Frank Oz's Little Shop of Horrors (see picture below -I don't own this picture-) came out in 1986 staring Rick Moranis, with guest appearances by Steve Martin (the psychotic dentist) and Bill Murray (the psychotic patient). For those of you who are not familiar with this film (or the off-Broadway production), the basic plot of the story is that a dweeby kid named Seymour Krelborn finds this mysterious plant which he brings back to the flower shop where he lives and works. The plant is named Audrey II after Seymour's fellow employee and crush, Audrey. Seymour struggles to keep Audrey II alive until he discovers that it thrives off of human blood (Dun dun!). The plant thrives from Seymour's blood donations and begins to grow so rapidly that Seymour is forced to look for other meal alternatives. Meanwhile, Audrey is going through hell with her abusive boyfriend, the dentist, Orin Scrivello (DDS), which drives Seymour to consider hitting two birds with one stone, so to speak.
Rick Moranis does a fantastic job in this role. He is obviously known as being the dorky guy in his roles and he is not a let down here. Also, Rick's not that bad of a singer, who knew? Steve and Bill also play familiar roles, but don't fail to entertain. An interesting observation: Steve's hair isn't white in this movie, which is something you don't see that often.
Fun fact: the story of Little Shop of Horrors was originally written and released in 1960. This movie is actually a famous one in Hollywood history because it was a sort of joke. There were left over sets in the studio and there was a bet placed that they could make a movie in two days. The movie was actually done in two days, which was a first in Hollywood (no big budget for this film) and was one of Jack Nicholson's first roles.
This movie musical is packed with fun, catchy songs that will definitely keep you entertained throughout the entire hour and thirty-three minutes. There are three "shoop shoop" back up singer girls who add an extra bit of fun to the mix. Overall, it's a good time for the whole family so long as your kids are over 12. If you've never seen this movie before, do! If you have seen it, see it again!
This movie is rated PG-13 for content that may not be appropriate for children under 13, but like I said earlier, I think 12 would probably be okay depending on the kid, of course.
***SPOILER ALERT*** If you don't want to know what happens at the end, don't read this last bit. One more fun fact, at the end of the movie Seymour and Audrey manage to kill off the plant and run away together. In the off-Broadway play they both are eaten by the plant in the end. The original ending (they are eaten) was planned to also be the ending for this film, but critics thought the movie viewers would not like an ending where the main characters were killed off so it was changed.
Link to the trailer
I loved the off Broadway play and found that the film kept the same zany energy. A fun flick! I'm amazed it was filmed in two days! Is that for real?
ReplyDeleteThe original one from 1960 was, but the one I'm posting about (1986 version) took much longer than that.
ReplyDeleteOK. That makes sense now. Thanks!
ReplyDelete