Studio 666 (2005) User Reviews

A fine example of mediocrity

[Horrorible_Horror_Films · 2/10 · 21 August 2006]

Considering the limits of this film (The entire movie in one setting - a music studio - only about 5 or 6 actors total) it should have been much better made. IF you have these limits in making a film, how could the lighting be so bad? And the actors were terrible, were talking a hair below the acting in Clerks, except that was an enjoyable movie, this had no substance. Well it tried to, but really fails.

It makes attempt to be self-referencing in a couple parts, but the lines were delivered so poorly by the actors it was just bad. And the main character Neal guy, what a pathetic looser. Clearly like 10 people total made this 'film' and they all knew each other, and it probably was a real rock band that they had, but unfortuntly these people really have no idea how terrible they are all around. This was made in 2005, but they all look so naieve it smacks of just pre-grunge era.

Thankfully I didn't pay to see this (Starz on Demand delivers again!) but it was under the title "The Possessed" not Studio 666, it doesn't matter what you do to the title, it can't help this. This could have been a much better made movie - there is no excuse for this bad film-making when you have the obvious limited parameters the filmmakers had when they made this, working within those limits you should make the stuff you can control and the stuff you can work with the best you can. Instead they figured mediocrity would be good enough. And that music video, wow that was bad, I fast fowarded through that.

So 2/10 is fair, if you are into the whole b-movie crap I suppose you'll go and see this.

Dora the explorer (of really crappy kills)

[movieman_kev · 2/10 · 1 October 2006]

After a quasi-Gothic, all-fruity music video, the movie starts with Cassidy the lead singer killing herself. In a perfect world that would be that and the end credits would roll. We don't live n that world. The insipid band members decide to go to some clown to contact her dead essence. When I say clown, I mean actual clown. He tell them they're all going to die via Cassidy's ghost (the spirit possesses Dora, one of the band-mates) We couldn't care less as the characters are all boring, vapid, and extremely horribly acted. Written by Adam Hackbarth (an incredibly apropos surname if there ever was one), and directed by Corbin Timbrook (who after The attendant, and Tower of blood, HAS to know that he keeps making crap for a living), this movie s a constant battle between the film's incompetence and the viewer's need to stay awake. Not enough blood to appease gore-hounds, nor enough nudity to satisfy pervs. This movie in fact has absolutely nothing to recommend to absolutely anyone.

My Grade: F

Eye Candy: Amanda Carraway gets topless

Where i saw it: Starz on Demand

"while there are some interesting aspects to it, it's best to pass over this one."

[toren-3 · 3/10 · 2 October 2006]

As with most of the reviewers, I saw this on Starz! OnDemand. After watching the preview with my girlfriend, she decided not to watch it from how bad the preview watched. I, on the other hand, thought it looked weird enough to warrant a watching. I mean, the design of Dr. Meso alone warranted at least a brief sweep over this title. After watching it, I can say that while there are some interesting aspects to it (namely the browsing over the notebooks and trying to figure out the incomprehensible story), it's best to pass over this one.

*Major Spoilers Ahead* After making their first video for their as-yet-unfinished CD, the lead singer, Cassidy, kills herself in an attempt to get her boyfriend Neil to notice her. 3 months later, the band is trying to decide if they're going to finish the album or not. To try and see what Cassidy would have wanted, they go to see an old psychic friend of hers, Dr. Meso, and try to contact her through him. In his card reading, Dr. Meso turns up four straight Death cards for the four remaining band members. Bad times are ahead. (I just wanted to make a point that later in the film, they do explain that the Death card really just represents change. Kudos to them on that at least.) Even without the approval of their deceased friend, they decide to go ahead and finish the album. But while in the bathroom, Cassidy's best-friend, Dora, catches a glimpse of her deceased friend. When another band-mate goes in to check on her, Dora is standing in the dark, requesting his sunglasses. That's when the killing begins.

My main problem with the film from the very get-go is that it seems to be heavy stylized to a fault. Too many warping effects, unnecessary zooms, and a plethora of other cheap effects riddle this film. An incoherent storyline doesn't help anything either. While the narrative hangs together for the first part, once Cassidy is resurrected, everything falls apart. We have jump-cuts between Cassidy and Dr. Meso (who mysteriously was able to get into a locked building), which show they are connected in some way or another. However, within a few minutes of that revelation, we find that Cassidy really is an independent being from Meso. She then turns on the guy who had been helping her revenge and he scurries away in a way that calls to mind Jack Nicholson as The Joker. But not in a good way.

From this point on, the whereabouts of Cassidy are shown, but there are strange lapses as character moves from place to place almost out of sequence. One scene we see Cassidy standing at a desk, when a character enters in the next, she's nowhere to be found. As he moves behind the desk, we see her at the end of a hallway. Then in another room grabbing the keys (which Neil already has), then back again. Not to mention that from one moment to the next, Cassidy's mood seems to go a complete 180 without a catalyst to it. One moment, she wants to kill everyone (although she's only wounded 90% of the characters) - the next she's apologizing to everyone and walks out the door to die again. Sound confusing? That's because it is. It's a jumbled mess that I'm sure the writer couldn't even figure out.

As for the performances, most are particularly wooden. Some though are interesting, but overall this isn't a piece that would be known for it's acting. The story is the driving force behind this piece.

Cassidy!

[jayjsuttle · 1/10 · 30 August 2008]

I think that if I went to a first school somewhere deep in the countryside and asked the bottom set of English to come up with a script, it would make more sense than this. I could then go to the first year drama group and they would act it out better than the jokers in this film. This sounds really mean, but I'm certain that they made this as a joke and are entirely aware that they possess (see what I did there?) neither the skills to act or to write anything, ever.

Watch this only if you're incredibly drunk, high or in need of a good excuse as to why your decaying corpse was found with slit wrists. I will now go to my fish bowl and collect all of the poo at the bottom. After that, I will mould it into the shape of a disc and put it into my DVD player, fully expecting it to produce something far better than this trumpery.

Acting - 0/10 Plot - LOL/10 Breasts - 9/10

The Possessed

[Scarecrow-88 · 1/10 · 1 May 2007]

Cassidy(Kacia Brady)puts a gun in her mouth blowing the back of her head out on boyfriend Neal(Jason Dibler). Cassidy was the lead singer of a "demons and death" rock band who couldn't shake the sad feelings of her boyfriend's neglect towards her(you know, I can find other reasonable ways to solve this other than putting a bullet through your head). She returns, however, possessing the soul of Dora(Jill Small)her friend who is to replace her on vocals so that the group can finish the album halted by Cassidy's untimely death. But, Cassidy made a deal with the dark one and souls are to be collected..she's consumed by this anger towards mainly Neal, but all the band members or anyone within the music studio get dead when they fall prey to whom they believe is a rather distraught Dora..not Cassidy returning for payback.

Lousy micro-budget horror flick looks cheap, has a cheap cast who should make plans in another line of work, and boasts cheap kill-scenes which aren't effective one bit.

It honestly doesn't get worse than this.

[scaryflashlight · 1/10 · 28 August 2006]

This ranks way up there on my top list of worst movies I've seen so far on Starz on Demand. They seem to pick up every straight to DVD crap-fest they can find and put it on here.

Why? Who knows! Apparently anyone with a digital camera and a shoestring budget can come up with a horror movie and get it put on TV. To be honest, this looked terrible from the moment I saw the trailer--but I did give it a real chance.

I always try to have an open mind about low-budget movies. Some of the best movies I've ever seen were films that worked around their low budget or in other cases only required that low budget to be great.

This is not one of those movies.

You know the plot by now, I'm sure, if you're reading this. Either you heard about it on Starz on Demand or for whatever reason you ended up on this page out of boredom. It's about a pathetic and whiny girl we get to know for all of 3 minutes in an incredibly bad "heavy metal" music video. Whoever put it together must have thought it looked really interesting, but it really, really doesn't. Anyway, she kills herself. Then she possesses someone. Then some killing starts. It's really unmemorable and as completely average and boring as possible. When the first gunshot goes off in her apartment it quite seriously sounds like a piece of popcorn popping. Was that the best sound effect they could come up with? I could find a better sound effect to use for free, (with no copyright,) on the internet... right. now.

Don't let the other reviews claiming this is a 10 star movie fool you. They are obviously either distributors of the film or maybe even the director trying to con you into thinking this piece of junk is worth buying.

Laughable.

!!! WARNING !!! Do NOT waste your time!!!

[jrg1804 · 1/10 · 28 September 2007]

I am a MAJOR fan of the horror genre! I LOVE horror/slasher/gore flicks of all kinds. Some of my favorites are the really "good" bad horror flicks. But this movies has NOTHING to warrant it's viewing!! I'm not going to spend a lot of time talking about everything that's wrong with it.

The script is horrid. The acting is horrid. The FX are not even worth discussing. The "set" is an absolute JOKE!! The sad thing is I think there MAY be some real potential in a couple of the actors, but this vehicle left them NOTHING to work with!!!

Suffice it to say I saw it for "free" & feel I was robbed!! The time you'd WASTE watching this would be better spent flossing your cat.

Bad bad bad

[nachotech · 1/10 · 13 November 2007]

This movie is bad. If you are thinking about watching it, there is only one decent scene in the movie, and it lasts about 5 seconds (Amanda Carraway's topless scene). The rest of the movie is horrible. I think high school plays probably have better acting. The plot makes no sense at all. The set was pretty lame, and it wasn't even good to make fun of. It was just dull and very very bad! I watched this on Starz so I thought it had to be at least decent. The mini description sounded like it'd be alright. The girlfriend kills herself for apparently no reason at the beginning of the movie, after you have to watch some horrible music video. The transitions between scenes are VERY abrupt and its like someone just put a ton of clips into a movie without even thinking about how to transition them. Just cuts from one scene to another, no smoothness. Kind of like my random switching from talking about how bad the movie is, to explaining why the plot sucks. The audio gets low at some points, where you can barely hear it, then gets loud with gay 'horror screams' thrown in at random points in the movie. It is the same sound every time. This is now officially the worst movie I have ever seen

Acting: 0/10 Effects: 1/10 Storyline: 0/10 Music: 3/10

Lame-meter : 1,000,000 / 10

Wow

[dethghs7 · 3/10 · 22 December 2006]

Well, because I'm a musician I thought, maybe I'll check this movie out on TMC, nothing else good on. One of the worst mistakes of my life so far, and it's only half done. I seriously thought it was one of those soft core movies with crappy plot and crappy acting, crappy filming and crappy effects. But nope, I don't even get the pleasure of that. Even the "musicians" weren't very good. I was hoping for maybe some laughs, but I wasn't sure if they were attempting to throw in one-liners or not. But now I have to sit here and watch the rest just until Pulp Fiction starts. Or maybe something better. And now i get to sit here typing until i have 10 lines

Are they serious?

[shai_t · 1/10 · 28 November 2007]

Whoever wrote the script for this movie does not deserve to work in Hollywood at all (not even live there), and those actors need to find another job. The most dreadful hour and some minutes of my life... and I only kept watching to see if it would get better which, unfortunately for me it did not.

Even at the end, the credits gave me anxiety. I guess there weren't a lot of people behind the movie so they had to roll the credits slowly... very slowly.

This movie is definitely a great "How Not To Make a Movie" guide. Too bad I can't give a 0.

Freaked me out, freaks.

[actressgirl-1 · 10/10 · 18 November 2005]

Who ever came up with story is one sick person. I rented it for our slumber party sleepover and all six of us got freaked out cause we're all in an acting class together, and we know a couple of the actors from class. Besides everybody screaming the whole freaky night, I had freaky nightmares. I kept thinking oh my God, if I get up to go to the bathroom to pee I'm going to be stabbed in the middle of wiping or something. I couldn't even go to the bathroom because we watched this gruesome horror movie. I also thought why are all the girls topless in this movie but we don't any of the boys units? You should make a horror film where the killer is a girl and chopping off units. I would watch that over and over. Call it hard or soft or something stupid like that. I'm only giving this movie a 9 because you FREAKED ME OUT FREAKS.

Slow, boring entry

[slayrrr666 · 6/10 · 20 December 2006]

"The Possessed" is a really old and clichéd slasher film with a few redeeming qualities.

**SPOILERS**

After the death of their lead singer Cassidy, (Kacia Brady) remaining band members Victor, (Edwin Lachenaumer) Donnie, (Jeff Van Atta) and Neal, (Jason Dibler) along with new singer Dora, (Jill Small) decide to finish her last record. Staying at the recording studio with workers Rex, (Jon Christian) and Madison, (Amanda Carraway) they begin completing the album. When they start to disappear one-by-one, they realize that a killer is locked in the studio with them. When they realize that the killer is one of them, they struggle to stay alive and escape from the studio.

The Good News: Even though there isn't a whole lot here that's great about it, there's still a couple positive notes here. The kills in here do resort to having some gore in the film, and there is some nice blood flow from them. The fingers being bitten off looks pretty nice, the several stabbings always have some blood around the entry wound, and the fact that several of the victims are killed by having parts bitten off makes for some good gore scenes. Bite marks appear on the face, neck, chest and other parts in that area, and they do look pretty nice. The real gore highlight, though, is the discovery of one victim inside a bathtub with slash marks, stab wounds and more, all inside a blood-stained tub with some more all along the walls. It's a real sight to see, even if only fleetingly. The other cool thing about the film is the location. The locked-off, closed down recording studio setting gives it a great ambiance and a feeling of isolation. Other than these two factors, there isn't a whole lot of other factors in here that's worthwhile.

The Bad News: There is a whole lot wrong with this one. The major one is that there isn't a whole lot that happens in here. The action scenes are few and far between, and aren't very spectacular when they occur. All of them are pretty lackluster, and have almost no suspense or tension involved at all. They just sort of happen with nothing really memorable about them. This extends to the kills as well. While they are pretty gory, there's nothing that makes them stand out at all. All of them are delivered with a ho-hum style and all that occurs is stuff that's been done before. Bitings, some stabbings, and a gunshot comprise the majority of the deaths on-screen, the rest aren't on-screen. That they have to have the kills off-screen is a really big cheat, and it makes the movie a little more intolerable. With the low body-count in here to begin with, having off-screen deaths is a major error that doesn't really have any purpose. The main fault is that there's simply no action at all. There's no chasing, no stalking, just having the characters die off and that's it. That leads most of the film to have long conversations to fill up time, and with the lack of great kills and no suspense, the film is just one long bore-fest. With these two factors, they hamper the film the most. With these in tow, there's not a lot about this one to like.

The Final Verdict: With a lot of very wrong things in here and only small redeeming factors, there isn't a lot to like in here. It's really only recommended to the most hardcore slasher fans around, while the other horror fans will find this boring.

Rated R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Nudity and some drug use

Worth a Watch

[nysalesman100 · 5/10 · 16 October 2006]

Having read all the bad reviews I just had to see this movie for myself. Yes, it is a low production movie, but sometimes in the horror genre those are the best kinds.

While this movie certainly wasn't on-par with the 6th Sense, it was way better than Cursed (which was a high budget bomb) and worth watching if you are into sci-fi and horror and want something weird to watch with friends or while sharing popcorn on a fall night with your significant other.

Overall, the plot worked well (for a horror movie) and the acting was fine for this genre. Best suited to watch on Friday the 13th or Halloween.

Worth to watch if you want to experience a totally new level of BAD

[sdechamps · 1/10 · 23 March 2012]

Unfortunately I spent 2 pounds on this movie... It was extremely overpriced but despite my friends told me to grab the receipt and rabidly demand for a return, I decided to keep this movie as it is the worst movie ever done.

I'm a fan of demonic possession films and I realize the huge percentage will be bad but this film surpassed my expectations.

***Spoilers*** After the terrible "music" video opening, comes the suicide of Cassidy accompanied by the extremely unrealistic massive amounts of splashing dry brains (pretty much like minced meat with paint).

***End of Spoilers*** I must confess I laughed about how bad the FX were but from the next scene on... The movie made me sad, it is an extremely lame fail, completely nonsense, bad script, horrible FX, terrible acting, awful lighting.

Reading the other reviews I must agree with many comments like: "A high-school play is better done" and "this makes movies like House of Wax look like Oscar-winning masterpieces." There are bad-good movies worth to watch just for the laughs, but even "Zombie Strippers" is a thousand times better than this, at least there is a script to follow. The final scenes and the end of the movie are as bad as the movie itself.

In conclusion this movie vigorously overdevelops from worse to lame.

1/10

Lame slasher!

[manchester_england2004 · 4/10 · 27 August 2009]

STUDIO 666 (aka THE POSSESSED in the UK) is another sub-par slasher that has the appearance of a straight-to-DVD movie.

Whilst many of the straight-to-DVD movies are fast-paced or unintentionally hilarious in the so-bad-it's-good sense, STUDIO 666 is a lamentable failure.

At the time of writing, every comment on the first page includes a negative rating and a negative review. Every one of these people have hit the nail on the head.

The two people (at the time of writing) who wrote comments with a rating of 10 out of 10 should not be taken seriously. Obviously they've seen few slasher movies and have an even more limited understanding of horror.

The only really positive point I can make about this movie is that it does fare better than THE CHOKE and ONE OF THEM, two extremely mediocre slasher movies that I would not wish on my worst enemy!

The plot of this movie must have been done hundreds, if not thousands of times. The movie only has a slight twist (and one that is badly handled) to the usual expectations. A depressed singer commits suicide. Soon after, her spirit returns to possess one of her surviving friends. The said possessed friend goes on a killing spree. The rest of the plot really is too bizarre to sum up. You'll just have to see it for yourself, providing your interest has not yet waned to the point of extinction of course.

The acting in the movie is very poor for the most part. The actress who played Dora was an exception to this. Her character was always interesting and seductive when she was on the screen. She helps to elevate the movie above similar contemporary efforts. Unfortunately, some of the lines she was given to say were badly written to put it mildly and thus prevent her from saving the movie.

The direction was equally poor. The villains did not seem the least bit menacing, every killing was totally devoid of suspense or tension, atmosphere was non-existent and the camera-work was incredibly basic. Some of the special effects (if you can call them that) reminded me of the TV series, GHOST STORIES. Unfortunately for the producers of this movie, GHOST STORIES had intelligently written scripts, believable performances and made superb use of camera angles. Maybe if the producers had watched that TV series closely, they'd have picked up some more techniques that might have saved this excuse for a movie!

The music is completely unsuited to the tone of the movie. It's just rock music and not the best examples of this type either. Don't get me started on that awful song played at the beginning!

Some aspects of the movie, particularly dialogue, are unintentionally funny. Unfortunately they are not funny enough to move the movie up (or should it be down) to the so-bad-it's-good level.

Overall, STUDIO 666 is a mundane mediocre slasher with very little noteworthy aspects. I recommend this only to those who are fans of straight-to-DVD movies and have a desire to see every single slasher ever made.

As Bad As A Movie Can Be!

[georgewilliamnoble · 1/10 · 29 March 2022]

Known as The Possessed on the UK video market the DVD box has a stylishly creepy artwork cover to lure purchasers to their doom. You get a hopeless load of codswallop that even at 76 minutes is an agonisingly dull and excruciatingly boring dull tripe and as amateur as they come. Truly awful in every way with appalling acting scripting and direction, no suspense and so no horror and so bad and in a bad bad bad way that there is no unitentional laughs either, I did get to the end in three shifts exactly how I do not know.

Very fun and scary to see

[mickydee · 10/10 · 31 December 2005]

I think this movie had to be fun to make it, for us it was fun to watch it. The actors look like they have a fun time. My girlfriends like the boy actors and my boyfriends like the girl actors. Not very much do we get to have crazy fun with a movie that is horror make. I see a lot of scary movies and i would watch this one all together once more, or more because we laugh together. If this actors make other scary movies i will watch them. The grander mad man thats chase to kill the actors is very much a good bad man. He make us laugh together the most. i would give this movie a high score if you ask me.

I don't know if the market has any more of the movies with the actors, but the main boy is cute. the actor with the grand chest has to be not real. they doesn't look to real.