page_title: The Little Shop of Horrors
section_title: Release and reception
hierarchical_section_title: The Little Shop of Horrors / Release and reception
caption_attribution_description: Profile image of actor Mel Welles, in the trailer for the public domain film The Little Shop of Horrors.
context_page_description: The Little Shop of Horrors is a 1960 American horror comedy film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a farce about an inadequate florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human blood. The film's concept is thought to be based on "Green Thoughts," a 1932 story by John Collier about a man-eating plant. Dennis McDougal suggests that Griffith may have been influenced by Arthur C. Clarke's 1956 sci-fi short story "The Reluctant Orchid".
  The film stars Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles, and Dick Miller, who had all worked for Corman on previous films. Produced under the title The Passionate People Eater, the film employs an original style of humor, combining black comedy with farce and incorporating Jewish humor and elements of spoof. The Little Shop of Horrors was shot on a budget of $28,000, with interiors being shot in two days utilizing sets that had been left standing from A Bucket of Blood.
  The film slowly gained a cult following through word of mouth when it was distributed as the B movie in a double feature with Mario Bava's Black Sunday and later with Last Woman on Earth.
caption: The film's trailer emphasized its comedic content
exif: {}