"You're welcome, music."
Studio 666 is a 2022 Horror Comedy film directed by BJ McDonnell, starring rock band Foo Fighters as themselves, and also featuring Jeff Garlin, Whitney Cummings, Will Forte and Leslie Grossman. Based on an original idea by Dave Grohl, the film follows the Foos as they move into a mansion to record their 10th album, Medicine at Midnight. Unfortunately, said mansion happens to be the site of a brutal massacre years earlier, when the lead singer of another rock band recording there went crazy and slaughtered his bandmates. Despite initial misgivings, the Foos set to work, but it's not long before a mysterious demonic presence makes itself known, threatening to repeat the events of the past, and plunging the band into a desperate struggle for survival.
View the official trailer here
, or the red band trailer here (Be warned - both trailers are very spoiler heavy, especially the red band).
In an tragic turn of events, this is the Foo Fighters’ last project with Taylor Hawkins before his death in March 2022, a month to the day after the movie’s release.
Not to be confused with the 2005 horror film of the same name.
This film provides examples of:
- Adam Westing: The Foo Fighters play heightened versions of themselves. Dave is easily the most over-the-top, but it's actually explained in-universe by him being possessed by a demon.
- Anyone Can Die: And does. Out of every character in the film, only Dave and Jeremy survive to the end.
- As Himself: All six members of the Foo Fighters play themselves in the film. Lionel Richie pops up playing a vision of himself as well.
- Ax-Crazy: Being possessed by the demonic spirit of Greg Nole drives Dave to this very quickly.
- The Cameo:
- Kerry King plays Krug, one of the band's techs.
- Jenna Ortega briefly appears as Skye, the final victim of Greg Nole.
- John Carpenter shows up as the band's recording engineer (he also contributed to the film's score).
- Lionel Richie shows up as himself in a dream Dave has.
- Jason Trost shows up as a sound tech.
- Jimmi Simpson has a brief appearance as a venue PA.
- Big Bad: The house's demonic specter, which manifests throughout the film as the spirit of Greg Nole.
- Black Comedy: Much of the film's deaths, as well as the possessed Dave acting like a diva and railroading the band into making the album.
- Black Comedy Cannibalism: After killing Shiff, the possessed Dave is seen eating the raw remains of his corpse.
- The Casanova: Rami is played up as this, including a scene in his underwear and Samantha falling for him.
- Celebrity Casualty: Every Foo Fighters member except Dave Grohl dies during the film. This became
Harsher in Hindsight when Foo Fighters drummer Taylor Hawkins died suddenly only one month after the movie premiered. - Chainsaw Good: Dave uses one to kill Rami and Samantha while they're having sex.
- Chewing the Scenery: While everyone is so loose it borders on World of Ham, there's a great case of this when Samantha breaks out into a rendition of "Best of You".
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: When we first meet Jeremy, he just seems like a typical, overbearing record exec, but no more than can be expected in L.A. And then the final act reveals that he's actually a Satanist, who's been trying to complete Greg Nole's Satanic opus for the past twenty years, and sent the Foo Fighters to the mansion specifically to achieve this.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Most of the film's deaths, with Rami and Samantha's probably being the most gnarly example.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: A hilarious example. When Dave vomits out the spirit of Greg Nole, he immediately beats the shit out of the formerly-terrifying specter, leaving him lying on the ground with his face covered in blood.
- Demonic Possession: Happens to Dave Grohl early on. The rest of the movie revolves around the band trying to survive the possessed Grohl as he makes them record a Satanic song.
- Also happened to Greg Nole, the lead vocalist of Dream Widow, who was the one who originally unleashed the same demon that later hits Dave.
- Distracted by the Sexy: Rather than help Nate and Pat try and find the book, figure out another way to deal with Dave, or just straight up leave to get away from the possessed maniac killing his band-mates, Rami just takes the opportunity to try and have sex with Samantha instead. To be fair, she's just as into him as he is to her, and she understands the danger they're in intimately, so it's a double-dose of distraction, really.
- Downer Ending: All of the Foo Fighters except Dave are dead, along with a couple of innocents as well. Pat and Nate's efforts to try and expel the spirit of Nole from Dave's body succeed, but unfortunately, Dave's already successfully completed Nole's Satanic song. Even worse, once Jeremy realizes this, he offers Dave the opportunity to gain greater fame and glory with the song, telling him that it's time "to become a solo act". The film then cuts to one year later, showing that not only did Dave accept, but he's been possessed all over again.
- Dwindling Party: The Foo Fighters. First, Dave is possessed by a demon; his first victim is Shiff, whose head he shoves into the grill and barbeques. Later, when Rami and Samantha are having sex, Dave, hiding under the bed, drives a chainsaw through it and cuts the couple in half vertically. After getting Taylor to play his drum parts on the song, Dave then cuts most of Taylor's head off with one of his cymbals. Finally, Pat and Nate manage to expel the demon from Dave's body, but when they're all attacked by Jeremy and Barb (revealed to be Satanists who set the band up), Pat and Nate try to escape in the band's van, leading to Pat - who's lying under the van trying to get it started - accidentally stabbing Nate through the eye, causing Nate to accidentally start the van and run over Pat's head, after which a half-blind Nate is stabbed through the jaw by Barb.
- Evil Sounds Deep: The demon inside Dave makes him sound like this a couple of times towards the film's end.
- Extreme Libido: One of the signs of demonic possession is incessant masturbation. Then again...Nate: Didn't he do that already?
Pat: Does that disqualify him?
Nate: (sighs) This demonic shit is complicated. - Eye Scream: Happens to Nate (accidentally), courtesy of Pat
- Fan Disservice: A sex scene involving a naked Rami and (mostly) naked Samantha? Hot. A chainsaw then being driven from under the bed, through both of their faces, and cutting them clean in half vertically, with the two halves sliding off onto the floor? A LOT less hot.
- Not to mention the leopard-print thong Rami was wearing.
- Prior to that, Chris implies that he seduced Rami's grandmother. Complete with audio flashback. Rami's (rightfully) pissed.
- Genre Throwback: Aside from the horror aspect, a revival of band movies like KISS Meets the Phantom of the Park.
- Groin Attack: Dave and Jeremy take turns inflicting this on each other while Nate and Pat attempt to hotwire the van.
- Hope Spot: Nate and Pat manage to successfully exorcise the demon/Nole from Dave's body, and Nole is dragged to Hell by the spirits of his former band that he murdered. And then Jeremy and Barb show up, revealing themselves to be part of Nole's Satanic cult, and that they set the band up in the mansion as sacrifices to get the song created. The fight to escape them leaves Pat and Nate dead, and Dave seemingly gives in to the dark side and continues on as a Satanic solo act.
- I Am a Humanitarian: The Nole demon makes Dave this.
- It's Been Done: Dave, in the midst of his writer's block, plays the band two killer new riffs that he's just come up with. Namely those of his old songs "All My Life" and "Everlong."
- Off with His Head!: Happens to Darren the delivery guy, and Taylor (although his head is cut off at the mouth).
- Mauve Shirt: Slayer's Kerry King plays the Foos' roadie, Krug. He gets some characterization and a few scenes with the Foos early on. Then he gets electrocuted due to faulty wiring manipulated by the Nole-demon, becoming the first victim of the movie and one of the few not directly caused by Dave.
- Mood Whiplash: The somber Downer Ending is followed by credits scored by the very upbeat "Love Dies Young".
- Precision F-Strike: Dave, suffering from writer's block, plays around with composing a song that's basically a rip-off of Lionel Richie's classic "Hello," causing a vision of the man himself to appear to Dave. It seems he might be there to dispense some helpful advice, but then:Lionel: "We all have writer's block, you know? But that's my fucking song."
- Pun-Based Title: The film title combines a studio the Foo Fighters own in real life, Studio 606, with the Number of the Beast - the former reference is a little esoteric, but the title as a whole still manages to get across the general premise of "supernatural happenings in a recording studio" whether or not one gets the pun.
- Running Gag:
- The song's length gets increasingly longer as the film (and the time the band spends in the house) progresses.
- Every time someone is horribly killed, Dave uses the death as a rallying cry for the band to finish the song "in their memory".
- Slasher Smile: Dave Grohl has a surprisingly terrifying one.
- Screw This, I'm Out of Here!: Nate, Pat, Rami and Taylor all decide to do this once it becomes clear that Dave's possessed, and most likely killed Shiff. Unfortunately, they opt to stay once Samantha reveals the history of Dream Widow, and tells them that they have to stop Dave from finishing the song.
- Shout-Out:
- Twice the band does a "Pearl Jam High Five", emulating the cover of Ten.
- When Dave is discussing what to do for the band's next album, he ends up referencing the fantasy sequences of the Led Zeppelin movie The Song Remains the Same: "Let's go to a cool place... like Zeppelin. When Zeppelin went to the castle, and there was the devil, and the wizards, and the dragons and shit."
- The film is chock full of references to other horror films, including Fargo, The Evil Dead (1981), The Exorcist, and many, many others. Dave himself has stated that he is a huge horror movie fan.
- Sir Swears-a-Lot: The characters swear like there's no tomorrow, which isn't surprising - this is a movie starring the Foo Fighters, after all. Hell, even Lionel Richie gets in on the action in his brief cameo.
- Trailers Always Spoil: A handful of the Foos dying was spoiled in the film's first trailer. The red band trailer goes even further, showing nearly every death in the film, including the chainsaw deaths of Rami and Samantha, which is regarded as one of the film's biggest highlights
- Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The film was the result of Medicine at Midnight being recorded in what the Foos were increasingly convinced was a Haunted House given the bizarre experiences they were having. Said experiences were limited to guitars going out of tune overnight and Pro Tools projects mysteriously losing tracks and gaining eerie new tracks, not Demonic Possession.
- Your Head A-Splode: Happens to Pat (accidentally) courtesy of Nate.
