Movie Review: Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

Little Shop of Horrors (1986) directed by Frank Oz, based on the musical stage play based on the cult film

Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia) owns a flower shop that is not thriving since it is on Skid Row. He thinks about firing his two shop assistants, Audrey (Ellen Greene) and Seymour (Rick Moranis). Audrey tells his co-worker though she is dating a brutal and abusive boyfriend (Steve Martin). They put the plant in the window hoping to attract customers (something that Mushnik scoffs at) but people do start streaming in to look at it and to buy something while they are there. The plant makes Seymour famous, even though he doesn't know exactly what it is. He was shopping in the flower district during a total eclipse of the sun when the plant showed up at a Chinese flower merchant's street side table (viewers see a green lightening bolt strike the table). The plant is fascinating and a bit horrifying, as Seymour discovers that it needs blood to survive and thrive. 

The movie is based on a musical comedy play that was an off-Broadway hit. The play is based on the cult film I reviewed in my Corman-ia post a little while ago. The original movie is a black and white black comedy that famously was filmed in two days and one night, with a rushed script because the sets (from another movie) were about to be torn down. The micro-budget and schedule show a bit but the movie is still an entertaining surreal narrative. The musical obviously had a lot more time devoted to its crafting and they've made a lot of improvements while keeping stuff from the original. Martin is great in his role as a sadistic dentist (with Bill Murray subbing in for the Jack Nicholson role of a masochistic patient). Seymour is more heroic (though he still does some questionable things) and Audrey's character has more personality. Moranis and Greene are great in their roles, selling the pathos and the romance. The story is set in the 1960s with doo wop music that fits the period well and provides some lightness during the dark proceedings. The songs are catchy and fun. The comedy works very well, with over-the-top characters inhabiting an over-the-top world. The Audrey II puppets (it grows several times, from a five-inch plant to twelve feet tall) are amazing, even forty years later. Director Frank Oz came from The Muppets, so he had plenty of experience with puppet craft and it shows here. The movie is delightful, hitting just the right tone of satire and homage of Corman's B-movie tradition.

Recommended.