The Little Shop of Horrors

Florist shop owner Gravis Mushnick has two employees, Audrey Fulquard and Seymour Krelboined. Located on skid row, Mushnick's rundown shop gets little business. When Seymour fouls up a floral arrangement for dentist Dr. Farb, Mushnick fires him. Hoping to change his mind, Seymour talks about a plant he has grown from seeds he got from a "Japanese gardener over on Central Avenue". Seymour names the plant "Audrey Jr.", which delights Audrey. However, when finally shown the plant, Mushnick is unimpressed. Seymour suggests that Audrey Jr.'s uniqueness might attract people to see it, and Mushnick gives him one week to revive the plant. The usual plant food does not nourish it, but when Seymour accidentally pricks his finger, he discovers that the plant craves blood. Fed on Seymour's blood, Audrey Jr. begins to grow. The shop's revenues increase when customers are lured in to see the plant. Mushnick tells Seymour to refer to him as "Dad" and calls Seymour his son in front of a customer. The plant develops the ability to speak and demands that Seymour feed it. Now anemic, Seymour walks along the railroad track. Throwing a rock to vent his frustration, he inadvertently knocks out a drunken man who falls on the track and is run over by a train. He tries to get rid of the body by burying it in a yard but is nearly caught each time. Guilt-ridden, Seymour decides to feed the mutilated body parts to Audrey Jr. Meanwhile, Mushnick returns to the shop to get cash and secretly observes Seymour feeding the plant. Mushnick considers telling the police but hesitates after seeing the line of customers at his shop the next day. Seymour eventually arrives too, suffering from a toothache. Mushnick confronts him about Audrey Jr.'s eating habits without explicitly revealing what he knows about the plant. Seymour grows increasingly distressed as he realizes that Mushnick knows the truth. After finishing his rant, Mushnick sends Seymour to Farb, who wants to kill him and get even for his ruined flowers. Defending himself, Seymour kills Farb. Although horrified, Seymour feeds Farb's body to Audrey Jr. The disappearances of the two men attract the attention of Sergeant Joe Fink and his assistant Officer Frank Stoolie. Audrey Jr. grows several feet tall and is budding. A representative of the Society of Silent Flower Observers of Southern California announces that Seymour will receive a trophy and that she will return to the shop when the plant's buds open. While Seymour and Audrey go on a date, Mushnick stays at the shop to see that Audrey Jr. harms no one else. While tending to his shop, Mushnick finds himself at the mercy of Kloy Haddock, a robber who pretended to be a customer earlier that day. Haddock believes that the huge crowds he observed at the shop indicate the presence of a lot of money. Mushnick tricks Haddock into thinking that the money is where Audrey Jr. is kept. The plant eats Haddock after Mushnick maneuvers him next to it. When forced to damage his relationship with Audrey to keep her from discovering Audrey Jr.'s nature, Seymour confronts the plant, planning to no longer do its bidding. The plant then hypnotizes Seymour and commands him to bring it more food. He wanders the night streets and knocks out a prostitute, whom he takes to Audrey Jr. Lacking clues about the disappearances, Fink and Stoolie attend a sunset celebration at the shop during which Seymour is to be presented with the trophy and Audrey Jr.'s buds are expected to bloom. As the attendees watch, four buds open; inside each flower is the face of one of Audrey Jr.'s victims. Fink and Stoolie realize that Seymour is the murderer. Seymour flees from the shop with the officers in pursuit. He manages to lose them and make his way back to the now-empty shop, where he blames Audrey Jr. for ruining his life. The plant instead asks to be fed. Seymour grabs a kitchen knife and climbs into Audrey Jr.'s maw with the intention of killing it. Later that evening, Audrey Jr. begins to wither and die. One final bloom opens to reveal Seymour's face, who screams one last time, "I didn't mean it!" ==Cast==

• Jonathan Haze as Seymour Krelboined • Jackie Joseph as Audrey Fulquard • Mel Welles as Gravis Mushnick • Dick Miller as Burson Fouch • Myrtle Vail as Winifred Krelboined • Sandra De Bear (as Tammy Windsor) as Shirley Plump • Toby Michaels as Barbara Fridl • Wally Campo as Sergeant Joe Fink / Narrator • Jack Warford as Officer Frank Stoolie • Meri Welles (as Merri Welles) as Leonora Clyde • John Herman Shaner (as John Shaner) as Dr. Phoebus Farb • Jack Nicholson as Wilbur Force • Dodie Drake as Waitress • Charles B. Griffith (uncredited) as Voice of Audrey Jr. / Screaming Patient / Kloy Haddock • Jack Griffith (uncredited) as Agony Lush • Robert Coogan (uncredited) as Tramp ==Development==

The Little Shop of Horrors was developed when director Roger Corman was given temporary access to sets that had been left standing from his previous film, A Bucket of Blood. Corman decided to use the sets in a film made in the last two days before the sets were torn down. The first screenplay Griffith wrote was Cardula, a Dracula-themed story involving a vampire music critic. The screenplay was written under the title The Passionate People Eater. Hollywood writer Dennis McDougal suggests that Griffith may have been influenced by Arthur C. Clarke's 1956 science fiction short story "The Reluctant Orchid" (which was in turn inspired by the 1894 H. G. Wells story "The Flowering of the Strange Orchid"). Officers Fink and Stoolie were inspired by Dragnet characters Joe Friday and Frank Smith. The film opens up in a similar format to a Dragnet episode. ==Production==

, left, in a cameo role as Kloy Haddock, a robber The film was partially cast with stock actors that Corman had used in previous films. Writer Charles B. Griffith portrays several small roles. Griffith's father appears as a dental patient, and his grandmother, Myrtle Vail, appears as Seymour's hypochondriac mother. It had been rumored that the film's shooting schedule was based on a bet that Corman could not complete a film within that time. However, this claim has been denied by Mel Welles. Katz explained that his music for the film was created by a music editor piecing together selections from other soundtracks that he had produced for Corman. Howard R. Cohen learned from Charles B. Griffith that when the film was being edited, "there was a point where two scenes would not cut together. It was just a visual jolt, and it didn't work. And they needed something to bridge that moment. They found in the editing room a nice shot of the moon, and they cut it in, and it worked. Twenty years go by. I'm at the studio one day. Chuck comes running up to me, says, 'You've got to see this!' It was a magazine article—eight pages on the symbolism of the moon in Little Shop of Horrors." According to Corman, the total budget for the production was $30,000. Other sources estimate the budget to be between $22,000 and $100,000. ==Release and reception==

Release history Corman had initial trouble finding distribution for the film, as some distributors, including American International Pictures (AIP), felt that the film would be interpreted as anti-Semitic, citing the characters of Gravis Mushnick and Siddie Shiva. Welles, who was Jewish, stated that he gave his character a Turkish Jewish accent and mannerisms, and that he saw the humor of the film as playful, and felt there was no intent to defame any ethnic group. A year later, AIP distributed the film as the B movie for its release of Mario Bava's Black Sunday. Despite being barely mentioned in advertising (it was only occasionally referred to as an "Added Attraction" to Bava's film), Black Sunday's critical and commercial success resulted in positive word of mouth responses to The Little Shop of Horrors. Because of this, the film is widely available in copies of varying quality. The film was originally screened theatrically in the widescreen aspect ratio of 1.85:1, but has largely only been seen in open matte at an aspect ratio of 1.33:1 since its original theatrical release. Critical and audience reception The film's critical reception was largely favorable. On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes it has an approval rating of 92% based on reviews from 12 critics. Variety wrote, "The acting is pleasantly preposterous. [...] Horticulturalists and vegetarians will love it." Jack Nicholson, recounting the reaction to a screening of the film, states that the audience "laughed so hard I could barely hear the dialogue. I didn't quite register it right. It was as if I had forgotten it was a comedy since the shoot. I got all embarrassed because I'd never really had such a positive response before." A short-lived animated television series, Little Shop, about a teenage boy and his giant talking plant, was adapted from the 1960 film, but incorporated elements from the musical. By 2024, Joe Dante and Roger Corman were working on a spinoff film to be titled Little Shop of Halloween Horrors. Dante was set to direct with Charles S. Haas writing the script. Corman, who died in May of that year, would have produced the film with Brad Krevoy. In 2025, Dante announced that the film had been shelved. ==See also==