Little Shop of Horrors

Plot synopsis:
The narrator (Stanley Jones) tells of an event that once threatened the existence of the entire human race. It occurred in "the most seemingly innocent and unlikely of places", Skid Row, in New York. Three teenage girls (Michelle Weeks, Tisha Campbell-Martin, and Tichina Arnold) appear throughout the film as a Motown-singing Greek chorus. They set the scene at the unassuming Mushnick's Flower Shop ("Little Shop of Horrors").Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis), the meek, clumsy employee of Mr. Mushnick (Vincent Gardenia), lives a dreary life among the other unfortunate residents of Skid Row ("Skid Row/Downtown"). Taken in by Mushnick as a young orphan, Seymour lives in a tiny room below the flower shop and is treated fairly poorly by his employer. The light of his life is his co-worker, Audrey (Ellen Greene), a fragile, battered woman stuck in an abusive relationship. The flower shop is making virtually no money, and Mr. Mushnick is on the verge of closing it for good when Audrey mentions the strange and interesting new plant Seymour has been developing, and suggests that if it is properly advertised, it might attract more business. Seymour presents the plant, a large bud surrounded by layers of leaves. Mushnick is pleasantly surprised when customers begin flocking in after seeing the little plant in the window. Seymour has no idea what kind of plant it is, but explains how he got it ("Da Doo"): While he was shopping for odd new plants, his hobby, a solar eclipse occurred. After daylight returned, the strange plant seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Seymour bought it for cheap and brought it home to examine. He shyly admits that he named it "Audrey II."The shop is doing record business until the plant begins to wither. Seymour frantically tries to nurse it back to health, though water, sunlight, fertilizer, and minerals have done no good ("Grow For Me"). When he pricks his finger on a rose thorn and draws blood, Audrey II responds vigorously. Seymour realizes what it lives on, and reluctantly gives it a few drops. Audrey II has a dramatic growth spurt and business picks up, with Seymour becoming a local celebrity ("Some Fun Now"). He does not reveal the secret behind the plant's health.Audrey's boyfriend, Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin), is a sadistic dentist with a leather jacket, motorcycle, and ducktail haircut. He adores his profession because of the constant opportunities to inflict pain on others ("Dentist!"). He enhances his pleasure through his habit of huffing nitrous oxide, or "giggle gas", for a euphoric high. Seymour and Mushnick are concerned, as Audrey often comes to work with injuries or a black eye. Orin arrives at the shop one night to pick up Audrey, and Seymour sees first hand how roughly he treats her. Audrey, meanwhile, secretly dreams of an idyllic suburban life with Seymour ("Somewhere That's Green"), but is too frightened to leave Orin.Seymour angrily paces around the empty shop at night, venting his frustrations to Audrey II, who is now roughly the size of an armchair. To Seymour's great surprise, Audrey II responds with a human voice (Levi Stubbs) and demands more food. Knowing that the plant can no longer live on mere droplets of blood (partially because it is too big, and partially because Seymour is now weak and anemic from feeding the plant from his bleeding fingers), Seymour is reluctant to provide it with bigger portions. The smooth-talking Audrey II promises Seymour money, fame, and the girl of his dreams if he continues to nourish it with human blood ("Feed Me (Git It)"). Seymour initially refuses to murder for the benefit of Audrey II, reasoning that he doesn't know anyone "who deserves to get chopped up and fed to a hungry plant." Audrey II directs him to the window, where he sees Orin assaulting Audrey across the street. Filled with rage, Seymour agrees to bring back a specific meal for the plant.The next day, Seymour goes to Orin's office with a gun in his coat pocket. The patient before him, Arthur Denton (Bill Murray) is a gleeful masochist who frustrates Orin by actually enjoying the oral torture he receives. After Denton's departure, Orin drags Seymour into his office to get the sadistic fix he had been craving. Though he wants to spare Audrey further pain and has promised Audrey II fresh blood, Seymour is terrified of shooting Orin. Conveniently, Orin dons his special gas mask, which provides him with constant nitrous oxide and increases his sadistic pleasure. The mask malfunctions and Seymour watches his nemesis asphyxiate before his eyes. Seymour drags the body back to the flower shop, where he reluctantly chops it up with an axe and feeds it piece by piece to Audrey II.Seymour is understandably shaken by the incident, and sees the police speaking with Audrey the next morning about Orin's disappearance. He tries to comfort Audrey, telling her that she had deserved a better man all along. While Audrey admits that her low self-esteem kept her tied to Orin, she feels partially responsible for his fate because she had been silently wishing him out of her life. Though he does not reveal the truth about what became of Orin, Seymour promises to stand by Audrey no matter what ("Suddenly Seymour").Invigorated from finally winning Audrey's love, Seymour returns to the flower shop. He is confronted by Mushnick, who had seen Seymour dismembering Orin's body the night before. Mushnick assumes that Seymour's devotion to Audrey caused him to murder the cruel dentist, but does not suspect that Audrey II is involved, and knows nothing of its grisly diet. Mushnick leads Seymour upstairs at gunpoint, planning to turn him in to the police. He then offers Seymour a proposition: Seymour leaves town forever, and Mushnick keeps the money-making plant. As Audrey II coaxes Seymour to sacrifice Mushnick to clear his own name ("Suppertime"), Seymour nervously backs Mushnick into the gaping maw of the hungry plant, killing two birds with one stone.With Audrey II grown to enormous proportions, Seymour's celebrity increases ("The Meek Shall Inherit"). However, he is miserable and terrified of the plant's eating habits getting out of hand. He begins to fend off the media and turn down large sums of money, feeling guilty for his part in the secret deaths of Audrey II's meals. He finally puts his foot down, denying the plant any further feedings. He and Audrey plan to run away that night and get married, escaping Skid Row forever. However, he buckles when Audrey II seemingly agrees to accept some meat from the butcher instead of a human corpse. Seymour falls for the ruse and leaves the shop. The plant, with its fully mobile tendrils, uses the phone to call Audrey's apartment across the street, begging for water. Audrey, in her wedding dress, comes to oblige, and is amazed that the huge plant can talk. As she fetches the watering can, the plant wraps its vines around her legs and drags her into its mouth ("Suppertime II").Seymour returns just in time to save Audrey from being devoured. Outside the shop, he explains how dangerous the plant is, and how he only kept it because he thought Audrey would cease to like him if he were no longer rich and famous. Audrey assures Seymour that she loved him from the moment she met him, and still does. They are interrupted by a salesman (James Belushi) who shares with Seymour his idea of collecting trimmings from the plant and marketing miniature Audrey IIs all over the country. Seymour deducts that this was the plant's plan all along: It was an alien that came to earth during the solar eclipse and was bent on world domination. He rushes back into the shop for a final showdown with Audrey II. The plant thwarts Seymour's efforts at killing it, and begins to taunt him as its branches destroy the building and new buds begin to bloom ("Mean Green Mother from Outer Space"). Emerging from the rubble, Seymour grabs a live electric wire and touches it to Audrey II's vine, electrocuting it and causing it to explode into nothing.Seymour and Audrey are married and arrive at their suburban dream home, just as Audrey had imagined. As they enter the front door, a baby Audrey II plant is seen in their garden, a tiny smile on its pod.

Tags: comedy, dark, murder, cult, romantic, sadist

Review:
The 1986 film version of the Broadway musical LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is an entertaining movie based on the black comedy from the 1960's about a nerdy milquetoast who raises a man-eating plant that gets totally out of control.
Rick Moranis is perfection as Seymour, the nebbish who is at a loss at what to do when his own Frankenstein grows too big for him to control and Ellen Greene (reprising her role in the original musical) is delightful as Audrey, the object of Seymour's affections.
Vincent Gardenia plays the greedy flower shop owner, Mr. Mushnik and Bill Murray is hysterically funny in one scene as Arthur Denton, a man who seems to enjoy going to the dentist a little too much.
I'm talking about the 1986 color musical with Rick Moranis and Audrey II by way of Frank Oz. Like I tell my friends about  "Babe," I love a film with a Greek chorus.
I'll watch this film again, just to hear them sing one line: "TO  TAL  E  CLIPSE  OF  THE  SUN!" This is an all-singing, all-dancing science fiction black comedy that features human misery, a sadistic dentist, a masochistic patient, casual murder, girlfriend abuse, and a blood-sucking alien house plant monster.
From Steve Martin's sadistic Elvis-inspired dentist to the early girl-group rock score, "Little Shop" moves with an appropriately cheesy style that lets you in on the joke, yet never insults you for loving those poverty row movies..
How that tiny little woman can shake the walls like that is a great mystery -- my God, what a pair of lungs!Everyone else has sung the praises of Levi Stubbs and Steve Martin, and a raft of other cameo roles, so I'll just say, "Ditto."As I said, I was a big fan of the very dark "original" version, and I never saw the stage play.
Rick Moranis as a geek, Ellen Greene as a bubbly blonde, Steve Martin as a cool biker dentist, Bill Murray as a giggling masochist, Vincent Gardenia as a slob flower shop owner, etc.Fans of the original Corman film will be deeply disappointed.
"Little Shop of Horrors" really is a movie that is fun to watch over and over again.I'm not a big musical fan but I can appreciate a classic like "Grease", "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and a good Disney movie.
The other most fun character is played by Steve Martin in one of his best and most fun roles I've ever seen him in.I can't say that I'm a big fan of all of the songs but still there are some good songs in the movie which makes it a successful and pleasant musical to watch and listen to.9/10http://bobafett1138.blogspot.com/.
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1986) ***1/2 Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, Jim Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Guest.
Entertaining musical comedy based on the off-Broadway smash inspired by Roger Corman's cult low-budget horror flick "The Little Shop of Horrors" never lets up on energy in this decidedly camp tale about nerd Seymour Krelborn (Moranis in geek mode) the apprentice florist at a skid row floral shop whose hybrid creation of a Venus flytrap grows in more ways than one when it develops a nasty craving for human blood.
Corman produced the original LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS as a mere joke that he can make a film with a reused set from another movie and a limited shooting schedule of two days.
Still, despite the expenses and some of the criticism toward the film, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is still one of the best times I had in watching movies.
The movie is a funhouse of endless entertainment packed with silly laughs, memorable musical numbers, tuneful songs, fine acting and outrageous special effects (even in this CG era, the Audrey II puppet created by Lyle Conway is still very convincing).Rick Moranis stars as a down-on-his-luck slob Seymour Krelborn, who works in a bankrupt florist shop in the outcast district of Skid Row, where all the outcasts reside, including his bankrupt boss Mushnick (Vincent Gardenia) and battered beauty Audrey (Ellen Greene, reprising her off-off Broadway role).
If your idea of a great musical is less 'Singing in the Rain', 'West Side Story' or 'South Pacific' and more 'Hairspray', 'Rocky Horror, and 'Phantom of the Paradise' then you simply must check out Frank Oz's Little Shop of Horrors.Based on the off-Broadway show, which was itself based on the cult Roger Corman movie, this marvellously entertaining piece of sci-fi schlock horror is funny, romantic, a little scary (well, my kids thought so), and huge fun from start to finish.Rick Moranis stars as Seymour Krelborn, a nerdish shop assistant in a skid-row florists.
no, this sucker wants blood, and lots of it!Moranis makes a likable leading man, and shows off a surprisingly good singing voice, whilst Ellen Greene impresses not only with her incredible vocals, but also with her amazing body, which often threatens to steal the show.
These two leads are joined by a fine supporting cast, which includes top comedy performers of the day Steve Martin, Bill Murray, John Candy, Christopher Guest, and James Belushi.The real star of the film, however, is 'Audrey II', the alien plant creature voiced by The Four Tops' Levi Stubb's; this 'mean green mother from outer space' is a miracle of special effects with its fluid movements and impeccable lip-synching making it one of the finest examples of animatronics I have ever seen in a film.The theatrical release of Little Shop of Horrorsthe one that is currently available on DVD and the one I first saw back in 1986ends with Seymour destroying the monstrous pot-plant and living happily ever after with Audrey; it's a lot of fun and is easily worth a rating of at least 8/10.
This film stars Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborn, a geeky urban florist who runs a floral shop with his Mushnik (played by Vincent Gardenia) and his flirtatious co-worker Audrey (played by Ellen Green) who he happens to have a crush on, but is in relationship with an eccentric dentist named Orin Scrivello (played by Steve Martin).
Though very different from his previous films The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth, Frank Oz (when not voicing Kermit or planting cellophane bags of Angel Dust on Dan Aykroyd) does seem right at home and the perfect choice to direct this movie of a giant hungry plant gone mad.Nerdy florist Seymore Krelborn (Rick Moranis) encourages his boss to display a bizarre new plant, the Audrey II, in the shop window in order to entice more customers into their failing business.
Many musical numbers and cameos later (from John Candy, Bill Murray, and Steve Martin) the film forks into two different endings, depending on what version your watching.
Between the hilarious songs, the outrageous plot, and the unexpectedly great performances by Rick Moranis and others, you can't go wrong with this movie if you like a good comedy.Steve Martin is fantastic as the sadistic dentist.
Ellen Greene brings her experience at the role of Audrey from the stage to the film, and it shows.It's a great movie to watch with friends and get a good laugh out of..
It's one of those rare movies that I loved as a child as much as I love it as an adult and that my own children now enjoy watching with me.Rick Moranis is in his ideal element as the unfortunate "born loser" Seymour, he has a perfect helpless sadness about him that almost makes the sincerity of his character seem out of place in this world of other, more wild and colorful characters.Speaking of which, this is my all time favorite of Steve Martin's performances, his evil dentist is so hilarious and well played that it's effortless to forget that the role is being played by such a famous and well known comedian.Throw in the giant puppet plant with an insatiable blood lust and really, what's not to love?.
The characters are great, acting is top notch, the musical numbers of catchy and funny, and it has some of the best cameos I've ever seen in movie history!
I don't know if my strong dislike for this film came from the fact that I mostly loathe musicals, that I found the humor to mostly consist of the same in-your-face not-in-the-least-bit-subtle humor that you see in most crappy TV shows and comedies today, or simply from the fact that I had expected it to be the Roger Corman horror-comedy of the same name, which I have wanted to see for some time(same as just about all of the other Corman-directed films, after seeing, and really liking, The Terror and Frankenstein Unbound) since the ads that promoted the showing of this movie all talked about the Corman version, or some fourth reason...
Plus, of course, there's Audrey II, who still looks and sounds great after all these years; kudos to Levi Stubbs for providing the inimitable voice.LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS might not be high art, but it sure is a lot of fun..
The film was shot in London and filmed in the style of a musical play hence you get this interior staged bound feel to this movie.Rick Moranis plays Seymour a nerdy, hapless and put upon flower shop boy owned by Mr Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia.) Seymour is in love with the blonde, beautiful Audrey (Ellen Greene) but she is going out with psycho, motor biking dentist Orin (Steve Martin.)After an eclipse Seymour discovers a new plant which becomes an instant hit with the customers who all flock to the shop to admire it.
In the tradition of "stupid films with music in them", Little Shop of Horrors offers a great cast, a wonderfully senseless story of a man-eating plant called Audrey II, and stuck-in-the-head music which will make you sing "Feed Me Seymour" on the street every now and then.
For all the horror and music the film features, there is an irresistible touch of sweetness in the on-going romance between Krelborne and Audrey, the first one, played by Ellen Greene, two misunderstood hearts who belong one another and yet don't have the strength to overcome their own fears.
From the catchy opening of "Little Shop of Horrors" to the poignant "Skid Row", there's a genuine quality in the film's songs that gets you totally obsessed with it, as if you wanted the 80's to go back, I don't know if it's about the Greek chorus featuring the three singers, the lyrics, the way the music makes one with the story and never feels dull or forced but I can't get the music out of mind, it's definitely one of the greatest rock musicals and maybe musicals of the last 30 years.8/ And there's this nostalgic feeling, the fact that the film is set in the 60's (the same era of the original) makes the 80's eternally connected with the sweet 60's, now, the 80's are our own oldies, conveying the same innocence, the same notions of pleasure and fun.
And that's exactly what you've got in "Little Shop of Horrors" the joy of a successful Broadway musical gracing the silver screen, as a great entertainment and piece of film-making.9/ And the film doesn't take itself seriously but deals with the story with originality and consideration for every generation, it's definitely pure family entertainment, with enough horror to please thrills-hungry movie-goers, enough romance to make some hearts 'oww' enough fun to please everybody.
It has performances from people like Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, and Steve Martin who are just great in their roles, can be very hilarious, and often-times provide some very good singing.
This 1986 musical version of the classic black and white comedy "Little Shop of Horrors" is actually a great re-make and a re-invention of the classic movie.
There is, of course, Rick Moranis (playing Seymour Krelborn), Vincent Gardenia (playing Mushnik), and some nice appearances by Steve Martin (playing Orin Scrivello), Bill Murray (playing Arthur Denton), John Candy (playing Wink Wilkinson) and James Belushi (playing Patrick Martin)."Little Shop of Horrors" is a nice black comedy that stays true to the original version, even though it is spiced up with dancing, music and singing.And a great deal of the success of this movie, the reason for why it worked out so nicely is, of course, because of Frank Oz's unique and fantastic ability to create puppets and make them come to life and seem lifelike and real.
Based on the off-Broadway musical by Howard Ashman, which was based on Roger Corman's 1960 film that was apparently shot in two days, Little Shop of Horrors sees lonely plant shop worker Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) discovers a strange venus fly-trap-alike plant while wandering uptown.
The genre has seen its fair share of oddball productions, and Little Shop of Horrors is one of these - one part a lovable homage to B-movies and the work of the likes of Roger Corman, and one part an impressive musical, featuring some very catchy numbers and staying true to the ideals and traditions of the genre.
Best Horror Musical based on a Broadway play that was based on a movie filmed in 2 days ever.
And so the killings begin.This is a great movie with amazing music and good acting, although Ellen Greene is only OK for the most part.
He's also in love with Audrey, a gorgeous, sweet girl, played by the original stage actress, Ellen Greene, also working at the shop, who's in an abusive relationship with her insane dentist boyfriend, played extremely well by Steve Martin.
All of the songs are catchy - standout musical numbers include "Skid Row" (Moranis, though nasal, is shockingly talented at singing), "Feed Me," and my favorite scene, "Dentist!" with classic doll-decapitating Steve Martin appropriately miscast as Audrey's rebel D.D.S. boyfriend.
The movie can come off as painfully campy at times (especially if your high school is one of the millions to do the stage production), but through the astounding puppetry of the Jim Henson Creature Shop (Frank "Fozzie" Oz directed) and some memorable funny cameos by the likes of Bill Murray and Christopher Guest among others, Little Shop gets the passing grade, even if the ending does a complete 180 from the original stage musical's..
But the film is well handled for a sci-fi horror musical comedy, and Frank Oz knows what he's doing with talented comic actors such as Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, and Steve Martin.
Directed by master Muppeteer and brilliant comedy director Frank Oz, the be-bop music, talking plant, romance, humor, and creepiness all work together in unison, something that would not seem likely on paper.The story is somewhat of a fairy tale, albeit a twisted one, about a down and out guy (Rick Moranis) and a down and out girl (Ellen Greene) who wish for a happy life beyond Skid Row, but are forced to live a miserable existence in a ramshackle flower shop.
But Mr. Martin is only one of several comedic cameos in the film, including Christopher Guest who gives a hilarious performance as the flower shop's first customer, Bill Murray as the masochist patient, and a few other surprises.Alan Menken, who is probably best known for his work with Disney on Beauty and the Beast, Little Mermaid, etc., and Howard Ashman present yet another dazzling musical score that sticks in your mind well after the movie is done.
Unfortuneatly, the original ending has been pulled from the DVD's and is very hard to find, so the footage will probably never be seen.Nevertheless, the movie is worth checking out, at least for the performances and the monstrous plant alone.Rick Moranis does what I think is his best work here, along with Ellen Greene, wonderful as the squeaky, big-boobed Audrey.
I've still yet to see the 1960 original that first presented this curiously macabre concept, and the big stage musical it later inspired, so I can't say for sure if this was an improvement or not on either format, but certainly as a stand-alone film this 1986 version of 'Little Shop of Horrors' works surprisingly well.Ellen Greene's exaggerated high-pitched inflection as Audrey (the human Audrey, that is) does get a little grating on the eardrum, and there are a couple of clichés around the end, but otherwise there's little fault to be found in such a quirky B movie that pretty much accomplishes everything it aims for  that is, to be merry and light-hearted, and to put smiles on the faces of its viewers.
That, in addition to chomping people, he can sing, dance and make practical phone calls seems all the more fitting for it.While it's probably not going to win any awards for being the Most Prestigious Film of All Time, 'Little Shop of Horrors' still makes for a fun and perfectly enjoyable diversion from the real world whenever you need it  having watched it just a few days ago, I know I personally will be humming 'Mean Green Mother from Outer Space' for weeks to come.Grade: B+.
It weaves wonderful acting (Audrey's little squeak when she finds out that Seymore has named the plant after her is priceless every single time I watch the film, which I own on video), great songs, direction, comedy, suspense and set design all together in what I consider to be an ever better cult classic than the over-rated Rocky Horror Picture Show.
"Little Shop of Horrors" has it all: musical numbers, Steve Martin, and a singing plant.
Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) is a bumbling worker at Mr. Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia)'s flower shop on Skid Row. His co-worker Audrey Fulquard (Ellen Greene) gets beaten by her semi-sadist dentist boyfriend Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin).
The cast do a stellar job, Rick Moranis is wonderfully nerdy and Ellen Greene reprises her stage role with aplomb, but top honours go to Steve Martin as the sadistic scientist and especially Levi Stubbs as the voice of Audrey II.All in all, a delightful, memorable movie musical and so much fun.