Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Warner Bros./Musical-Comedy RT: 94 minutes Rated PG-13 (comic horror violence involving a man-eating plant, humor involving sadistic dentistry, sexual references, language, substance abuse) Director: Frank Oz Screenplay: Howard Ashman Music: Miles Goodman (original score), Alan Menken (songs) and Howard Ashman (lyrics) Cinematography: Robert Paynter Release date December 19, 1986 (US) Cast: Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, Levi Stubbs (voice), Tichina Arnold, Michelle Weeks, Tisha Campbell, James Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Guest, Miriam Margolyes, Stanley Jones (narrator). Box Office: $38.7M (US)
Rating: *** ½
In 1960, exploitation filmmaker Roger Corman shot the low-budget ($30,000) horror movie The Little Shop of Horrors in two days using sets from his previous production A Bucket of Blood. Apparently, the movie made enough of an impression that Howard Ashman (writer) and Alan Menken (composer) adapted it into an off-Broadway musical in 1982. From that, director Frank Oz (The Dark Crystal, What About Bob?) made the 1986 movie Little Shop of Horrors, a demented comedy-musical about a nebbishy flower shop employee and his carnivorous plant.
I wanted to see the stage production when it played in the Philadelphia area, but thanks to the high cost of theater tickets, I never got to check it out. I was psyched when I learned that Oz was preparing a big-screen version of Little Shop of Horrors. He seemed like the logical choice to film this adaptation; after all, he’s one of the founding puppeteers of Sesame Street and The Muppet Show. He has a real gift in that department. Just look at his work in The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. In addition, he also has a real flair for comedy as seen in movies like Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, What About Bob?, and In & Out. He put together a dream cast of comic actors (many of them in cameo roles) and gave cinematic life to Audrey II, the man-eating plant at the center of the action. I went to see Little Shop of Horrors on a Saturday afternoon and it did not let me down.
I had a real blast watching this twisted comedy-musical. It made me think of The Rocky Horror Picture Show even though I hadn’t yet seen the 1975 cult classic. For the record, I “lost my virginity” the following April when a friend took me to the old TLA (Theater of the Living Arts) on South Street to participate in the midnight madness.
Little Shop of Horrors opens with a warning of a “terrifying threat to our very existence” which emerges in the “seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places.” Right off the bat, the filmmakers let the audience know that they’re watching a silly B-movie with musical numbers and better production values. Then, a Greek chorus (a Supremes-like trio of black girls) introduces us to that innocent and unlikely place, Mushnik’s Flower Shop located on Skid Row in New York City (circa September 1960). Nerdy Seymour Krelborn (Moranis, Spaceballs) and ditzy Audrey (Greene, Talk Radio) work for Mr. Mushnik (Gardenia, Moonstruck) in his financially struggling flower shop, it would appear that people living in hopeless poverty have little use for flowers.
After another day without a single customer, Mushnik announces his intention to close the shop for good, but Seymour and Audrey persuade him to allow the meek young man to display one of his “strange and interesting” plants in the front window as a way of attracting customers. It’s a Venus Flytrap-like plant that Seymour discovered several days earlier during a sudden total eclipse of the sun.
Sure enough, business booms at the shop. Mushnik is elated until the plant suddenly wilts right after closing time. Seymour has no idea how to find the proper nourishment for Audrey II until he pricks his finger on a rose thorn. It seems that the plant has a taste for human blood. The plant thrives and grows while Seymour becomes a local celebrity, even appearing on a local radio program called Wink Wilkinson’s Weird World, hosted by DJ Wink Wilkerson (Candy, Uncle Buck). Eventually, Audrey II reaches several feet tall and requires more blood than Seymour can provide from his fingers. What’s an amateur botanist to do in this case? What indeed?
Meanwhile, it’s revealed that Audrey has a huge crush on Seymour. We already know that he’s in love with her, but is too bashful to say so. He named his plant after her, didn’t he? Unfortunately, she’s involved with an abusive boyfriend, Dr. Orin Scrivello DDS (Martin, All of Me), the most sadistic dentist since Laurence Olivier tortured Dustin Hoffman with dental instruments in 1976’s Marathon Man. Always high on nitrous oxide, he takes great delight in torturing his patients and beating his faithful girlfriend.
By now, Audrey II can talk (voice of Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops). He offers Seymour fame and fortune if he’ll kill somebody and feed him the body. After seeing Orin slap Audrey, he decides to kill the bad dentist and feed him to his man-eating plant. This leaves Seymour and Audrey free to pursue a relationship, but the road to true happiness is never easy. It doesn’t take long for a few obstacles to rear their ugly heads.
I like the musical numbers in Little Shop of Horrors very much. The music sounds perfectly authentic to the popular styles of the early ’60s, especially in the movie’s opening number (“Little Shop of Horrors”). Next, we get a show-stopper called “Skid Row,” where the neighborhood residents sing about being poor and living in such a crummy neighborhood. Seymour and Audrey leave the shop and sing about their dreams of a better life. The movie’s funniest number is when Martin belts out “Dentist!” It’s a tribute to the sadistic joys of his chosen profession. Of course, it’s always cool to hear Stubbs sing and he gets two great numbers-“Feed Me (Git It)” and “Mean Green Mother from Outer Space.” Greene sings of her dream of a happy life with Seymour (“Somewhere That’s Green”) as she dances around a model home dressed like June Cleaver. Moranis and Greene sing a nice duet (“Suddenly, Seymour”) as a way of finally declaring their long-unspoken love for one another.
In addition to a great soundtrack, courtesy of Ashman (lyrics) and Menken (music), Little Shop of Horrors also boasts a winning cast of very funny people. I can’t think of anybody better than Moranis for the role of Seymour Krelborn. He adds just the right amount of meekness and sweetness to his character making him a nice albeit unorthodox romantic hero. He’s the one who saves the fair (and slightly dizzy) maiden Audrey from the clutches of the movie’s real villain. Greene, reprising her role from the stage musical, does a phenomenal job as the damsel in distress. Come to think of it, she’s also a heroine in that she saves Seymour from a life of servitude and low self-esteem. She gives him a real sense of confidence by admitting her romantic feelings for him.
Martin is hilarious as the sadistic dentist. The very first shot of him riding on a motorcycle wearing a leather jacket immediately reduces the viewer to laughter. With that nasty nitrous oxide habit, he’s the comical version of Frank Booth from Blue Velvet (1986, D: David Lynch). Bill Murray (Ghostbusters) makes an awesome cameo as a masochistic dental patient who manages to exasperate Dr. Orin with his wide threshold (and love of) pain. Incidentally, this role was played by a very young Jack Nicholson in the 1960 non-musical version.
Other cameo appearances include James Belushi (The Principal) as a representative of World Botanical Enterprises who offers Seymour a proposal to sell little Audrey II plants worldwide. Christopher Guest (This is Spinal Tap) plays the first customer to walk into the shop and ask about the “strange and unusual” plant in the window. The movie also features great visual effects, courtesy of an Audrey II puppet designed by Lyle Conway. It looks much more convincing than any amount of fancy CGI effects, reminding the audience that they’re watching a silly musical/comedy B-movie.
The fact that the filmmakers opted to shoot the whole movie on a sound stage rather than on location attests to their desire to maintain the fantastical tone of the movie. I think that Little Shop of Horrors is one of the more enjoyably demented movies of the ’80s. If you enjoy crazy-ass movies like Attack of the Killer Tomatoes and Killer Klowns from Outer Space, you will probably enjoy this one as well. “Feed me, Seymour! Feed me all night long!” You just gotta love lyrics like that!
