DAVE GROHL POSSESSES THE FOO FIGHTERS HORROR 'STUDIO 666'

Title: STUDIO 666 Year: 2022 Rating: **

It's common in horror movies to center on a novelist suffering writer's block so that whatever terrifying situation he-or-she winds up in will then become inspiration for their next bestseller...

So The Foo Fighters made their own comedy/horror flick where Dave Grohl, forced to hurriedly record a 10th album, is fresh out of song ideas, and, after moving into a spooky and dilapidated, infamously haunted mansion in Encino California to record, he obsesses on a heavy metal riff that (to the chagrin of bandmates Pat Smear, Chris Shiflet, a quirky Rami Jaffee and late drummer Taylor Hawkins) has no hook, bridge, chorus, or ending... 

Taylor Hawkins and Dave Grohl in STUDIO 666

Which turns Dave into an insanely determined Jack Nicholson from THE SHINING type, not only possessed but downright lethal and, killing off a delivery man and then his own group one after another, STUDIO 666 mirrors the kind of Body Count Slasher popular when only The Germs' Pat Smear was making music...

Then came the 1990's when Dave Grohl could conquer pretty much anything, from being Nirvana's hard-hitting drummer to this band's multi-instrumental taskmaster — herein proving that he CAN ACTUALLY ACT, especially as the sarcastic, foul-mouthed fella known from interviews and concerts... 

Dave Grohl in STUDIO 666

But the complicated task of becoming a villain... here channeling wild-eyed venom derived from an ill-fated decades-old recording session... makes him not only overreach his performance, but as compensation is surrounded by fake-looking CGI resembling an AMERICAN HORROR STORY-like music-video instead of a theatrical motion picture: One that seems more catered to the band's own amusement than an audience...

So the best moments have the boys jamming, which this STUDIO needed more of since their all work and no play feels like that impossible song stuck in Demon Dave's head: an ambitiously overlong concept without any real payoff. 

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666 with Nate Mendel

Dave Grohl and Pat Smear in STUDIO 666

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666 with Nate Mendel, Pat Smear and Remi Jaffee

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666 with Dave Grohl

Nate Mendel in STUDIO 666

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666

Pat Smear in STUDIO 666

John Carpenter as the engineer in STUDIO 666 with son Cody Carpenter

The Foo Fighters in STUDIO 666

The Foo Fighters in STUDIO 666

Dave Grohl in STUDIO 666

Dave Grohl in STUDIO 666

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666 with Dave Grohl

Pat Smear in STUDIO 666

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666

John Carpenter as the engineer in STUDIO 666 with son Cody Carpenter

Foo Fighters STUDIO 666 with Dave Grohl and Taylor Hawkins

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666 with Dave Grohl

Foo Fighters STUDIO 666 with Dave Grohl

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666

Pat Smear in STUDIO 666

Foo Fighters in STUDIO 666 with Dave Grohl

Taylor Hawkins in STUDIO 666 with Nate Mendel

Foo Fighters STUDIO 666 with Dave Grohl

Foo Fighters STUDIO 666 with Dave Grohl

Foo Fighters self-titled first album from 1995

Yours Truly saw The Foo Fighters at University of Irvine in 1996 with the original drummer

Founder and bassist Dave Grohl and Nate Mendel in Studio 666

Germs and Nirvana guitarist Pat Smear in Studio 666

Foo Fighters STUDIO 666 with Taylor Hawkins