Little Shop of Horrors [The Director's Cut]

Director: Frank Oz

Overview

It started as a 1960 Roger Corman horror comedy, filmed in two days; it then inspired a lavish 1982 Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Finally in 1986, Little Shop of Horrors (1960) graduated into a multimillion-dollar, all-star film musical. Rick Moranis plays nebbishy Seymour Krelborn, who works in a rundown flower shop on Skid Row. While his boss (Vincent Gardenia) bemoans the lack of business, Seymour seeks a way of bringing the shop -- and himself -- fame and fortune. He purchases a strange plant from an even stranger oriental street vendor (Vincent Wong), naming the plant after his girlfriend Audrey (Ellen Greene, one of the few carry-overs from the Broadway version). Gradually, Seymour learns to his horror that "Audrey II" (given the voice of R&B performer Levi Stubbs) craves blood and flesh. With each of Audrey II's "FEEED MEEE"s, Seymour must scare up human food to satisfy the plant's appetite. One such victim is dentist Steve Martin, a leather-jacketed Elvis type (the dentist's ultra-masochistic patient played by Jack Nicholson in the 1960 original is here impersonated by Bill Murray). The lighthearted tone of the film darkens as Audrey II grows in monstrosity, but the unhappy ending of the Broadway version is avoided herein.

Product Details

Release Date:	10/09/2012
UPC:	0883929254590
Original Release:	1986
Rating:	PG-13
Source:	Warner Home Video
Region Code:	1
Sound:	[Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround]
Language:	English
Time:	1:43:00

Special Features

Optional commentary by Frank Oz on the director's cut 20-minute alternate ending; Frank Oz and Little Shop of Horrors: The Director's Cut (introduction by Frank Oz with Richard Conway); A story of Little Shop of Horrors (behind-the-scenes documentary); Outtakes and deleted scenes with optional commentary by Frank Oz; Two theatrical trailers

Cast & Crew

Performance Credits

Rick Moranis	Seymour Krelborn
Ellen Greene	Audrey
Steve Martin	Orin Scrivello
Levi Stubbs	Audrey
Vincent Gardenia	Mushnik
Tichina Arnold	Crystal
Tisha Campbell	Chiffon
Michelle Weeks	Ronette
James Belushi	Patrick Martin
John Candy	Wink Wilkinson
Christopher Guest	1st Customer
Bill Murray	Arthur Denton
Stanley Jones	Narrator
Bertice Reading	`Downtown' Old Woman
Vincent Wong	Chinese Florist
Adeen Fogle	Radio Station Assistant
Kelly Huntley	Audrey & Seymour's Kid
Paul Reynolds	Audrey & Seymour's Kid
Miriam Margolyes	Dental Nurse
Abbie Dabner	Boy Patient
Frank Dux	2nd Patient
Peter Whitman	Patient on Ceiling
Heather Henson	Girl Patient
Judith Morse	Girl's Mother
Bob Sherman	Agent
Doreen Hermitage	Magazine Lady
Kerry Shale	Her Assistant
Robert Arden	Network Executive
Stephen Hoye	Network Executive
Bob Sessions	Network Executive
Michael Shannon	Television Reporter
Barbara Rosenblat	5th Customer
Kevin Scott	4th Customer
Melissa Wiltsie	3rd Customer
Mildred Shay	2nd Customer
John Scott Martin	"Downtown" Bum
Alan Tilvern	"Downtown" Bum
Ed Wiley	Actor,"Downtown" Bum
Paul Dooley	Actor
Stan Jones	Narrator
Mak Wilson	Doo Wop Street Singer
Danny Cunningham	Doo Wop Street Singer
Danny John-Jules	Doo Wop Street Singer
Gary Palmer	Doo Wop Street Singer
Paul Swaby	Doo Wop Street Singer
Christine Norden	Actor
Miles Goodman	Composer
Alan Menken	Composer

Technical Credits

Howard Ashman

Roger Corman

Frank Oz	Director
Bran Ferren	Special Effects
David Geffen	Producer
Howard Ashman	Screenwriter
Roger Corman	Screenwriter
Margery Simkin	Casting
William Gilmore	Producer
Steve Maslow	Sound/Sound Designer

Editorial Reviews

This very entertaining film may be the only movie musical to contain an Elvis-inspired number that celebrates a dentist's sadism. This song, shocking, funny, and very catchy, neatly summarizes the charms of this simultaneously light and dark movie musical. The major share of the film's success belongs to lyricist Howard Ashman and composer Alan Menken. Their songs straddle the line between joy and satire. Musically they invoke recognizable styles ('50s doo-wop, saccharine Broadway love song), but the pointed, comical lyrics constantly collide with the music's sensibilities and the contrast produces continuously entertaining results. Director Frank Oz, arguably the finest puppeteer of his generation, does a spectacular job bringing the gigantic Audrey II to life. Former Four Tops singer Levi Stubbs gives a superb vocal performance as the cannibalistic plant. The rest of the case finds the absolute right level of outrageousness to match the cartoonish art direction. Steve Martin, playing the sadistic dentist, and Bill Murray, a masochistic patient, have a comedic scene that matches the songs for perversity and hilariousness. Ashman and Menken would go on to even greater success, penning the songs in Disney's The Little Mermaid and Beauty and the Beast.