Review: Dave Grohl stars in horror-comedy ‘Studio 666’

Horror is so incredibly hot now that all people wishes a bite. No for a longer time relegated to the midnight movie, the typically lower-funds, substantial-profit style isn’t just flourishing at the box place of work in the lingering pandemic market, it’s basically saturated it. So it is no shock that a beloved rock band, in particular a single as affable as the Foo Fighters, might want in on the motion. What they’ve come up with is the goofy, gory horror-comedy “Studio 666.” .

The Foo Fighters have normally been a band with personality. The movies for “Everlong” and “Learn to Fly” showcased the performing and comedy abilities of frontman Grohl, drummer Taylor Hawkins and guitarist Pat Smear, or at the very least their willingness to endeavor humor. That set them apart from the rest of the modern day rock brigade. Rock legend Grohl has authentic star high quality and is normally showcased as a speaking head in rock documentaries, on social media and in Television set appearances. But as “Studio 666” proves, rock star attraction and personality do not always translate into the acting chops needed to have a feature movie.

With a more powerful screenplay and more dynamic filmmaking, the amateur acting would not be as painfully apparent. But the Foos are caught with a crass, crude, dated and terribly unfunny script composed by Jeff Buhler and Rebecca Hughes from a tale by Grohl, and McDonnell’s filmmaking is relatively inert. Neither funny nor scary, “Studio 666” is missing in stress and suspense. Not even cameos from horror master John Carpenter or 2022’s recently minted Scream Queen Jenna Ortega (“Scream,” “X”) can offer you accurate horror bona fides to this flick, and stand-up comic Whitney Cummings can not make this factor humorous.

The Foos participate in on their own in this tale of songwriter’s block and demonic possession. Less than strain to provide a new album to their demanding manager (Jeff Garlin), they gap up in a rundown Encino mansion mentioned to be haunted with the spirit of a ’90s band that under no circumstances completed their album immediately after a single member went on a killing spree (viewed in flashbacks). Dave, seeking for inspiration, stumbles upon a new riff following encountering the demon in the basement. Murder and mayhem ensue.

The entire thing feels as if it was a lark for Grohl, who receives the meatiest (practically) function, even though the rest of the band feels held hostage, standing all over providing flat response lines to their direct singer. The jokes are stale, the vitality is stilted, and the total matter feels like a misbegotten self-importance work out cooked up in the pandemic to hold them occupied. It is also about an hour and a half much too extensive: Excise the corny dialogue and jumbled plot and lower jointly the kills, and “Studio 666” would be a enjoyment prolonged tunes video clip, which is what it ought to have been in the first area. But as it stands, the movie version is for die-tricky Foo lovers only. Not even the blood-thirstiest horror hounds will be equipped to slake their thirst for gore with this a single.

Katie Walsh is a Tribune Information Service film critic.