Nothing is perfect in life, but then life isn’t meant to be enjoyed. It is meant to be lived. And although it has its flaws, we need to make the most of the good moments rather than complain about the bad ones. The same is what we have to do with Studio 666. Granted, it could have been better in many ways, especially a shorter duration, but Studio 666 is better than many other movies of its genre, i.e., horror comedy, especially if you are a fan of “death” metal. It is the light-hearted quality of a horror comedy that makes analyzing it a lot of fun. In this article, I’ll try to do that. I hope you guys like it.
Spoilers Ahead
Plot Synopsis: What Happens In ‘Studio 666’?
The Foo Fighters are struggling to come up with something new for their 10th album. But when they find themselves in a haunted house in Encino, the source of their struggle becomes something entirely different. Lead singer Dave Grohl’s obsession with an eerie reverb during sessions slowly turns into a nightmare for the entire band. This is when he goes to the basement and ends up getting possessed by an evil spirit while listening to a piece composed by a band that, too, stayed at the same house in 1990 before every member was brutally killed. With every passing day, Dave’s possession gets worse as he tries to compose a song that’s supposed to be anti-God. Whoever is against it is killed. Will Dave’s bandmates be able to exorcise him before he kills everyone? The answer lies in Studio 666. This is just the shortest version that I could sum up the entire movie in. What follows is a detailed analysis or breakdown.
The Living Book
Even if you don’t like this movie, you won’t be able to ignore it. The only visible drawback is its runtime, but that too becomes easily forgivable thanks to the mix of visceral killings, Dave’s apt over-the-top acting, and a backstory garnished with heavy metal. There is also an aspect of creative difference that’s present. And we can accept that often, it is the creative differences between the bandmates that takes the form of a breakup. So, we can say that Studio 666 shows a hyperbolic version of this. Dave is unable to come up with something new, and though he started snapping at his bandmates after being possessed, his frustration due to the inability to figure out how he could do something new is perhaps what caters to the evil spirit [if we consider that evil spirits often possess those who are going through a bad phase]. It is Samantha who reveals how the “living” book is connected to whatever’s happening to Dave.
The book contains a song that is supposed to mock God and his powers, so to speak. It’s interesting how the makers mentioned that the book carries incantations by real-life 19th-century English occultist and novelist Aleister Crowley. Once the song was perfected, it would turn the evil spirit itself into a passage to Hell. It is quite unusual to imagine how an entity can turn into a passageway, but it is the supernatural we are dealing with, so there are no bounds as to what’s possible and what’s not. So as Dave reaches the end of his composition, he goes about killing his teammates. Why? Probably because he’s evil, but more likely because they didn’t agree with him and his process. There is also the other reason, i.e., they had done their part and served no purpose anymore. And since the devil needs to be gruesome while killing someone (I have no idea why), Dave kills his bandmates in the same manner; some using a chainsaw, one using a grill, and another using a cymbal. For a horror comedy, the killings are pretty well choreographed without being absurd but gruesome all the same. Towards the end of the movie, only two guys remain i.e. Nate and Pat, who have to do the needful to rid Dave of the spirit.
Is The Evil Spirit Defeated?
Evil is defeated, albeit not easily. In the final minutes of the movie, Nate reads from the “living” book and manages to yank the spirit out of Dave’s body. What happens then is what I found confusing. Greg Null is lying on the ground. He is still possessed but wounded. That’s when the souls of the 90s band members appear out of nowhere. Now, whether these four are the same four dark souls that we see throughout the film, I do not know. Maybe the evil spirit has imprisoned them. But now they are free. They feed Null’s blood to the “living” book, and since a sacrifice feeds the book, the evil in Null’s body is sacrificed. Basically, the evil dies, and the four spirits are also set free and they disappear as well. Unfortunately, Nate and Pat also die. That’s when we find out that Jeremy, the manager of the band, and Bard, the real estate lady, were also in on it from the beginning. They are followers of the book as well. But that’s not the point. The point is that even after a horrifying chain of events comes to an end, Dave has finished the song that nobody was supposed to. One year later, we see him waiting to go on stage to perform. He is visibly possessed. But how? Maybe some part of the evil spirit is still inside Dave because he finished composing “Tears of God.” But wasn’t that supposed to open a portal to Hell? He might just have to perform the song for the portal to open. But what if the portal is already open? Let’s think this way. The portal isn’t to Hell but to a world that is for heavy rock maniacs. And Dave is one of the many means for the people who love listening to rock music in this world to pass over to that world of insanity that lies within every art form there is in the world. The movie ends with Dave staring into the camera and his eyes turning black. Let’s hope that we get a sequel.
Studio 666 is an entertaining movie that you should definitely watch. You might even want to add it to your collection so that you can watch it later with your friends on the weekend. It is a true-to-form horror comedy from start to finish, where both horror and comedy are subtle elements, and this is what keeps the charm alive. And last but not least, Dave Grohl, thank you. I hope to see you again in a similar fashion.
Studio 666 is a 2022 horror comedy film directed by BJ McDonnell.
