Studio 666 (2022) Review

 "It's called 'Everlong' and you wrote it about twenty years ago."
-Taylor Hawkins



The Foo Fighters prepare to record their 10th album, but want to record it somewhere they have never recorded before and end up at a creepy old house in Encino.  As they start to record, it becomes apparent that there is something incredibly wrong with the house and Dave Grohl.  It's up to the rest of the Foo Fighters to fight to survive and possibly save Dave.



What Works:

Right off the bat, I love the premise for this movie.   I saw the trailer for the first time two weeks before the movie came out and I immediately knew I had to see it.  It's such a fun premise and I'm really glad this movie was made.  The quality of the film almost doesn't matter.  This movie exists.  The Foo Fighters made a horror movie about themselves.  That's awesome!

One thing I wasn't expecting was the gore.  There are some awesome kills in this movie and they don't hold back at all.  I suspected that would be the case as I saw a few familiar names pop up in the credits, especially Tony Gardner, but I didn't expect it to be as gory as Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

I also loved the design of the more surreal and supernatural elements.  Grohl has a couple of fun dream sequences and the demons look really cool.  There's also one excellent long take as Nate and Pat flee from Grohl and the demons through the house.


What Sucks:

As much as I love the premise of the film, this is a concept that definitely works better as a trailer than a feature film.  Most of the best parts, besides the kills, are in the trailer.  It doesn't quite have enough ideas to keep the movie going.  This movie is nearly two hours long and it doesn't need to be.  A crisp 82 minutes would have been perfect, as the movie feels very repetitive at times.

As much as I like the Foo Fighters, they are much better musicians than actors.  Dave Grohl does a decent job, but the rest...eh.  This would have been a better film if Jack Black had been the lead.  Maybe Dave Grohl could still be in the cast, but fill the rest of the roles with comedians who are musical and can act.

A lot of the humor doesn't work.  Some of the more surreal stuff is funny, but the dialogue is mostly just the Foo Fighters swearing.  Sometimes it's funny, but it runs out of steam as the movie goes on.

Finally, the horror elements of the film are overly complicated with a deep lore.  We really didn't need any of that.  This should have been straightforward and simple with clearly defined rules, like all horror movies should have.  The focus should not have been on the lore, but what is happening and how can our characters stop it.


Verdict:

I love the idea for this movie a lot and I'm glad they made it, especially with the level of gore they used.  However, the execution left a lot to be desired and I can think of a dozen ways this could have been a stronger film.  It's not a bad movie, but I can't really recommend it either.

 5/10: Meh 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Argylle (2024) Review

Image
 "The human skull is shockingly brittle." -Aidan Elly Conway (Bryce Dallas Howard) is a very successful spy novelist.  She draws attention from the espionage community when plot points in her books come true.  When Elly is attacked on a train by a group of spies, she is rescued by another spy, Aidan (Sam Rockwell), who needs her help with his mission and to do that, she needs to write another chapter of her latest book. Spoilers Below.  Go ahead and read on because I don't recommend this movie, but either way, you've been warned. What Works: Argylle has a really fun premise that really works in the first half of the movie.  It's a fish-out-of-water, buddy-cop, spy movie, and it's a blast.  Watching Ellie predict where to go based on what the characters in her books would do is a lot of fun.  It's what the whole movie should have been. The opening sequence follows Agent Argylle (Henry Cavill) on another dangerous mission as he pursues the villainous LaGrang
Read more

Top 10 Movies of 2023

Image
2023 is finally over and it's time for me to put my Top 10 list together.  2023 was definitely a weaker year for movies.  There were definitely some great movies, but there were also plenty of disappointing and bad movies as well.  I still managed to put together a great Top 10 with a couple of worthy contenders that just missed the cut.  Let's take a look! #10. They Cloned Tyrone They Cloned Tyrone is a wild and fun sci-fi tale that takes place in the hood.  A drug dealer, a pimp, and a prostitute discover a cloning conspiracy and the results are intelligent and hilarious.  This is a really smart and funny movie with some amazing performances across the board.  This was a movie that kept me guessing the whole way through.  What an absolute blast. #9. Renfield I'm guessing Renfield will be the most controversial entry on my list as I feel like I'm the only person who liked this movie.  I love the old Universal monster movies and the fact that we get a direct sequel, whi
Read more

Madame Web (2024) Review

Image
 "When you take on the responsibility, great power will come." -Santiago Cassie Webb (Dakota Johnson), a New York paramedic, hits her head in an accident, which unlocks the ability to see glimpses of the future.  When she sees Ezekiel Sims (Tahar Rahim) attempting to murder three teenage girls, Cassie intervenes to save them.  As Cassie learns to understand her power, she also discovers the connection between her, the girls, and Ezekiel. What Works: I think the core idea at the center of this movie is a good one and has the potential to be interesting.  Cassie's superpowers are kinda lame.  It's not like they're going to help in a combat situation.  Ezekiel is basically evil Spider-Man.  He has legitimate powers and is a massive threat.  That's an interesting conflict.  How does someone with lackluster superpowers take on a supervillain.  It's a fun idea that I would like to see tried again with greater success.  What Sucks: This movie was embarrassing to
Read more