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‘Studio 666’ Review – The Foo Fighters Unleash Their Demons in Gory Splatstick Comedy

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'Studio 666' Review - The Foo Fighters Unleash Their Demons in Gory Splatstick Comedy!

Bloody Disgusting’s Studio 666 review is spoiler-free.

Satanic horror and rock music make for a perfect pairing, like chocolate and peanut butter. So, it makes sense that Rock & Roll Hall of Famers Foo Fighters would use horror as a vehicle for a movie about their band. Trying to inspire creativity for the Foo Fighters’ tenth album instead winds up summoning demons from Hell in this one, offering up an entertaining and bloody horror-comedy that serves as a band spotlight first and foremost. The excessive gore and personalities delight, even if Studio 666 is prone to meandering.

The Foo Fighters owe a new record to manager Jeremy Shill (Jeff Garlin), but lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Dave Grohl needs to refill his creative well to get started. Shill arranges a stay at an Encino mansion as a retreat to get the juices flowing and the album underway. The only catch is that the estate was host to another band a decade ago, and it ended in bloodshed when the band’s leader turned to demonic forces and wound up killing his bandmates. The curse resurfaces when Grohl stumbles upon an eerie basement and gets possessed by music. The Foo Fighters soon find themselves grappling with metaphorical and literal demons.

studio 666 review foo fighters

(L to R) Nate Mendel, Taylor Hawkins, Chris Shiflett, Dave Grohl, Pat Smear, and Rami Jaffee star as themselves in director BJ McDonnell’s STUDIO 666, an Open Road Films release. Credit : Courtesy of Open Road Films

After one violent opening, Studio 666 spends time establishing dynamics between Grohl, Taylor HawkinsPat SmearChris ShiflettRami Jaffee, and Nate Mendel. Their personalities, quirks, and in-jokes lend energy to the first half, offering a fun hang-out movie with the Foo Fighters. Refreshingly, it’s all about the band members rather than a greatest hits music video; save for a few familiar guitar riffs as part of a joke, Studio 666 doesn’t revisit the band’s previous hits.

It’s the cursed song driving the band forward here. The score by Roy Mayorga (drummer of Ministry, Hellyeah, and Stone Sour) and an original theme song by John Carpenter provides an unexpected sound, suited ideally for a demonic horror movie.

studio 666 review dave grohl

Director BJ McDonnell (Hatchet III) is no stranger to gore and brings the carnage here. With special makeup effects by Tony Gardner, McDonnell sprays copious amounts of blood, and a chainsaw death stands out as a highlight. However, the downside is that many of the kills get too spread out. Above the horror, it is a band movie, and the pacing winds up uneven in the back half.

The nature of the curse means that the possessed is obsessed with completing this demonic hymn, so much so that it’s a running gag. The movie also gets tangled up on endings, with the plot dragging out far too long thanks to multiple endings.

While that ultimately means that Studio 666 doesn’t finish nearly as strong as it starts, it still makes for an entertaining jam session full of gore, laughs, and endearing moments between the band. Based on Grohl’s story, Jeff Buhler & Rebecca Hughes‘s screenplay transforms a familiar writer’s block scenario, exacerbated by fears of being washed up, into a lighthearted splatstick horror-comedy that wears its horror influences on its comedic sleeves. That the Foo Fighters don’t take themselves seriously makes for an infectiously fun, if uneven, time full of gleefully deranged horror moments, surprise cameos, and a new appreciation for the band.

Studio 666 releases in theaters on February 25, 2022.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

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‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ Adds “Chucky” Actor Teo Briones and More to Lead Cast

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Chucky Actor Teo Briones
Pictured: Teo Briones in "Chucky" Season Two

The Final Destination franchise is returning to life with Final Destination: Bloodlines. With filming now underway, THR reports that three actors have joined the lead cast, including “Chucky” actor Teo Briones.

Brec Bassinger (“Stargirl”) and Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game) join Teo Briones, who played Junior Wheeler in season two of “Chucky,” as the leads in the sixth installment of the horror franchise.

Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (Freaks) are directing the fresh installment that also includes Richard Harmon (“The 100”, Grave Encounters 2), Anna Lore, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones (The Book Of Boba Fett), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi Wan Kenobi), and Tinpo Lee (The Manor) among the cast.

Production is now underway in Vancouver.

What can we expect from the upcoming Final Destination 6? Speaking with Collider, franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick offered up an intriguing (and mysterious) tease last year.

“This film dives into the film in such a unique way that it attacks it from a different angle so you don’t feel like, ‘Oh, there’s an amazing setup and then there’s gonna be one wrinkle that can potentially save you all that you have to kind of make a moral choice about or do to solve it.’ There’s an expansion of the universe that – I’m being so careful,” Reddick teased.

Reddick continued, “It kind of unearths a whole deep layer to the story that kind of, yes, makes it really, really interesting.”

Final Destination: Bloodlines is written by Lori Evans Taylor (“Wicked Wicked Games”) and Guy Busick (Scream), with Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) producing.

Producers on the new movie for New Line Cinema also include Dianne McGunigle (Cop Car) as well as Final Destination producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

This will be the sixth installment in the hit franchise, and the first in over ten years. Each film centers on “Death” hunting down young friends who survive a mass casualty event.

The latest entry is expected in 2025, coinciding with the original film’s 25th anniversary.

 

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