Movies - Little Shop of Horrors

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	Movies - Little Shop of Horrors

Little Shop of Horrors is a 1986 screen adaptation of the off-Broadway stage musical of the same name. Both the film and the musical were based on the low-budget 1960 Roger Corman cult-film The Little Shop of Horrors
.

The film, directed by Frank Oz, is generally faithful to both the original and the stage version of the story, which is based on the classic Faust legend. The budget for this film was reportedly US$30 million (over one thousand times the budget of the 1960 Roger Corman original).

Plot

Little Shop of Horrors tells the story of a nerdy young florist's assistant named Seymour Krelborn, an employee of Mushnik's Skid Row Florist Shop. The incompetent Seymour is about to be fired by Mr. Mushnik when Audrey, another employee, urges him to bring out a mysterious new strain of plant that he's been tinkering with. Seymour, who has a secret crush on Audrey, names the mysterious plant after her. Mushnik gives Seymour one week to see if the "Audrey II" plant improves his lacklustre business.

Unfortunately, Seymour soon learns that Audrey II can talk and has a gruesome appetite for fresh human blood. He also discovers that the plant brings him success, money and fame--as well as the romantic interest of Audrey. In order to continue his good fortune, Seymour decides to keep Audrey II alive by feeding it blood...with tragic results.

Film notes

The character of the masochistic dental patient, played in the original by Jack Nicholson and cut from the stage version, was added back to the story and was played by Bill Murray, who reportedly ad-libbed his lines.

The film's biggest change is its ending which was re-shot when it received negative reviews from test audiences. While the off-Broadway musical version, like the 1960 film, has a bittersweet ending, the 1986 film has a happy ending in which Audrey II is killed, while Seymour, Audrey and humanity survive.

The 1986 version of Audrey II was an extremely elaborate creation, using puppets designed especially for the film by Oz's colleagues from the Jim Henson Company. During Audrey II's final stage of growth, over 40 people were enlisted to operate the puppet.

Musically, the film differs only slightly from the stage play. The title song is expanded to include an additional verse to allow for more opening credits. The song "Ya Never Know" was re-written into a calypso-style song called "Some Fun Now," although some of the lyrics were retained. Five other songs ("Closed For Renovation," "Now (It's Just the Gas)," "Mushnik and Son," "Call Back In The Morning" and the dramatic reprise of "Somewhere That's Green") were cut from the original production score and one, "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" was written for the film. The full version of "The Meek Shall Inherit" and the "Finale Ultimo (Don't Feed the Plants)" which were recorded, but cut from the film, are included on the soundtrack album.

The 1986 movie was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song for the song, "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space", written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken. It caused a small controversy at the Academy Awards because it was the first Oscar-nominated song to contain foul language and thus had to be censored for the show.

The lost ending

The film has become legendary for a widely-unseen 23-minute alternate ending that retains the darkness and B-movie roots of the original source material. As originally conceived and filmed, the story follows the stage musical's plot: Audrey is attacked by Audrey II and dies in Seymour's arms, begging him to feed her to the plant so that he can continue his success; Seymour does so, and in the process fulfills Audrey's great wish, that she wants to be "somewhere that's green." After Seymour feeds Audrey to the plant, the plant eats Seymour. The three chorus girls are enlisted by Patrick Martin (played in this version by Paul Dooley) to cut shoots from the plant in order to sell them around the world. Soon, Audrey II clones take over the planet as the song "Don't Feed the Plants" warns the audience not to give in to evil temptations.

Oz and his special effects team went to great lengths to create this dramatic finale during which Audrey II takes over New York City, attacks the Brooklyn Bridge, fights the U.S. Army, strangles the Statue of Liberty and - in an homage to the 1933 classic monster movie King Kong
- scales the Empire State Building. The entire action sequence cost $5 million to produce (some reports say $2 million). But 1986 preview audiences rejected this ending as too disturbing. Afterwards, director Oz commented: "They hated us when the main characters died. In the play, they're eaten...but you know they're coming out for a curtain call. But the power of movies is different."

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Movies - Little Shop of Horrors

Plot

Film notes

The lost ending

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