Encino, 1993. What better way is there to grab an audience’s attention than by opening with a young rocker being dragged across the floor before getting her hair parted with a mysterious assailant’s hammer? Jump forward 30 years to find the Foo Fighters leasing the haunted crime scene to record their 10th album. Frontman Dave Grohl likes the vibe of overwhelming death and doom the space has to offer. Why shouldn’t he? Grohl provided the story for this horror comedy, once again proving the old adage: a rock legend trying their hand at horror is as monotonous as a horror maestro assaulting a synthesizer and calling it music. (That reminds me: John Carpenter composed the theme.) Plagued by writer’s block, Grohl finds a reel-to-reel tape recorder with the band's music and decides to plagiarize it as his own. Other than Grohl, not much is done to establish his bandmates as individual personalities. The second feature from music video director/steadicam operator BJ McDonnell is a formless, warmed-over horror-comedy that wouldn’t exist were it not for Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead trilogy. One would have an easier time revisiting Rob Zombie's first two features than this simplified serving of Grohl gruel. (2022) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.