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.

Director:

Roger Corman

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 clumsy Seymour Krelborn spoils two of a client's flowers, his boss Gravis Mushnick is ready to fire him from his flower shop until Seymour says he has mixed two different breeds of plant at home to create the "Audrey Jr." hybrid. Mushnick agrees to give Seymour another chance, and the next day Seymour brings in Audrey Jr., which becomes Mushnick's pride and joy and draws interest from his other employee Audrey Fulquard and more and more of their clients. Suddenly the plant ails, and Seymour accidentally learns that she likes blood. Upset because he doesn't know how to feed her, he walks along the railroad track and throws a stone that accidentally hits the head of a man who falls on the track and a train runs over him. Seymour takes pieces of the body back to the shop and discovers that the plant likes human flesh. The next morning, Audrey Jr. has grown and become the attraction of the shop. But how will Seymour feed his plant again?

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Plot Keywords:

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

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Taglines:

The store with more.

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Genres:

Comedy | Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

For the trophy presentation, Winifred Krelborn is dressed like an aging showgirl. Myrtle Vail played an aging showgirl in Myrt and Marge (1933), which is based on a 1931-1942 radio program of the same name, which is largely based on her own experiences.

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Goofs

Frank walks into Detective Fink's office, sits down and lights a cigarette. The cigarette remains in his mouth until a close-up shot, where it is missing. When the wide shot is resumed, the cigarette is back again.

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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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Alternate Versions

The film was colorized twice. The first colorized version of the film was authorized by Roger Corman in 1987. This version featured several continuity errors, including the color of Audrey's costume changing several times in the same scene. Although it was poorly received, this version carried over to the 2006 Corman-authorized DVD released by Buena Vista Home Entertainment (which featured no black and white version of the film). The second colorized version of the film was produced by Legend Films in 2006, and was better-received. The Legend Films edition is the only DVD release of the film to offer both black and white and colorized versions of the film.

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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

Horror comedy with low budget converted a cult movie

The picture concerns upon a geeky employee (Jonathan Haze) working in a florist shop called Mushnick (Mel Welles) who brings a carnivorous and ferocious plant developing a bloodthirsty hunger and is forced to murder for human eating .

Horror comedy blending black humor , parody , tongue-in-cheek and horror . The comedy is absurd and cheesy but gets its moments here and there . Incredible cheap but effective visual effects . This is a well known terror-comedy , it's a quickie but was shot for two days and is deemed one of Corman's best and funniest movies ever made although with lack budget . The principal actors and technicians will repeat along with Corman in various films ,in fact, the picture belongs to horror-black comedy sub-genre as ¨A bucket of blood¨ and ¨Creature from the haunted sea¨, both of them written by Charles B. Griffith (who is the voice of ¨Audrie the plant¨ and besides plays the thief) . In the film appears the Corman's ordinary actors as Mel Welles, Dick Miller, Haze and a young newcomer Jack Nicholson in a comic interpretation as a sadomasochistic who receives a especial dental intervention . The picture is remade (1986) as an amused musical comedy by Frank Oz with Steve Martin and Rick Moranis . The flick will appeal to classic and cult movies fans.

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)

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