Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

Cast: Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Pat Smear, Taylor Hawkins, Rami Jaffee, Chris Shiflett, Whitney Cummings, Jeff Garlin, Leslie Grossman, Jenna Ortega, Marti Matulis, Kerry King, Will Forte, Jason Trost, Mike Escamilla, Lional Richie, John Carpenter, Jimmi Simpson, Alexander Ward, Eli Santana, Aaron Valenzuela, Kayla Loadvine, Ivan Kungurtsey.

When rock stars turn their hands to acting, invariably it does not come off well, the clash of egos, the sense of a genre of art interfering with the process of another, the complications of timing, all tend to muddy the waters of the drama; it is almost as if the fates are crying out for them to stay in the studio and produce a new album, rather than spreading their wings in a direction dictated by image rather than taste.

Few have ever given a performance worthy of the crossing, Meat Loaf gave probably one of the great executions of the craft when he played Robert Paulson in Fight Club, and a delicious short appearance in Eddie in The Rocky Horror Picture Show; David Bowie in Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, and as The Goblin King in 1986’s Labyrinth; and arguably Will Smith in a number of projects which mark him out as one of the most able to stride many artistic endeavours.

The conflict between that of the five-minute video and the merciless and constant truth that comes with that of a feature film which could take months to provide a certain degree of warmth from the audience when the movie is finally released, and then there is Dave Grohl, in fact the entire team that makes up one of Rock’s most likeable bands, Foo Fighters.

For the older spoof horror fan, Studio 666 will have them reminiscing over the 1984 British film, Bloodbath At The House Of Death, both products of their time, but ones that understand the idea of the spoof is not just to be seen as silly, but have a serious undertone attached to it.

Conceived and filmed during the health crisis that has dogged the world in the last couple of years, Studio 666 is a piece of art that will tickle the dog’s unmentionables and leave even the uninitiated with a greater appreciation of what goes on in the mind of Dave Grohl, an artistic polymath and renaissance man is too short an accolade, but it certainly fits, and as the film progresses, as it takes arguably a certain degree of anarchistic gore in the same way that Bloodbath At The House Of Death managed to load onto the audience, just with a finer way of creating a visual art and finer technology to hand.

“The devil makes work for idle hands”, so the religious and bigoted will have others believe, but as shown in this almost sarcasm-fuelled film, the so called prince of lies gives credence to those willing to take matters into their own hands, and it to the entire team, the group dynamic that has kept the band at the top of their game for a quarter of a century, that the film is an unabashed knock out horror in the form of excellent wit and one willing to do the seemingly impossible, not take itself seriously whilst all the time absolutely hammering home the rock and roll superstition and gravitas available.

The moment will eventually hit the fan though of how much a sad loss early in 2022 the passing of Taylor Hawkins was, not only does he come off as a perfect foil for Dave Grohl in the drumming scene, but the fact this his lines were driven by not wanting to rehearse and allowing the natural sense of the piece by improvising his remarks, shows just how much he was trusted to get his cinematic alter ego across.

In the end it is about showmanship, doing more than suspending belief, but hanging it from the nearest branch and treating it like a piñata, allowing every sweet morsal to be bashed out and gathered up in their handfuls; its more than rock, it is a lifestyle that is glorious, funny, and one that proves that once and for all, the devil didn’t create the music to tempt humanity, human passion already knew how from the gods.

Studio 666 is a knockabout film that deserves every minute on screen, this is the point of art and going beyond what others may think is your own small box.

Ian D. Hall