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Little Shop of Horrors follows meek Seymour (Rick Moranis), an employee at a decrepit flower shop that stumbles upon a mysterious carnivorous plant. When he realizes the plant is sentient and wanting to be fed... with people, Seymour struggles between complying with the plant to maintain his newfound popularity or doing the right thing to protect his friends as well as his co-worker Audrey (Ellen Greene), whom he is secretly in love with.
This is a film I remember seeing a couple of times when I was a kid, and loving it. However, for some reason, I hadn't seen it easily in 20 years. After rewatching it now, I have to echo the words of a Twitter friend that went through the same process: "Why the hell haven't I been watching this all my life?", and that's because this movie rules.
Based on the off-Broadway musical, the film retains the stage-like qualities as far as the set design goes. It doesn't try to hide that it is a stage play, but rather embraces its nature in a wonderfully playful way. Despite this, it doesn't shy away from going all-in as far as top-notch special effects go, because the whole practical effects to make Audrey II, the carnivorous plant, come to life are amazing.
And still, as good as the special effects are, Audrey II wouldn't be half of what it is if it weren't for the hilarious vocal performance of Levi Stubbs. Impressive that this was his first vocal work. Moranis and Greene make for a perfect pair, while the cast is rounded out by some great supporting and cameo performances from Steve Martin and Bill Murray, among many others.
Even though I hadn't seen it in such a long time, the soundtrack (by Alan Menken) is something that I've been listening to often through all these years. Every song is pitch perfect and seamlessly weaved into the story by director Frank Oz and screen writer Howard Ashman. I was particularly fond of how the "Greek chorus" is integrated through every scene, and of how well they handle the darkly humorous tone of the story.
As the film approached its final act, I realized that the version that I was watching had the original ending. I had *read* about that ending, but there is a big difference between reading about it and seeing it unfold on screen as you are invested in the story. As cynical as I am, and as much of a fan of bleak and dark endings, this one was a bit hard to swallow. I appreciate and respect it, but I think I prefer the "happy" ending
Grade:
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS
(1986, Oz)
A musical
(1986, Oz)
A musical
"♫ If you wanna be profound, if you really gotta justify, take a breath and look around, a lot of folks deserve to die! ♪"
Little Shop of Horrors follows meek Seymour (Rick Moranis), an employee at a decrepit flower shop that stumbles upon a mysterious carnivorous plant. When he realizes the plant is sentient and wanting to be fed... with people, Seymour struggles between complying with the plant to maintain his newfound popularity or doing the right thing to protect his friends as well as his co-worker Audrey (Ellen Greene), whom he is secretly in love with.
This is a film I remember seeing a couple of times when I was a kid, and loving it. However, for some reason, I hadn't seen it easily in 20 years. After rewatching it now, I have to echo the words of a Twitter friend that went through the same process: "Why the hell haven't I been watching this all my life?", and that's because this movie rules.
Based on the off-Broadway musical, the film retains the stage-like qualities as far as the set design goes. It doesn't try to hide that it is a stage play, but rather embraces its nature in a wonderfully playful way. Despite this, it doesn't shy away from going all-in as far as top-notch special effects go, because the whole practical effects to make Audrey II, the carnivorous plant, come to life are amazing.
And still, as good as the special effects are, Audrey II wouldn't be half of what it is if it weren't for the hilarious vocal performance of Levi Stubbs. Impressive that this was his first vocal work. Moranis and Greene make for a perfect pair, while the cast is rounded out by some great supporting and cameo performances from Steve Martin and Bill Murray, among many others.
Even though I hadn't seen it in such a long time, the soundtrack (by Alan Menken) is something that I've been listening to often through all these years. Every song is pitch perfect and seamlessly weaved into the story by director Frank Oz and screen writer Howard Ashman. I was particularly fond of how the "Greek chorus" is integrated through every scene, and of how well they handle the darkly humorous tone of the story.
As the film approached its final act, I realized that the version that I was watching had the original ending. I had *read* about that ending, but there is a big difference between reading about it and seeing it unfold on screen as you are invested in the story. As cynical as I am, and as much of a fan of bleak and dark endings, this one was a bit hard to swallow. I appreciate and respect it, but I think I prefer the "happy" ending
Grade: