Little Shop of Horrors

The second Little Shop of Horrors, from 1986, is the film adaptation of a successful theatrical musical version of the original movie.

Both are intentially hilarious in their treatment of the plot's 'horror' elements.

It Came from Outer Space

The plot revolves around a nerdy flower shop assistant, Seymour, in love with glamorous coworker Audrey. Seymour has been working in the back on a totally new type of plant that he has discovered, and Audrey encourages him to bring the plant to the shop-owner to curry favor and save his job. The plant is so unusual-looking that it draws crowds into the store to admire it and purchase things from the shop becoming famous for the oddity.

The plant, called Audrey II by the smitten Seymour, is a type of Venus flytrap, which Seymour accidentally discovers thrives on human blood. Initially, a few drops from a fingertip of a volunteer would suffice, but as Audrey II grows, he wants more and more.

An accidental death finds Seymour hiding the accident so he can feed the dismembered parts to the increasingly ravenous plant.

Differences in the two 'Little Shop of Horrors'

The 1960 Little Shop of Horrors is notable for an appearance by a very young Jack Nicholson in one of his first movie roles; here he is the sadistic dentist's masochist patient. Later promotional materials for the video of this version overplay Nicholson's role to make it appear that his character is one of the main ones. Be warned, Nicholson-completists - it is not.

The same role in the '86 version is played by Bill Murray, and the crazed sadist dentist is an equally hilarious Steve Martin.

The ending of the '60s film was a downer - Seymour winds up as Audrey II food and you are left with the impression that the plant will eventually wipe out life on Earth. The stage musical also featured the downer ending, but the film version of the musical had to alter it - having filmed the downbeat ending, they discovered it bombed with audiences, so they reshot an ending that allowed Seymour to triumph over his plant and get the girl.

So Which Version is Better?

This is such a personal preference that I hate to say. The older version is such a classic B-movie, and vintage Corman, that one tends to want to vote for it.

On the other hand, the later version has the score going for it. The plant's signature song, 'Mean Green Mother from Outer Space', was nominated for Best Song Oscar and bears the distinction of being the first song whose lyrics needed to be 'cleaned up' for the Oscar awards show. The movie also features a 'Greek chorus' in the persons of three African-American do-wop beauties in sequined sheathes and beehive hairdos, who appear throughout to advance the story by providing musical interludes full of pith, moral instruction and countertempo. You really can't beat that.

My suggestion - get them both, have people over for a Little Shop of Horrors party, and watch them back to back. Then slug it out.