Little Shop of Horrors

A nerdish florist finds his chance for success and romance with the help of a giant man-eating plant who demands to be fed.

• Director: Roger Corman
• Genre:Comedy
• Runtime:73 minutes

Cast

Rick Moranis : Seymour Krelborn
Ellen Greene : Audrey
Vincent Gardenia: Mr. Mushnik
Steve Martin : Orin Scrivello, DDS
Tichina Arnold : Crystal
The film opens with the words read by Stanley Jones:

“On the twenty-third day of the month of September,
in an early year of a decade not too long before our own,
the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence.
And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do, in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places…”

Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis), a nerdy young assistant in a New York City florist shop, is trying to store pots but breaks them by accident. Seymour and Audrey Fulquard (Ellen Greene), his coworker, with all the other tenants of their Skid Row area complain of their surroundings (“Skid Row (Downtown)”). The day of an unexpected total eclipse, Seymour discovers a mysterious new plant (“Da-Doo”), which resembles a Venus Flytrap. He names the plant “Audrey II” in honor of Audrey. Seymour has a secret crush on Audrey, but Audrey doesn’t know it. However, when the shop closes for the day, Seymour discovers that Audrey II is wilting from lack of food. It refuses to eat anything normal plants would feed on, such as soil, water and sunlight. Seymour accidentally cuts his finger and discovers that Audrey II has an appetite for human blood (“Grow for Me”).

As the plant thrives, business booms at Mr. Mushnik’s (Vincent Gardenia) previously failing flower shop (“Some Fun Now”). Seymour becomes a local celebrity, but he is very weak because Audrey II needs more and more of his blood every day. Meanwhile, it is revealed that Audrey has feelings for Seymour. She dreams of one day marrying him and moving to a tract house complete with plastic coated furniture, a “big, enormous” twelve inch television screen, and two children (“Somewhere That’s Green”). Seymour tries to ask Audrey out, but she has a date with her dentist boyfriend Orin Scrivello D.D.S. (Steve Martin), who is revealed to be sadistic and abusive (“Dentist!”).

Eventually, the now-huge Audrey II (voiced by Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops) begins to talk to Seymour, demanding more blood than Seymour can give, while offering more fame and fortune in return (“Feed Me (Git It)”). He convinces Seymour to kill Orin after Seymour becomes enraged watching him abuse Audrey. Seymour books an appointment with Orin and arms himself with a revolver – although he cannot bring himself to actually use it. However, Orin, disappointed with his previous algolagnic patient Arthur Denton (Bill Murray), decides to amuse himself by huffing nitrous oxide. His gas mask malfunctions and before Seymour’s eyes, Orin laughs hysterically and dies from asphyxiation.

Seymour drags Orin’s body back to the flower shop where he uses an axe to chop it up for Audrey II (per his demands). Mr. Mushnik passes by the flower shop and witnesses Seymour’s actions, fleeing in fear without being noticed. Seymour feeds the body parts to the plant and he continues to grow larger as the movie progresses. Read more

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