Movie Breakdown: Studio 666

Pre-Screening Stance:

“Sure, why not?” is pretty much what immediately pops into my head whenever I come across anything about the Foo Fighters-led Studio 666. So, sure, why not?

Post-Screening Ramble:

I doubt I’ll ever feel a need to revisit Studio 666, but I generally enjoyed my one stroll around the block with it. The film has a pretty simple setup – the Foo Fighters are on the hunt for a place to cut their 10th album, somewhere that will really inspire them. Ultimately, the band decides on an old mansion that is – of course – entirely evil, which then kicks off a whole stream of jacked up occurrences.

For the most part, Studio 666 feels like a Sam Raimi horror comedy. It’s not quite as well made as any of his actual films, but the tone is there, as is the mix of scares and laughs. Dave Grohl turns in a pretty acceptable performance, but the rest of the band … well, let’s just say they’re not actors. It is fun seeing them in the movie, and I suppose there’s some level of camp that gets added by their stiff work, but so many of the jokes fall flat due to their poor delivery. They’re also not helped at all by this movie being way too long at roughly 106 minutes. At best, there’s maybe 80 minutes worth of story here, so all that additional time not only serves to highlight any parts of the film that don’t quite work (like the acting) but it also causes sizeable portions of it to drag.

Look, if you’re a huge Foo Fighters fan, you’re probably going to get a lot more of out of Studio 666 than most. If you’re not, what’s here is at least serviceable. Studio 666 hits theaters tomorrow. February 25.

One Last Thought:

I like the “evil” track that the Foo Fighters repeatedly play throughout this movie. Sound-wise, it reminds me a lot of The Sword.