The Little Shop of Horrors

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

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

Cast

Jonathan Haze : Seymour Krelboin
Jackie Joseph : Audrey Fulquard
Mel Welles : Gravis Mushnik
Dick Miller : Burson Fouch
Myrtle Vail : Winifred Krelboin

On Los Angeles’ skid row, penny-pinching Gravis Mushnick (Mel Welles) owns a florist shop and employs sweet but simple Audrey Fulquard (Jackie Joseph) and clumsy Seymour Krelboin (Jonathan Haze). Although the rundown shop gets little business, there are some repeat customers; for instance, Mrs. Siddie Shiva (Leola Wendorff) shops almost daily for flower arrangements for her many relatives’ funerals. Another regular customer is Burson Fouch (Dick Miller), who eats the plants he buys for lunch. When Seymour fouls up dentist Dr. Farb’s arrangement, Mushnick fires him. Hoping Mushnick will change his mind, Seymour tells him about a special plant that he cross-bred from a butterwort and a Venus Flytrap. Bashfully, Seymour admits that he named the plant “Audrey Jr.”, a revelation that delights the real Audrey.

From the apartment he shares with his hypochondriac mother, Winifred (Myrtle Vail), Seymour fetches his odd-looking, potted plant, but Mushnick is unimpressed by its sickly, drooping look. However, when Fouch suggests that Audrey Jr.’s uniqueness might attract people from all over the world to see it, Mushnick gives Seymour one week to revive it. Seymour has already discovered that the usual kinds of plant food do not nourish his strange hybrid and that every night at sunset the plant’s leaves open up. When Seymour accidentally pricks his finger on another thorny plant, Audrey Jr. opens wider, eventually causing Seymour to discover that the plant craves blood. After that, each night Seymour nurses his creation with blood from his fingers, and although he feels increasingly listless, Audrey Jr. begins to grow, and the shop’s revenues increase due to the curious customers who are lured in to see Audrey Jr. Read more