when I heard he’d made a gory slasher horror comedy film, my first thought was “of course he did”. 

Inspired by Led Zeppelin’s cursed flirtations with the works of occultist Aleister Crowley, and Dave’s own spooky experiences with moving into a strange old house to write music, Studio 666’s plot is simple – The Foo Fighters move into an old house full of cursed rock folklore, to write and record a new album – some writer’s block leads to some dancing with the devil, which leads to all manner of horror, as a possessed Dave turns into a gruesome killer. 

From here the Foo Fighters, all playing themselves, face all manner of trials and tribulations – can they survive, can they finish the epic 45-minute song that Dave is now obsessing over, can they avoid listening to the food delivery guy’s demo, can the keyboardist score with the groupie next door, can adorable nightcap wearing guitarist Par Smear find somewhere to sleep now that the kitchen bench has rubbish on it, and who man, who, is going to operate the BBQ now that Dave is eating his meat raw?

What follows is at times very funny, at times extremely gruesome, very poorly acted two hours of fun, filled with funny cameos, some of the most creatively gory movie deaths ever, all glued together with clearly millions of dollars of special effects to make it all look great. Think The Lost Boys, meets the second half of From Dusk till Dawn, meets rock n’ roll. 

And here’s the thing – the acting is bad, the script has some holes, the tone is a little wobbly, and for me, this only made it all better. This is not the work of auteur filmmakers trying to reinvent the medium, it’s a bunch of rock stars making a film because they can and because it’s fun. 

At one point Dave Grohl deep in possession mode screams – “I’m a rock star, I get whatever I want” – it’s funny because Dave is the nicest guy in rock, the least likely rock star to yell “don’t you know who I am?” But it’s also funny because it’s true, he does get whatever he wants, and what he wants is to do whatever will be a good time. 

In this regard Dave reminds me a bit of Bill Murray, the world is a playground, if you have an all-access pass like these guys do, why not go on every ride you can. The cinema I was at had the Studio 666 poster right next to a poster for a filmed version of Bill’s tour of classical music and spoken word poetry. These projects are the same for me – can I do that? Yeah, you can. Should I? Why the F not! 

The real critics are savaging it, and the box office has been lacklustre, so it will probably soon disappear and maybe show up as a B-side to a Foo Fighters concert documentary or perhaps on the one streaming service you don’t have, but that’s sad, ’cause it’s fun – go see it while you can! 

Studio 666 is playing at Sun Theatre.

Studio 666
In cinemas now
View Trailer