The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

A clumsy young man nurtures a plant and discovers that it's carnivorous, forcing him to kill to feed it.

Directors:

Roger Corman, Charles B. Griffith (uncredited)

Writer:

Charles B. Griffith (screenplay)

Stars:

Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles

Cast

Complete credited cast:
Jonathan Haze	...	Seymour Krelborn
Jackie Joseph	...	Audrey Fulquard
Mel Welles	...	Gravis Mushnick
Dick Miller	...	Fouch
Myrtle Vail	...	Winifred Krelborn
Karyn Kupcinet	...	Shirley (as Tammy Windsor)
Toby Michaels	...	Shirley's Friend
Leola Wendorff	...	Mrs. Shiva
Lynn Storey	...	Mrs. Hortense Feuchtwanger
Wally Campo	...	Sgt. Joe Fink / Narrator
Jack Warford	...	Detective Frank Stoolie
Meri Welles	...	Leonora Clyde (as Merri Welles)
John Herman Shaner	...	Dr. Phoebus Farb (as John Shaner)
Jack Nicholson	...	Wilbur Force
Dodie Drake	...	Waitress

Storyline

When the clumsy Seymour Krelboyne spoils two flowers of a client, the owner of a small florist shop Gravis Mushnick is ready to fire him. However Seymour tells that he has mixed two plants of different breeds at home and created a hybrid named Audrey Jr. and Mushnick decides to give another chance to his employee. On the next day, Seymour brings Audrey Jr. that becomes the pride and joy of Mushnick, his other employee Audrey Fulquard and clients. Out of the blue, the flower seems to be dying and Seymour accidentally learns that she likes blood. One day, Seymour is upset since he does not know how to feed the flower and he walks along a railroad. When he throws a stone near a railroad track, he accidentally hits the head of a man that falls on the track and is a train runs over him. Seymour brings the pieces of the man to the shop and finds that the plant likes flesh. On the next morning, Audrey Jr. has grown and become the attraction of the shop. But how will Seymour feed his plant ...

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Plot Keywords:

black comedy | man eating plant | speaking plant | hit by a train | eaten alive | 

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Taglines:

The store with more.

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

5 August 1960 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Passionate People Eater

Filming Locations:

Bunker Hill, Downtown, Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$27,000 (estimated)

Gross USA:

$1,400,000, 31 December 1960

Company Credits

Production Co:

Roger Corman Productions,Santa Clara Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

72 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Roger Corman would shoot scenes with two cameras rolling at once whilst placed at different angles. He rarely shot re-takes, and spent little time on lighting scenes.

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Goofs

Jackie Joseph's character name appears to be spelled incorrectly as "Audry" in the end credits. On the sign outside of Mushnick's shop advertising the new plant, the name appears as "Audrey" Junior, the spelling most often used for this name.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Sgt. Joe Fink: [voiceover over a panning shot of a drawing of a sleazy neighbourhood] My name is Sergeant Joe Fink, working the 24-hour shift out of homicide. And this is my workshop. The part of town that everybody knows about, but that nobody wants to see - where the tragedies are deeper, the ecstasy's wilder and the crime rate consistently higher than anywhere else. Skid Row... my beat.

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Connections

Referenced in Charmed: Little Box of Horrors (2005)

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Soundtracks

Auld Lang Syne
(1788) (uncredited)
Traditional Scottish ballad
Words by Robert Burns
Sung off-screen and a cappella by Jonathan Haze

User Reviews

Charming little movie to watch over and over again

If there is ONE movie that made Roger Corman THE king of low-budget quickies, it's The Little Shop of Horrors!! Practically no budget and shot in two days this movie still looks very decent now, almost 45 years later. That's quite an effort if you ask me and it's good to see that this movie finally received the status of immortal cult movie.

This is a very charming little movie, to say the least. The story is simple but it keeps you alert all the time ( originally, it was meant to be a sequel to Bucket of Blood ) but it's the characters that steal the show. Every character that walks through the screen is exceptional and hilarious. We've got a guy who feeds on flowers, an old lady who loses a family member every day, a mother with a fetish for diseases, a masochistic undertaker who visits the dentist and almost has an orgasm ( legendary appearance by Jack Nicholson in one of his first roles ) and a whole bunch of others...Too much to list, actually. Jonathan Haze is brilliant as the dumb florist assistant in love. He created a new type of plant and that causes a whole lot of trouble...and comedy.

Watch Little Shop of Horrors for it's value in cult cinema, maybe. Or because Roger Corman is an interesting director who deserves to be checked out. Or you could watch it to see where Jack Nicholson started his impressive career a long time ago. But - most of all - watch it because it's an adorable little movie with very funny sequences and a lot of low-budget charm. The 80's musical version by Frank Oz is also worth a look but it doesn't come close to this original version.