Warning: This post contains spoilers for Studio 666.
The meta Foo Fighters horror-comedy Studio 666 features the band trying to record an album in a haunted house in Encino, and its slightly complicated ending may need an explainer. Studio 666 was adapted from a story written by Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl. Supposedly, it’s based on Grohl’s own experience while recording the Foo Fighters’ latest album Medicine at Midnight. Dave believed that the home they recorded their album in was haunted and Studio 666 was filmed in the same house.
Studio 666 starts with a simple premise: at the behest of the Foo Fighters’ tightly wound manager, played by Jeff Garlin, they are tasked with finishing an album as quickly as possible. Dave Grohl chooses a derelict home to record in, but the house boasts a bloody past. Dave Grohl gets possessed by the spirit The Caretaker (Marti Matulis), the lead of the band Dream Widow. Their neighbor, Samantha (Whitney Cummings), then reveals to the rest of the band that the house is cursed, but reveals that they can lift the curse by making sure they don’t finish the song and read from a satanic book.
While the plot of the Foo Fighters movie Studio 666 is easy enough to follow in the beginning, the involvement of the curse makes the third act a little bit on the murky side. The Foo Fighters’ Studio 666 is a lot of fun, but it might require some plot untangling to fully understand what happened. Without further ado, here’s the ending of Studio 666 ending explained.
Studio 666’s Ending Explained
After Foo Fighters’ lead guitarist Shifty is killed via a grill, Samantha and keyboardist Rami are the next to go. Drummer Taylor Hawkins tries to mess up the drum track to stop the song from being completed, but gives up and is killed by his own cymbal. This leaves rhythm guitarist Pat Smear and bass player Nate Mendel to read from the book and lift the curse once and for all. They succeed in exorcising Dave and everything is seemingly over until the realtor Barb (Leslie Grossman) and their manager show up at the house to reveal they had planned the whole incident. Since the song has been completed, the curse isn’t technically lifted, despite Pat and Nate reading from the Evil Dead Necronomicon-inspired book. Barb ends up murdering Nate, and Pat is killed after being run over by the Foo Fighters’ van. Studio 666 ends with Dave Grohl, still possessed, starting his solo career.
The Foo Fighters’ Curse Explained
As previously stated, the addition of the complicated curse sort of muddles the specifics of Studio 666‘s ending. Studio 666 opens with the effects of the curse when The Caretaker murders the final Dream Widow band member Skye Willow (Jenny Ortega). The consequences of the curse then start to follow the Foo Fighters. The origins of the curse came from a book discovered by The Caretaker, a book said to contain the satanic secrets of the real-life Aleister Crowley. The Caretaker sacrifices animals and drains their blood into the book to finish the song, but after killing all of his bandmates he hangs himself. Samantha explains that the curse remains in the home because The Caretaker killed himself before the song could be finished.
Dave gets possessed by The Caretaker when he finds the satanic book and the song. Grohl becomes obsessed with finishing the 23-minute song at the expense of the rest of his bandmates. Samantha tells the remaining Foo Fighters members that the only way to free Dave is by reading an exorcism passage from the book and then “feeding” it. After Pat and Nate read from the book to release Dave, he literally vomits up the spirit of The Caretaker. Studio 666‘s Dream Widow characters kill The Caretaker and drain his blood into the book. But unfortunately, the curse actually has two parts. Since the Foo Fighters finished the song, the curse itself isn’t technically broken; Dave Grohl is just no longer possessed.
Who Studio 666’s Demons Are
Throughout the Foo Fighters’ Studio 666 Dave encounters other demons than just The Caretaker. While the demons don’t attack or cause any real harm, they do provide a fair amount of jump scares and aren’t shy about revealing themselves around the house. The demons are seemingly evil; however, after the revelation of their identities, it’s clear that the demons are trying to lead Dave to break the curse. Unlike Evil Dead‘s Deadite possession, the demons are actually the murdered Dream Widow band members who are trapped by the curse rather than actual evil demons and their presence in Studio 666 is wholly due to the unbroken curse. After Dave vomits up the spirit of The Caretaker, Skye Willow and her band members finally return to their normal bodies. Despite their terrifying appearances, they technically act as guides throughout to scare Grohl and the rest of the Foo Fighters into breaking the curse so they can move on to the afterlife.
Why Each Foo Fighters Band Member Is Killed
Each Foo Fighters bandmember is picked off one by one in gruesome ways reminiscent of producer and horror movie veteran John Carpenter’s best slasher works. The first to die is lead guitarist Shifty. Shifty is killed because he and Grohl end up getting into a fight over the recording of the song and Shifty walks out on Dave. The next two to go are Samantha and keyboardist Rami Jaffee. Throughout Studio 666, Dave becomes annoyed by Samantha’s overinvolvement and Rami’s crush on her. Therefore, the two are killed in the middle of sex. Since Taylor Hawkins’ drum track is the last piece required to finish the demonic song, Hawkins purposely tries to mess it up. He gets his head sliced in half, both for his insolence and because his presence is no longer needed. The Foo Fighters movie kills off Pat Smear and Nate Mendel last because they attempt to run away after releasing Dave. Since the demon curse is alive and well, Smear gets run over while trying to hotwire the van and is unintentionally killed by Nate hitting the gas. Barb tries to make sure that the curse is completed, and she succeeds by stabbing Mendel.
Why Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl Doesn’t Deal With His Demons
The Foo Fighters movie Studio 666‘s ending sees Dave Grohl, still very much possessed and playing a show in his new solo career. At the beginning of Studio 666, he cares deeply for his friends/bandmates. His growing irritation isn’t something that the boys usually experience from the laid-back singer, and his decision to turn on them and go solo is uncharacteristic of the frontman. Many musicians are notorious for breaking ties with their bands and going solo, but, while Grohl did begin Foo Fighters with a solo album after the tragic suicide of his first bandmate and 90’s figure Kurt Cobain from Nirvana, he grew his new band over time and has stuck with them since.
Instead, what Dave goes through when tackling his literal demons in Studio 666 can be read as a metaphor for what most musicians undergo when tackling their internal demons. After all, the experience of recording Medicine at Midnight stuck with him enough to write a whole movie about it. Ultimately, Dave isn’t able to conquer the literal demons plaguing him due to the curse. His succumbing to the demons is representative of how so many musicians respond when they’re told by the industry just how successful they’d be on their own. Eventually, they buy into the hype and let their egos get the better of them, often leading to bands splitting up and the frontman striking out for a solo career.
The Real Meaning of Studio 666’s Ending
Despite being a silly horror-comedy there are two themes beneath the surface of Studio 666, one of them being friendship. As talented as Dave Grohl is, he struggles with the idea of leaving his band behind. His solo career is only brought about when he’s demonically possessed, which speaks volumes as to how the real Dave Grohl likely feels about making a decision like that. The music industry is notorious for breaking up good bands to pick up solo acts in the interest of making more money. Jeff Garlin’s character only highlights this defect as he propositions Grohl’s solo career only after Grohl becomes re-possessed and Dave acquiesces. In doing so, Studio 666 sends a clear message about how Dave Grohl feels about the prospect of ever leaving Foo Fighters: he wouldn’t.
The other theme found in Studio 666 is interpreted by the line “There is no Dave […] he’s a slave to his music.” Sacrifice and art are explored throughout Studio 666, as illustrated by that line. Any artist can relate to it when considering what they’ve sacrificed for the sake of their work, successful or not. Throughout the Foo Fighters movie, Grohl wrestles with “musical constipation” until he encounters the song, written by Studio 666 theme composer John Carpenter. With that, he asks the other band members to drop their outside lives to live in the Encino home while recording the album. Anyone passionate about their creative endeavors can relate or have experienced a time in which they’ve neglected themselves and others for the sake of their art. Dave’s possession symbolizes the way obsession follows artists everywhere, often consuming them if they’re not careful.
While Studio 666 has gotten mixed reviews, it’s a fun horror-comedy that’s worth a watch for fans of Foo Fighters and Grohl. The ending is somewhat confusing because of the complicated curse, but that issue can be fixed with a simple re-watch. Unfortunately, Foo Fighters’ member Dave Grohl doesn’t end up dealing with his demons; however, it’s completely necessary for the plot and themes of Studio 666. And considering the open ending, it even leaves room for a follow-up sequel.
