Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

Editor's Note In this dark but goofy and thoroughly fun musical, shy Seymour and bubbly Audrey don't recognize the romance blooming between them, but they do recognize the money-making potential of Seymour's weird plant, discovered after a total eclipse of the sun. Soon money pours in and Seymour becomes a minor celebrity, but behind the glamour and fame lies a secret Seymour can't reveal: this strange and unusual plant's favorite food is blood. As the plant grows taller and taller, its demands for food grow as well, and Seymour starts to suspect that the plant might have an agenda for world domination.

	Ellen Greene
	Steve Martin
	John Candy
	James Belushi
	Vincent Gardenia
	Rick Moranis
	Tisha Campbell
	Christopher Guest
	Bill Murray
	Frank Oz - Director

Based on the Roger Corman cult classic, LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS slams together twisted humor, a singing plant, a sadistic dentist, and sweet and oblivious love between two skid-row denizens into a rollicking musical well worth watching again and again. Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene portray perfectly clumsy Seymour and bubbly but easily dominated Audrey as they search for a way off skid row. A strange and unusual plant Seymour found after an eclipse might be their ticket out, but the plant Seymour calls Audrey II also desires a strange and unusual food: blood. Audrey's abusive boyfriend, Orin, a dentist who enjoys inflicting pain (played to the hilt by Steve Martin), is the first to go, but who will be next? And will Audrey II's hunger ever end?

Moranis and Greene sing with verve and passion, making each song a joy, and the cartoonish sets recall a stage musical even as Frank Oz wields the camera skillfully to make the most of the movie format. Fans of musicals shouldn't miss this movie, and nonfans will soon be converts.

New York Times
"...A full-blown movie musical, and quite a winning one....It's not hard to understand this good-natured material's durability..." 12/19/1986 p.C5

Variety
"...[The] tech credits are excellent....[The] camerawork suggests a world like no other....On film the numbers are impressive set pieces, imaginatively staged with wonderful sets..." 12/10/1986

Los Angeles Times
"...Grandly loony, full-bodied and explosively funny. It's a movie that connects with its audience in a big way....The actors and lines are on target, the music has a swing and bite, the camera seems exuberant..." 12/19/1986 p.C1

Premiere
"[T]he movie is one of the better movie musicals produced in our largely post-movie-musical era." 12/01/2004 p.168