The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

In prolific producer/director Roger Corman's low-budget horror film and black comedy - it featured a script by his long-time collaborator/writer Charles B. Griffith, who also scripted Corman's earlier cult and sci-fi films including It Conquered the World (1956), The Undead (1957), Not of This Earth (1957), Attack of the Crab Monsters (1957), and the most recent A Bucket of Blood (1959) . As an added bonus, Griffith appeared in bit parts in this follow-up 1960 film (as a hold-up man and as a screaming dental patient) and he was also uncredited for serving as the voice of Audrey Junior (a giant, mutated plant creature).

The similarities between Griffith's plot for this film and his previous film with Corman, A Bucket of Blood (1959) , were numerous. Both featured a loser-male at his workplace (a beatnik cafe and florist shop) who pleased his boss by unconventional means. Following an accidental murder (and further deaths) in both cases, the lowly employee gained popular attention from the public, his boss, and his romantic interest.

Although The Little Shop of Horrors rehearsed for only three days, and filmed in less time (with mostly single-takes using two cameras) on a skimpy budget of approx. 30,000ドル dollars, the 70-minute film initially played as the 2nd film of a "double feature" in grindhouse theaters, and then on the midnight movie circuit before it basically disappeared. It was revived due to positive word of mouth regarding its humorous gags and sick absurdities, and expanded its audiences and became a revered and original cult classic after TV showings (in the 1960s-1970s). A shameless ripped-off version of the film was director Carl Monson's sexploitation parody Please Don't Eat My Mother! (1973).

It was colorized twice, first in 1987 by Vestron Video (and was now available on home video for the first time). It was also released as a B/W VHS-video feature by United American Video in 1987. Later, the initial, poorly-done 1987 colorized version was re-released two more times: first by Video Treasures in 1990, then by Avid Home Video in 1992. A second, superior colorized version appeared when the film was released on DVD by Legend Films in 2006.

The farcical B-movie with a cautionary Faustian tale was a major spoof (with humorous Jewish schnook and schlemiel elements) about a clumsy, accident-prone, inept and nebbish floral shop assistant named Seymour who worked in a poor Los Angeles Skid Row store, frequented by eccentric customers. The mild-mannered, klutzy employee was threatened with being fired by his surly, money-greedy tyrannical boss. In the home of the hapless employee where he lived with his alcoholic and hypochondriac Jewish mother, he had cultivated imported seeds bought from a Japanese gardener that grew into a mixed-breed hybrid plant. The plant languished until Seymour accidentally pricked his finger and bled on the plant and it revived. It turned out that it was a carnivorous organism, with an insatiable, blood-thirsty craving for human flesh. He named the strange and unusual plant Audrey, Jr. after the romantic crush of his life - his sweet, but bland and ditzy co-worker. The presence of the unique, talking and fantastic-looking female "Venus Fly-Trap" plant in the shop was a boon for business, but the plant's voracious need for human flesh and blood led its caretaker to deal with multiple murders in order to feed its monstrous appetite. Missing persons cases multipled and two homicide detectives (a parody of the Dragnet TV show characters Sgt. Joe Friday and Frank Smith) became suspicious, and ultimately everything took a toll on Seymour's life, work, and his relationship with Audrey.

Due to the film's off-beat silliness and popularity, the horror-comedy became the basis for an obscure off-Broadway rock-musical titled "Little Shop of Horrors" in 1982 with music from composer Alan Menken and direction/writing from Howard Ashman (before it began a 5-year run at the Orpheum Theatre). In turn, it was adapted into director Frank Oz's feature film Little Shop of Horrors (1986), starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia and Steve Martin. Both films (the original 1960 version and the 1986 version) had scene-stealing performances by Jack Nicholson as a masochistic, pain-loving dental patient.

• during the film's creative, opening title credits sequence, a serious, hard-boiled voice-over narration from a detective (similar to the start of every Dragnet TV show airing from 1951-1959) described his territory, as the camera panned over a cartoonish city block in Los Angeles:
  • "My name is Sergeant Joe Fink, working a 24 hour shift on a homicide. And this is my workshop. The part of town that everybody knows about but that nobody wants to see. Where the tragedies are deeper, the ecstasies wilder, and the crime rate consistently higher than anywhere else. Skid Row. My beat."
• the film's main setting in the Skid Row area was the rundown Mushnick's Florist shop; the film's narrator Sgt. Joe Fink (Wally Campo) described his story as "the most terrifying period in the history of my beat (that) began in a little rundown floral shop called Mushnick's"; an elderly repeat customer named Mrs. Siddie Shiva (Leola Wendorff) entered the struggling shop to make her "same as usual" almost-daily request for funeral flowers for another of her dying relatives; as she ordered from desperate Jewish shop-owner Gravis Mushnick (Mel Welles), he revealed his penchant for mangling and butchering his words when he replied to her request for a discount: ("Look on me, Mrs. Shiva. What am I? A philatelist?")
• another regular customer was Dr. Phoebus Farb (John Shaner) who phoned in an order from his dentist's office while drilling into a patient's tooth; he requested "two gladiolas and one fern" to put in his waiting room; a third customer entered the store: flower-eating Burson Fouch (Dick Miller) who ordered a couple of dozen carnations; when asked if he wanted the flowers wrapped up, Fouch replied that he would have them for lunch: "I'll eat them here"; he also recommended: "Don't knock it until you try it, huh?"

• Mushnick had two employees: clumsy, pitiful and inept shop assistant Seymour Krelborn (Jonathan Haze), who annoyingly sang songs in the back room, and sweet and cute but simple-minded clerk Audrey Fulquard (Jackie Joseph); when Seymour messed up Dr. Farb's flower order, Mushnick threatened to fire him, but Audrey begged for her boss not to fire her co-worker: ("Why don't you give him a chance to resurrect himself?"); to persuade his boss to keep him, Seymour promised: "I'm working on a special surprise plant just for you. I'm growing a plant like you ain't never seen before"; even Fouch supported Seymour and persuasively argued that customers would stay to buy if they saw an unusual flower display: "If he's got a new kind of plant you'll want to look at it...the places that have the most weird and unusual plants have the best business"
• Seymour was ordered to immediately return home and bring back his "fancy schmancy plant" to avoid being fired; he hurriedly walked out of the store, and shortly later proceeded to enter into his archaic, two story (with attic) Victorian home, where he lived with his ailing and invalid mother Mrs. Winifred Krelborn (Myrtle Vail) - both a hypochondriac and a closet alcoholic; she happily gulped down a present he had brought for her - a bottle of all-purpose Dr. Slurpsaddle's tonic (98% alcohol): "I can feel that surge of warm health going through me already"
• he grabbed his small, ordinary and sickly-looking plant ("lousy weed") potted in a coffee can and sitting on the counter in the kitchen; once he returned to the shop, Seymour had to admit his plant was unhealthy and not "feeling too well"; Mushnick was unimpressed by its droopiness: "It looks like it never spent a healthy day in its entire life"; Seymour explained how he had acquired the seeds for the plant "from a Japanese gardener over on Central Avenue," and he had named it Audrey, Jr. after his co-worker; Audrey was overjoyed: "He named it after me!"; Fouch again reiterated that the plant might be a hit attraction for the store; Mushnick gave Seymour one week to nurse the plant back to full health, or otherwise he would be fired
• Seymour begged the plant to revive, to save his job, and realized water, sunlight and regular plant food were unnourishing; he noticed that Audrey Junior opened its mouth at sunset, and appeared hungry; as he was tending to another plant, he pricked his finger and blood accidentally dripped into Audrey Jr.'s open mouth and revitalized the plant; Seymour suddenly had a horrifying revelation: "How come you woke up? Blood? You like blood?"
• the next morning, signs outside the shop advertised the "Phantastik New Plant, AUDREY JUNIOR" - "RIGHT FROM THE JUNGLE IN AFRICA" to lure in curious customers; Mushnick announced that he was giving Seymour a 2ドル dollar raise; with bandages on all of his fingers, Seymour had to explain that they were bee stings to conceal the fact that he had been pricking his fingers to feed the hungry and demanding plant; Mushnick was amazed how the plant had grown so quickly to be almost one foot long: ("It grows like a cold sore from the lips"); two teenaged girls from Cucamonga HS, Shirley (Karyn Kupcinet) and her blonde friend (Toby Michaels) entered the shop and gawked at Audrey, Jr.; they mentioned how they had 2,000ドル dollars and were members of a committee that would pick a florist and then buy flowers for their Rose Bowl parade float; Shirley and her friend exclaimed: "If your shop is good enough to develop the Audrey Jr., I guess it can get us everything we need"
• Mushnick now warmly regarded Seymour as his "son" and encouraged him to call him "Dad"; the shop owner had dreamy aspirations to expand his business, charge higher prices and become a worldwide enterprise:
  • "Soon we got no more Skid Row. We will be rich. Us. I am building for you a giant greenhouse in which you are making impossible flowers which in turn I am selling at ridiculous prices in my giant new flower saloon in Beverly Hills. Do you see that big sign in the sky? It is saying 'Gravis Mushnick' in French"
• however, only seconds later, Audrey Junior turned dead-looking and Mushnick now feared he would soon be in the "poorhouse" instead; Seymour's boss repeated his threat to fire his "son," prompting Seymour to frantically promise to revive Audrey's health overnight

• that evening alone in the store, Seymour heard a disembodied voice (voice of script-writer Charles Griffith) calling out to him and demanding food: "Feed meeee. Feed meeee. Feed meeee!"; he fell backwards on his chair, but then realized: "You said that. You can talk. I've got a talking plant"; Seymour apologized and tried to explain that he had no more blood and had already become anemic: "I'd like to feed ya, but I've used up all my fingers....I'd be happy to give you anything I got, but I gotta keep a little blood for myself or I'll be in worse shape than Ma"; Audrey Jr. kept demanding: "More! More!...Feed me more!...I am hungry!"
• during a walk to think things over in a dark rail freight-yard, the frustrated Seymour ambled along some railroad tracks; he aimed a large rock at a half-empty alcohol bottle sitting on a ledge, not realizing that a Tramp (Robert Coogan) (later identified as a RR detective) was reaching for it; the errant object struck the man in the shoulder and knocked him onto the ground; the dizzy and disoriented Tramp stood up, stumbled around and inadvertently walked onto an active set of tracks and was run over by a fast-moving locomotive
• although horrified by the incident, Seymour resourcefully placed the dead man's mutilated body parts into a burlap bag; he attempted three times to conceal or hide the bag, but feared being seen by witnesses; he ultimately carried the bag to the florist shop's back-door delivery entrance; inside the shop, he was greeted by Audrey Junior still crying out: "Feed meee...I'm hungry...I'm starved!"; Seymour tried to ignore the plant and explain his own problems: ("I just killed a man. I'm a murderer. You think it's fun to be a murderer?"), but the plant persuasively urged Seymour to solve his work problems by providing the "food" in the bag; Seymour thought to himself: "Maybe just a snack"; he took both a sliced-off hand and food and fed them into Audrey Jr.'s open, gaping mouth
• meanwhile, during dinner in a restaurant with his young employee Audrey, Mushnick realized he had the money to pay for the meal in his other coat pocket; he explained to the disbelieving Waitress (Dodie Drake) that he had no money and would briefly leave to get the money from his nearby shop's cash register; to be sure that he returned with the "loot," Audrey was held "hostage" and required to remain behind; he promised: "I'll be back in a flash with the cash"

• upon his arrival at the rear entrance to the shop, Mushnick became suspicious that the back door was open; he entered and secretly saw Seymour feeding his plant a bloody foot body part, while singing the Christmas carol "Deck the Halls"; without the money, Mushnick returned to the restaurant and insisted that the waitress bring him all the alcohol he could consume: "Don't mock me with the money. I got to get drunk now"; Audrey begged to know what was so upsetting; he told her that he would tell her after informing the authorities the next day
• the next morning, Sgt. Fink/the Narrator explained (in voice-over) how Mushnick's greed overshadowed his moral integrity, when he saw crowds of shoppers clamoring around his shop and spending lots of money a half hour after the store's opening: "But Mushnick didn't come to the police. If he had, that might have been the finish of the unhappy story. It was not"; overnight, Audrey Jr. had grown at an alarming rate and was the size of a large human being (Seymour claimed it was "4 times bigger than yesterday"); business was booming, and the two teen girls arrived to confirm their purchase of float flowers: "We talked to the committee. And they said we could use your flowers. On the float. And guess what? We're going to feature Audrey Jr. Right on top"; however, their idea to put the Rose Bowl Queen with her scepter near to Audrey's voracious mouth was distressing; the hesitant Mushnick decided to procrastinate for a short while and not notify the police
• just then, Seymour arrived for work complaining of a major toothache; in private, Mushnick demanded an explanation from Seymour about the feeding of Audrey Junior (without being specific about what he knew); Seymour felt he should describe the plant's hybrid nature: "It's a cross between a butterworth and a Venus Flytrap," but admitted it was an "unusual" flytrap; Seymour tried to assure his boss: "It may never eat again. I don't see how it could get any bigger"
• Seymour was sent to Dr. Farb's dental office to care for his tooth, as Mushnick calmed himself with the words: "I'm making tons of money"
• in the dentist's office as he waited, Seymour witnessed the sadistic Dr. Farb's previous Screaming Patient (Charles Griffith) run out in pain; the vengeful dentist called him a "snivelling dog" and "deadbeat" for not paying his bill; during Seymour's excruciating treatment without Novocaine, Dr. Farb realized he must punish Seymour for being the one who had ruined his florist shop phone order for gladiolas; he proposed removing four teeth, but after one "stalagmite" was yanked out, Seymour was forced to defend himself; during a duel against the dentist with metal instruments - Dr. Farb was accidentally stabbed and killed

• the next patient, undertaker Wilbur Force (Jack Nicholson) entered the dentist's waiting room office for dental work, where he began reading PAIN Magazine; Wilbur was briefly called into the dentist's chair area where he mistook Seymour for the dentist; Wilbur explained he didn't have an appointment, but was recommended by Mrs. Shiva: ("I do a lot of undertaking for her relatives"); he insisted that he needed immediate attention for his many dental problems: "I have three or four abscesses, a touch of pyorrhea, nine or ten cavities, I lost my pivot tooth, and I'm in terrible pain"; however, he was willing to wait in the outer room for awhile; he returned to the seating area and giggled while reading (outloud) from an article in PAIN Magazine:
  • "The patient came to me with a large hole in his abdomen, caused by a fire poker used on him by his wife. He almost bled to death and gangrene had set in. I didn't give him much of a chance. There were other complications. The man had cancer, tuberculosis, leprosy, and a touch of the grippe. I decided to operate"
• after Seymour finally ushered him in, Wilbur eagerly sat in the chair: ("Most people don't like to go to the dentist, but I rather enjoy it myself, don't you? I mean there is such, there is a real feeling of growth, of-of progress when that, that old drill goes in. I mean, I'd almost rather go to the dentist than anywhere, wouldn't you?"); he insisted: "Now, no novocaine. It dulls the senses"; Seymour warned: "This is gonna hurt you more than it is me"
• Wilbur seemed to enjoy Seymour's gallant yet incompetent drilling, shouting out: "Oh, goody, goody, here it comes! Oh, my God! Don't stop now!"; after asking for many tooth extractions: ("Aren't you gonna pull any?"), Seymour reluctantly proceeded: "Well, it's your mouth"; the tooth pulling caused Seymour to fall backwards onto the dental chair equipment and topple it; Wilbur left very satisfied, but with a gaped-tooth look and fewer teeth: ("Well, Dr. Farb, it's been quite an afternoon. I can truly say I've never enjoyed myself so much. I'll recommend you to all my friends")
• the death of Dr. Farb played into Seymour's devious plans - he carried the corpse of the dentist back to the shop to further feed Audrey Junior; this time he had to stand on a ladder due to the plant's tremendous growth, and fed Dr. Farb in head-first; Seymour attempted to assuage his guilt feelings: "I never meant to kill anybody in my whole life. Now I killed two in the last two days. Well, he asked for it coming at me with that knife and all"
• however, the recent disappearances of the RR detective and Dr. Farb had alerted two local homicide detectives: Sgt. Joe Fink and his assistant Frank Stoolie (Jack Warford) (Mrs. Shiva's nephew, whose son recently died playing with matches) - two parodies of the TV-show Dragnet characters; during a meeting in Fink's office the next morning, using short abrupt sentences, they discussed the missing persons cases and decided to visit Mushnick's Florist shop; meanwhile, everyone in the shop noted the extreme growth of Audrey Jr. (Audrey: "It's monstrositous!...And to think that you did it"); Audrey congratulated Seymour and kissed him, prompting him to ask for a second kiss; he then asked her out on a date that evening, but shortly later told her that due to lack of funds, they'd have to have dinner at his Ma's place
• Sgt. Fink and assistant Frank entered and questioned Mushnick about his missing dentist, and although he was nervous, they concluded: "He doesn't know anything" and promptly left; however, Mushnick pulled Seymour aside and wanted assurances that his troublesome, cannibalistic plant wouldn't grow any further and take over the shop: "Now you tell me if this plant is finished all grown up"; he reminded Seymour that being called his "father" was "a finger of speech"; Seymour promised his boss that Audrey Junior wouldn't grow any further, and slipped up by admitting: "It ate three times already...It's full!"
• Mrs. Hortense Feuchtwanger (Lynn Storey), a representative of the Silent Flower Observers of Southern California entered the shop; she congratulated Seymour for having created such a "magnificent bloom" that was raised in a coffee can; she announced that he had been chosen to receive her Society's annual trophy; she promised to return "the day after tomorrow at sunset" (when the plant's large buds would reopen) to present him with the award
• during Seymour's and Audrey's date, Mushnick remained in the shop to keep guard over the demanding and hungry plant that thought it was feeding time; Audrey met Seymour's disheveled mother Winifred, who served a 'first course' of Dr. Phlegm's cough syrup, and everyone presented a toast to Audrey; the second course of soup was composed of cod-liver oil ("wonderful for the colon and that's sulphur powder on top"); the main course was similar to chow-mein noodles: ("It's made of Chinese herbs and it's flavored with accra myosin. Epsom salt"); when the subject of marriage was brought up, Seymour's mother was hesitant about losing Seymour to Audrey: "You promised you wouldn't get married until you bought me an iron lung"
• back in the shop that evening, an armed Hold-Up Man (Charles Griffith again) entered to rob the floral shop; the robber was upset that the cash register held only 30ドル dollars, believing that the crowds earlier at the store would have generated more cash; Mushnick cleverly suggested that money was hidden inside the giant plant; the robber was completely devoured by Audrey Junior's open Venus flytrap pod as he peered inside; the plant burbed and spit out the thief's gun
• the next day at work, Seymour's blossoming relationship with Audrey appeared jeopardized, due to his boss' demand to watch over Audrey Junior in the shop overnight, and his decision to get rid of it after the presentation of the trophy to him at sunset the next day: ("The end. Into the garbage can. Aloha"); Audrey was forgiving and flexible and suggested that they have a "picnic" inside the shop instead
• Seymour also faced pressure from his mother who feared losing him to Audrey; she was distrustful of Audrey being a gold-digger: "Never trust a woman who's too healthy...Why don't you get yourself a real female with something decent like pneumonoconiosis, or-or gall stones?"; Winifred also felt rejected by her son: "And she'll take you off to some shady sanatorium and leave me to chiropractors and faith healers. I know when I'm not wanted...Don't feel sorry for me. I'll just find a nice, wet alley somewhere and curl up and wait for the end"
• during their evening together in the shop, Audrey and Seymour ate PB & J sandwiches prepared by her; they talked about their future - traveling together to the South Seas where there were "the most fabulous plants"; the two confessed their love for each other; however, as they were about to kiss, their romantic night was interrupted when the plant kept making demands of Seymour for another meal, and he kept covering up for his talking plant; Audrey departed in a huff, wondering if Seymour was unable to control his hunger or was just making fun of her: ("You're a nut. You tell me that you love me and then you, you act like a complete idiot"); he told Audrey that he couldn't explain now, but that he had pressing problems, including the care of his mother (and of course, care of the plant); he promised her that their dreams of marriage would come true, but she'd have to wait until after he received the trophy and became famous, when he would explain everything: "That plant in there is gonna make it all come true"; Audrey gave Seymour an ultimatum: "When you're ready to come to your senses, Seymour, then I'll talk to you"

• afterwards, an angered Seymour kept refusing the plant's demands, causing the vengeful plant to retaliate by hypnotizing the dazed Seymour to do its bidding: ("Now you will do as I say...You will go out and find me some food!") - to seek another victim; he was propositioned by a persistent streetwalker-hooker named Leonora Clyde (Merri Welles) who volunteered herself (but not as food) and was about to give up on him: ("Are you interested or are you just wasting my time?"); eventually, Seymour decided that she would make a suitable meal for Audrey Junior - he threw a rock into the air that struck her in the head and knocked her out, and then carried her back into the shop
• in the film's concluding trophy ceremony the next day at sunset, the two detectives, Seymour's mother, Mushnick, the two teens, and others were in attendance in the shop, and as Seymour predicted, the plant's four buds opened and shockingly revealed that its flowers were the faces of its four cannibalized victims from its most recent meals: the RR cop, Dr. Farb, the Hold-Up Man, and the Call-Girl; Mrs. Hortense Feuchtwanger and Winifred fainted; Seymour panicked when approached (and vowed: "I didn't mean it") and then fled from the proceedings; the two teens exclaimed: "Now the float will be perfect!"

• during a climactic and frantic chase after Seymour into a Tire & Rubber Co. junkyard and another supply yard (with sinks, bathtubs and toilets) by the two detectives and Mushnick, he circled back and returned to the now-vacated floral shop; in a rage, he reprimanded Audrey Junior and blamed the plant for his personal ruination ("You dirty rat plant. You messed up my whole life!"); exasperated that the plant kept demanding to be fed, Seymour threatened: ("I'll feed ya like you've never been fed before") as he grabbed a knife to stab its insides

• later in the evening, when Mushnick, Winifred, the police and Audrey returned to the shop, they realized that the giant plant had opened one last bud - with Seymour's pitiful face; before his budding flower drooped over, Seymour again told them: "I didn't mean it!"