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Little Shop of Horrors (1986 film)
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Little Shop of Horrors is the musical film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical comedy of the same name by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a nerdy florist shop worker who raises an obnoxious and vicious plant that feeds on human blood. Menken and Ashman's off-Broadway musical was based on the low-budget black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman.
The film was directed by Frank Oz, and stars Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, and the voice of Levi Stubbs as the plant.
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Encyclopedia
Little Shop of Horrors is the musical film adaptation of the off-Broadway musical comedy of the same name by composer Alan Menken and writer Howard Ashman, about a nerdy florist shop worker who raises an obnoxious and vicious plant that feeds on human blood. Menken and Ashman's off-Broadway musical was based on the low-budget black comedy film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman.
The film was directed by Frank Oz, and stars Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, and the voice of Levi Stubbs as the plant. Ashman wrote the film's screenplay, his first and only one before he died in 1991.
Little Shop of Horrors was shot on the Albert R. Broccoli 007 Stage at the Pinewood Studios in England, where a "downtown" set, complete with overhead train track, was constructed. The film was produced on a budget of US$30 million, in contrast to the original 1960 film, which, according to Roger Corman, only cost $30,000. The film's original 23-minute ending, based on the musical's ending, was rewritten and reshot after receiving negative reviews from test audiences.
Plot
The film opens with the words read by Stanley Jones: "On the twenty-third day of the month of September, in an early year of a decade not too long before our own, the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence. And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do, in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places..." ("Prologue/Little Shop of Horrors")
Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis), a nerdy young assistant in a New York City florist shop, is trying to store pots but breaks them by accident. Seymour and Audrey Fulquard, his coworker, with all the other tenants of their Skid Row area complain of their surroundings ("Skid Row (Downtown)"). The day of a solar eclipse, Seymour discovers a mysterious new plant ("Da-Doo"). He names the plant "Audrey II", because of his secret crush on Audrey (Ellen Greene). However, when the shop closes for the day, Seymour discovers that Audrey II is wilting from lack of food. It refuses to eat anything normal plants would feed on, such as soil, water and sunlight. Seymour accidentally cuts his finger and discovers that Audrey II has an appetite for human blood ("Grow for Me").
As the plant thrives, business booms at Mr. Mushnik's (Vincent Gardenia) previously failing flower shop ("Some Fun Now"). Seymour becomes a local celebrity, but he is very weak because Audrey II needs more and more of his blood every day. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Audrey has feelings for Seymour. She dreams of one day marrying him and moving to a tract house complete with plastic coated furniture, a "big, enormous" twelve inch television screen, and two children ("Somewhere That's Green"). Seymour tries to ask Audrey out, but she has a date with her dentist boyfriend Orin Scrivello D.D.S. (Steve Martin), who is revealed to be sadistic and abusive ("Dentist!")
Eventually, the now-huge Audrey II (voiced by Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops) begins to talk to Seymour, demanding more blood than Seymour can give ("Feed Me (Git It)"). He convinces Seymour to kill Orin after Seymour becomes enraged watching him abuse Audrey. Seymour books an appointment with Orin and arms himself with a revolver. However, Orin, disappointed with his previous masochistic patient Arthur Denton (Bill Murray), decides to amuse himself by huffing nitrous oxide. His gas mask malfunctions and Seymour allows him to die from asphyxiation, laughing hysterically.
Seymour drags Orin's body back to the flower shop where he chops it up for the plant (per its demands). He is in the middle of dismembering the body with an ax when Mr. Mushnik passes by the flower shop and witnesses his actions. He does not confront him, but runs off scared. Seymour feeds the body parts to the plant, which it, too, laughs hysterically from the nitrous-oxide contained in Orin's blood. Audrey II which grows more and more as the movie progresses.
After Seymour has spent a sleepless night, he discovers two policemen questioning Audrey about Orin's disappearance. She says that she feels guilty about Orin's death, even though she did not cause it, because she always secretly wished that he would die. Seymour tells Audrey that she is beautiful and shouldn't have such low self-esteem. They admit their feelings for each other and kiss ("Suddenly Seymour").
That night, Mushnik finds Seymour and accuses him of being an ax murderer. Seymour confesses that he chopped Orin up but denies that he killed him ("Suppertime I"). Before leaving the store, Mushnik decides to bargain with Seymour, offering Seymour protection if he allows Mushnik to take care of the plant. Seymour is undecided and stands by while Mushnik investigates Audrey II and is killed and swallowed whole by the carnivorous plant. Seymour's fortune continues to grow and he becomes a media star ("The Meek Shall Inherit"), but he is very worried about Audrey II's growth and insatiable appetite. He is also afraid that Audrey will only love him if he continues to be famous. He knows that it is only a matter of time before another murder will happen.
Seymour decides to get out of town and marry Audrey, leaving the plant to starve. While Seymour momentarily leaves the shop to get the plant some meat, Audrey II telephones Audrey and asks her to come over, then tries to eat her ("Suppertime II"). Seymour saves her in the nick of time, and tries to explain to her what happened. When he mentions that she liked him because of the plant and his fame, Audrey tells him that she would still love him even if he was poor again ("Suddenly Seymour (reprise)").
As they share this moment together, they are interrupted by a salesman named Patrick Martin (James Belushi) from World Botanical Enterprises, who offers to breed Audrey II and make a fortune by selling the plant to families around the world. Seymour, frightened, realizes that Audrey II must be destroyed before more lives are lost. Seymour confronts and fights the gigantic plant, who by now has little offspring in tow. Audrey II bursts out of his pot and reveals to Seymour that he's an alien from outer space ("Mean Green Mother from Outer Space").
After brawling with Seymour, Audrey II manages to latch onto the store's support beams and yank the shop to pieces, assuming that he's killed Seymour with the mass amounts of debris and bricks that crushed him. However, Seymour's arm bursts through the rubble in which he has been buried and he grabs two broken exposed electrical wires, which he uses to shock the massive plant, causing Audrey II to explode into atoms.
Seymour survives the explosion and, finally, he and Audrey are safely together again at last. They are wedded, and move to the same suburbs that Audrey dreamed of, but just before the end credits start to roll, there appears a new, little, smiling Audrey II bud in their front yard.
Cast
- Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborn, a nerdy florist who loves "strange and interesting" plants.
- Ellen Greene as Audrey Fulquard, a quiet and insecure co-worker who's dating a sadistic dentist and the object of Seymour's affections.
- Vincent Gardenia as Mr. Gravis Mushnik, the grouchy owner of Mushnik's Flower Shop.
- Steve Martin as Orin Scrivello, DDS, Audrey's sadistic dentist boyfriend.
- Tichina Arnold as Crystal, one of the three chorus girls.
- Michelle Weeks as Ronette, one of the three chorus girls.
- Tisha Campbell as Chiffon, one of the three chorus girls.
- Levi Stubbs (voice) as Audrey II, an evil and profane flytrap-like plant whose plans are to take over the world.
- James Belushi as Patrick Martin, a Licensing and Marketing executive from World Botanical Enterprises who plans to take leaf cuttings and sell Audrey II's worldwide. (The role was played by Paul Dooley in the unused original ending; Dooley still receives screen credit in the Special Thanks section).
- John Candy as Wink Wilkinson, the WSKID DJ.
- Christopher Guest as The First Customer, the first customer to enter the flower shop and notice Audrey II.
- Bill Murray as Arthur Denton, a masochistic man who goes to Orin for pain.
- Stanley Jones (voice) as Narrator, the narrator who reads the opening words.
- Miriam Margolyes as Dental Nurse, Orin's sarcastic nurse/secretary.
- Michael Shannon as TV Reporter.
Musical numbers
- "Prologue: Little Shop of Horrors" - Chiffon, Ronette, and Crystal
- "Skid Row (Downtown)" - Seymour, Audrey, Mushnik, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, and Company
- "Da-Doo" - Seymour, Chiffon, Ronette, and Crystal
- "Grow for Me" - Seymour, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
- "Somewhere That's Green" - Audrey
- "Some Fun Now" - Chiffon, Ronette, and Crystal
- "Dentist!" - Orin, Chiffon, Ronette, and Crystal
- "Feed Me (Git It)" - Audrey II and Seymour,Chiffon, Ronnette, and Crystal
- "Suddenly Seymour" - Seymour, Audrey, Chiffon, Ronette, and Crystal
- "Suppertime I" - Audrey II, Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal
- "The Meek Shall Inherit" - Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, and Company
Filmed ending
- "Suppertime II / Suddenly Seymour (Reprise)" - Audrey II and Audrey / Audrey and Seymour
- "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" - Audrey II and the Pods
Planned ending
- "Suppertime II / Somewhere That's Green (Reprise)" - Audrey II and Audrey / Audrey and Seymour
- "Finale: Don't Feed the Plants" - Chiffon, Ronette, Crystal, and Company
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. Four other songs ("Closed for Renovation", "Mushnik and Son", "Now (It's Just the Gas)", and "Call Back in the Morning") were cut from the original production score. "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space" was written for the film. The full version of "The Meek Shall Inherit" and "Finale Ultimo (Don't Feed the Plants)" were cut from the film, but are included on the soundtrack album. The dramatic reprise of "Somewhere That's Green" was also in the film, but it was cut as well, and only can be found as part of the original ending.
Development and production
Little Shop of Horrors was the only film ever written by Howard Ashman, who died in 1991 while he was working on Aladdin.
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.
The film's version of Audrey II was an extremely elaborate creation, using puppets designed by Lyle Conway and The Jim Henson Company. For the musical numbers (which involved a great deal of movement on behalf of the puppet) the frame rate of the filming was slowed to 16 frames per second, frequent screen cuts were used to minimize the amount of screen time the puppet spent with human actors, and when interaction was totally necessary, the actors (usually Moranis) would pantomime and lip sync in slow motion. The film was then sped up to the normal 24 frames per second and voices were re-inserted in post production. During Audrey II's final stage of growth, 60 technicians were necessary to operate the one-ton puppet.
The song "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space", written by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. It caused a small degree of controversy at the Academy Awards because it was the first Oscar-nominated song to contain profanity and thus had to be censored for the show.
Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese and John Landis were all planned to direct at before Frank Oz took on the project.
The original ending
The film's 23-minute original ending, based on the off-Broadway musical's ending, was rewritten and reshot after receiving negative reviews from test audiences. The new ending was written by Ashman as a happy ending, while the musical version and 1960 film have downbeat endings.
The film's rarely seen original ending was the preferred choice by Oz and the majority of the actors, including Moranis. 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 Seymour will get all the fame he deserves. Seymour does so, and in the process ironically fulfills Audrey's great wish, that she be "somewhere that's green".
After Seymour feeds Audrey to the plant, he attempts to commit suicide by jumping off Audrey's apartment complex. Before he can, Patrick Martin (played in this version by Paul Dooley) climbs to the roof to persuade Seymour to let him cut samples of the plant so that they can grow into little Audrey IIs and be sold across America. Seymour quickly slides down the ladder and crosses the street to Mushnik's while Martin reminds him that plants are in the public domain and can be sold without his permission. After confronting the plant as it sings "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space", the plant eats Seymour, and then spits out his glasses.
The three chorus girls appear in front of a sparkling American flag and narrate how Audrey II becomes a consumer craze like Pet Rocks. People are shown fighting over miniature potted Audrey IIs in an A&P. But soon, Audrey II (along with its army of duplicates) takes over Cleveland, Des Moines, Peoria, and New York City, as the song "Don't Feed the Plants" warns the audience not to give in to evil temptations.
A special effects team skilled in working with miniatures, led by Richard Conway, 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, climbs the Statue of Liberty and, in homage to the 1933 classic monster movie King Kong, scales the Empire State Building. There are also various nods to the 1953 film The War of the Worlds. Finally, in the last shot after the title "THE END?!?" has appeared, the plant crashes through the screen of the film and laughs as the camera (the audience) comes closer and closer to its gaping maw. The sequence cost $5 million to produce. However, preview audiences rejected this ending as too disturbing. Afterwards, director Oz commented: "In a stage play, you kill the leads and they come out for a bow — in a movie, they don't come out for a bow, they're dead. And the audience loved those people, and they hated us for it." In the final cut, the only miniatures shot by Richard Conway are the New York City streets passing behind Steve Martin's motorcycle ride at the beginning of "Dentist!"
Oz and Ashman scrapped Audrey's and Seymour's grim deaths and the finale rampage, and Ashman rewrote a happier ending, with Jim Belushi replacing Paul Dooley (who was unavailable) as Patrick Martin. In the happy ending, Audrey II is killed and Seymour, Audrey, and humanity survive. A brief scene earlier in the film, in which Seymour asks Audrey to marry him, was also reshot to provide context for the new ending. This happy ending is somewhat ambiguous, however, with a final shot of a smiling Audrey II bud in Seymour and Audrey's front yard. Tisha Campbell was unavailable for the final appearance of the chorus girls in the yard and was replaced with a lookalike seen only from the waist down.
Another cut sequence is seen on the blooper reel on the DVD, in which Seymour is seen running through fog and in the background are white pillars under a black sky. Director Frank Oz, who provided a commentary on the reel, says this was a "dream sequence" that never made the final cut of the film. It is taken from the deleted section of "The Meek Shall Inherit", in which Seymour agonizes over the murders he has committed to feed the plant. Stills from this sequence reproduced in the "Little Shop of Horrors" photo novel by Robert and Louise Egan show Audrey running through dry-ice fog towards Seymour, only to bypass him and embrace Audrey II (the "Suppertime" sized plant). Another still shows Seymour confronting a giant framed portrait of Mr. Mushnik, and yet another shows Seymour engulfed in vines as if turning into a plant. This sequence was cut, but still appears on the soundtrack album. These scenes are available within the special features section of the DVD.
In other media
DVD conflict
Little Shop of Horrors was the first DVD to be recalled for content.
In 1998, Warner Bros. released a special edition DVD of the film. This DVD included approximately 23 minutes of unfinished footage from Oz's original ending, although it was in black and white and was missing sound, visual, and special effects.
David Geffen, the film's producer and owner of the rights, wanted to re-release the film to theaters with the original ending intact. Geffen became angry at Warner Bros. for including this footage on the DVD without his consent, and as a result the studio removed it from shelves in a matter of days and replaced it with a second edition that did not contain the extra material. The original first edition DVD is now a much sought-after collector's item and sells for upwards of $150 on eBay.
On February 28, 2007, Warner Bros. hinted that a DVD reissue, featuring the original ending in color with the missing effects, may be on its way. It was later discovered that the original colored film printing was destroyed in a studio fire years earlier, leaving only the black-and-white workprints available to the studio. David Geffen has claimed to possess a color copy of the original printing, but refuses to release it.
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