Little Shop Of Horrors (DVD)

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Little Shop Of Horrors has become a cult movie, a little like Rocky Horror Picture Show, but it started back in 1960 as a very low budget B movie which took Roger Carman only two days to produce and starred a very young Jack Nicholson as a masochistic patient at the dentists.

It was in 1982 that Alan Menken and Howard Ashman got together and transformed the cult movie into a stage show. Keeping ...
...is new make-up. After a little while Mushnik the shop owner looks at the empty till and declares that he will close the shop doors for good. At this Audrey announces that Seymour has a plan to bring in move business. She tells Seymour to go downstairs and bring up 'that strange and interesting new plant' you have been working on. Their idea is to put it on display in the shop window, to encourage people into the shop. Seymour returns with the plant ... more

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Little Shop Of Horrors has become a cult movie, a little like Rocky Horror Picture Show, but it started back in 1960 as a very low budget B movie which took Roger Carman only two days to produce and starred a very young Jack Nicholson as a masochistic patient at the dentists.

It was in 1982 that Alan Menken and Howard Ashman got together and transformed the cult movie into a stage show. Keeping the humour of the show Menken wrote the music for it keeping it in the style of the late 50's and the early 60's. The zany lyrics were created by Howard Ashman who sadly passed away at the young age of 40 in 1992 whilst working on the Disney classic Aladdin, such a loss to the music industry.

Well over 2,000 stage performances later in 1984 the musicals producer David Geffen started to move forward in the making of the musical movie which opened in New York on 19th December 1986 at an estimated cost of $30 million to make; which is a long way from the original movie which cost a mere $30,000 to produce.

~~ The Movie ~~

The first picture you see is a swirling screen which makes you think of outer space, a comical voice over suggests a 'terrifying enemy' and we cut to the rundown neighbourhood on a rainy day and Mushnik's Flower Shop, with our three resident singers introducing us to the story through song.

Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon help pull the musical together throughout the film, in the words of the director Frank Oz , without them it is just a story, but with them it is a story with style.

The song finishes and we enter the flower shop and into the basement we see Seymour, the camera then moves upstairs into the shop, Audrey comes into work late sporting a black eye that her boyfriend has given her. Poor Seymour notices but asks if it is new make-up. After a little while Mushnik the shop owner looks at the empty till and declares that he will close the shop doors for good. At this Audrey announces that Seymour has a plan to bring in move business. She tells Seymour to go downstairs and bring up 'that strange and interesting new plant' you have been working on. Their idea is to put it on display in the shop window, to encourage people into the shop. Seymour returns with the plant and puts it in the window, whilst discussing this with the skeptical shop owner, a customer comes in and does one of the corniest lines in the movie he says 'what is that strange and interesting plants in the window'. Whilst he is there he buys some flowers and suddenly business is booming as people flock from everywhere to see the strange and interesting looking plant.

Seymour has named the plant Audrey II after his secret love Audrey the shop assistant. One day amidst all the new custom Audrey II starts to droop and Seymour is beside himself talking to her and asking her to grow for him; as he is doing this he accidentally pricks his finger causing it to bleed. Audrey II starts to make a sucking sound every time his finger comes close, the penny finally drops as Seymour realizes that its his blood the plant wants and he starts squeezing a few drops of blood from his cut finger into the plants mouth.

Things are really looking up for the shop and for Seymour as he appears on a radio show, with a guest appearance by John Candy as the DJ. We cut from Seymour to Audrey who is not having such a good-time with her sadistic dentist boyfriend. Audrey starts singing and dreaming of a better life with Seymour.

The story progresses and we get to meet the sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello D.D.S. in a comical scene as the leather clad dentist sings his way through scaring patients. It then cuts back to Seymour with Audrey II, he is talking to the plant saying how Audrey deserves a better life, when Audrey II speaks to him saying 'feed me (git it)'. Realising what the plant needs Seymour had to take drastic action.

The camera moves on to the Dental surgery where our sadistic dentist meets the masochistic patient played by Bill Murray (there are some very funny moments as these two adlib there way through the scene, bouncing off each other). Seymour enters and pulls a gun on the dentist, who accidentally kills himself on the laughing gas. Seymour grabs his body and takes it back to the flower shop to cut up and feed to Audrey II.

The story continues form here, but I don't want to reveal it all to you and spoil your fun. So will Audrey and Seymour get it together? Will Seymour continue a killing spree to keep Audrey II alive? Well if you want to know the answers you will have to watch the movie to find out.

~~ Songs ~~

Prologue (Little Shop Of Horrors) - sung by Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon, the three girls that sing the narration on and off throughout the movie. Here they introduce us to the little shop of horrors in a style very similar to the Supremes.

Skid Row (Downtown) - this is a big production number, but the main singers are the 3 girls, joined by Seymour and Audrey; they are all telling us how hard it is to get off skid row.

Da-Doo - this one really does remind me of the 60's (yes I know they were all done in that genre); but for some reason this one stands out in that style more than the others. It is a song where Seymour tells us of how he came to own Audrey II.

Grow for me - Seymore is begging Audrey II to grow for him; it has been kept in the same style and era of music as the others; it reminds me a bit of Beauty School Drop Out from the movie Grease just from the way it was sung rather than the wording.

Somewhere That's Green - Audrey is daydreaming of a better life with Seymour, complete with animation as a little bluebird flutters onto her hand. You even get a mini Audrey and mini Seymour as there children.

Some Fun Now - our three girls are here again this time they are on the roof singing; this one is done in a calypso Latin American style linking us to another part of the story.

Dentist - Steve Martin does a comical song about how good it is to be a 'sadistic' dentist.

Feed me (git it) - Audrey II sings in a raspy voice to get Seymour to feed her. It sounds very much like soul music.

Suddenly Seymour - a lovely duet between Seymour and Audrey, which even now a week after watching the film, I can hear them in my mind, when I think of the song. They do a reprise of this later in the film as well.

Suppertime - Audrey II singing about being fed, this is done in a ballad style.

The Meek Shall Inherit - as Audrey II grows, Seymour comes more into the limelight; how is he coping with it?

Mean Green Mother From Outer Space - my favourite track from the film, it is lively, with a slightly rock feel to it, a fun number. Whenever I think of the film it is this track that comes to mind.

~~ Cast ~~

Seymour Krelborn - the producer David Greffin picked Rick Moranis to play the nerdy Seymour after he appeared as a similar character in the smash hit Ghostbusters. I do feel he made a great choice as Rick can portray a gormless idiot type very well.

Audrey - was portrayed by Ellen Greene, who seemed like the natural choice as she had already been playing Audrey in the Broadway musical.

Mr. Mushnik - Vincent Gardenia made a good job as a father figure to Seymour who was an orphan, by giving him a roof over his head and chores to do in the flower shop he owned.

Orin Scrivello, D.D.S - the sadist dentist played by Steve Martin, who decided to play the part in an Elvis Presley style including Elvis's obsession with his mother. I thought he bought the mad, zany character to life.

Bill Murray - does a superb guest spot as the masochistic patient. He and Martin were given cart blanche to their respective parts and over all the came up with 32 variations for the director to choose from.

James Belushi - did a cameo appearance as Patrick Martin as he tried to get Seymour to sign a contract.

John Candy - did his guest appearance as the zany DJ Wink Wilkinson.

Christopher Guest - has the cameo part as the first customer.

The three singers were Tichina Arnold as Crystal, Michelle Weeks as Ronette and Tisha Campbell as Chiffon.

Finally Audrey II whose voice was created by Levi Stubbs (from the Four Tops). The plant was built in seven different sizes and they used approx 15,000 handmade leaves, 2000 ft of vine and 11 miles of cable to create them. At its biggest it reached a massive 15ft tall and needed 60 people to operate it.

~~ Extras ~~

Scene selections - there are 20 scenes to choose from, just click on the picture of the scene you wish to view and it pops up.

Languages - only three of these are available, French , English and Italian.

Sub-titles - there is a choice of seven.

~~ Special Features ~~

Cast & Crew - I was a little disappointed when I clicked on this link as all it gave us was a list of credits.

Alien encounters - an audio commentary by the director Frank Oz, talking over the whole film running you through the effects they wanted to create and how they went about achieving them. This is a great help to film buffs, potential film makers and directors out there.

Alternate Music - this is once again the whole movie; but his time you have no speech, whatsoever, it is the background music and songs only; once again great for those that want to hear the music only and for people that are looking for a career in this area of the movie making business.

Outtakes and Deleted Scenes - there are some funny moments on here and the whole thing only lasts approx 8.5 minutes.

Behind the Scenes Documentary - hear how it all started as a joke about a boy, a girl and a plant in 1960. You will also get to see some scenes from the original Black and White film and see a very young Jack Nicholson.

The Musical -is a documentary, which lasts around 23 minutes with interviews with various people that had connections with the movie including the actors, director, producer and designers. You also get to see how Audrey II was created and worked. I found this very interesting especially seeing the mechanics of Audrey II in action.

T.V. Spots - this is two 30 second trailers with poor sound quality, one called 'fearless hero' and the other called 'cast'.

Theatrical Trailers - like the above this is two advertising trailers for the movie, only this time they are for the theatre so sound quality was a lot better and they both lasted approx 2 minutes each.

~~ Trivia ~~

Little Shop of Horrors was filmed at Pinewood Studios, just outside London, where they created New York's Skid Row, complete with fire hydrants, cars and trash cans which they had to have flown over from the United States.

There were four songs cut from the original stage show of the musical and two more added. The two added were Some Fun Now and Mean Green Mother From Outer Space.

To get the plant and Seymour to sing together they had to film Audrey II singing at 16 frames a second then speed it up and Rick had to sing in slow motion, so that the two appeared to be singing in unison on the screen.

The ending to the musical movie is totally different to the smash Broadway hit, what worked on stage did not work on the big screen. Sorry, I can't give you the difference as it would spoil the movie for you.

~~ Conclusion ~~

This is a film that grew on me and I became a fan of it, I am on my own in our household, even my daughter who has similar tastes in cult musicals and is usually on my side, didn't really go for this one; oh well, never mind.

If you have a madcap sense of humor, like daft films and of course like musicals and music from the 50's and 60's then you will love this film, but if you don't fit into all those categories then you should give it a miss. I like the film, but I'm not obsessed with it like some cult followers. I would watch it again and again, but possibly with a few years between each watching.

I will leave it up to you for the decision of viewing, thanks for reading.

Lyn x
Arnoldhenryrufus. 

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