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Take one flesh-eating plant, one awkward nerd, one sadistic dentist and his girlfriend, half of the Jim Henson workshop, and a bunch of catchy tunes by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Add them up, and what do you get?
One of the campiest musicals in existence: Little Shop of Horrors.
The 1986 film version, directed by Frank Oz, is a mostly enjoyable adaptation of the Off-Broadway cult hit. It’s the story of Seymour (Rick Moranis), a lowly flower-shop assistant who, during a solar eclipse, discovers a strange-looking plant. He takes it home (he lives, pathetically, under the flower shop) and names it Audrey II, after his pretty coworker and the object of his affection.
After days of looking after the sickly plant, Seymour realizes that Audrey II is no ordinary Venus flytrap. It doesn’t respond to sunlight, water, soil, or plant food. It’s not until Seymour accidentally pricks his finger on a thorn that he discovers the only food that appeals to it: human blood. (I know. Ew.)
Desperate for the plant to grow and bring in business for the shop, Seymour starts out by feeding the hungry plant using cuts from his own fingers. But as Audrey II begins to grow, its appetite becomes correspondingly bigger, and soon Seymour is forced to commit foul play to satisfy the plant’s hunger.
For a movie with such a dark and disturbing plot, Little Shop of Horrors is actually a lot of fun, mostly due to the lively score by Alan Menken and the witty lyrics by Howard Ashman. These guys were the creative team behind the songs in The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast, and the music is very similar—even if the subject matter is a little more grown-up. Some of the best numbers include “Suppertime,” “Dentist,” “Suddenly Seymour,” and, of course, the title song.
My main beef with this movie is the way they handled the ending. The original ending is not at all happy, which makes sense, given the dark comic feel of the show. In a lot of ways, this show is a lighter version of Sweeney Todd—you just get to a point where you stop and think, “Wow, this just can’t end well for anybody.”
However, the original ending tested badly with movie audiences. They wanted to see a happy ending for Seymour and Audrey (the human version—not the plant namesake). So the ending to the movie was changed…and it completely ruins the second half of the film. The new ending changes the entire tone and direction of the story so much that you can’t help feeling a whiplash effect.
Still, if you can get past that, the movie is pretty enjoyable. The songs are by far the best thing about it, but there are other gems, too. First of all, there’s the amazing Henson puppetry of Audrey II. That plant is pretty menacing, and it makes me miss the days before CGI. It’s really impressive to see what just a bunch of talented puppeteers and some clever filmmaking can do.
The cast is fantastic. Rick Moranis is his usual sweet, geeky self, Ellen Greene is perfect as Audrey, and Steve Martin is surprisingly good as Audrey’s motorcycle-riding dentist boyfriend. And there are a ton of fun little cameos in the movie, including Bill Murray, Christopher Guest, and John Candy.
Overall, the movie is disturbing but enjoyable. The ending is never going to sit well with me, but otherwise, it’s a fun, extremely campy movie. I recommend giving it a shot.
