97) Little Shop of Horrors (1960) - A Nostalgic Horror Rental

"It grows like a cold sore from the lip."

Director

Roger Corman

Cast

Jonathan Haze - Seymour Krelborn

Mel Welles - Gravis Mushnick 

Jackie Joseph - Audrey Fulquard

Dick Miller - Fouch

Myrtle Vail - Mrs. Krelborn

Wally Kampo - Sgt. Joe Fink

Jack Nicholson - Wilbur Force

Charles B. Griffith - Voice of Audrey, Jr.

Gripe from the Editor 😡

I was all ready to publish this post on October 7. I researched a fair bit of information. I had everything nicely arranged. I just needed to proof it one more time. In the process I decided to change up the standard layout a bit by adding a GIF in the middle of the post. 

It didn't look good so I deleted it. This threw off the alignment in the middle of what I had written. When I tried to fix that, the whole article vanished - pictures, links and all. And just as I was about to hit the undo option, autosave decided to kick in. I tried everything I could to restore my article, but nothing worked. I even had the post open on another computer, and that had somehow updated itself to a blank canvas. I even tried searching for a link to the post's preview I had opened earlier. For a writer, nothing is more painful than seeing work disappear with no hope of recovery. So, here's take two. I'm going completely on memory from what I said the first time. It just sucks I had to write this over again. So much so, it's worth griping about.

~

Jonathan Haze as Seymour Krelborn in Little Shop of Horrors.

At some point in my youth, my brother told me about the movie Little Shop of Horrors. Thanks to him, I knew the basic premise involving a man-eating plant. And that's about all I knew. That much was terrifying for young me. In fact, I recall having a nightmare during my youth about what I pictured a man-eating plant to look like. This was before I even saw the movie.

Regardless, I was interested in watching the 1986 Little Shop of Horrors. That's the one directed by Frank Oz and starring Rick Moranis. 

I seem to recall Jack Nicholson being mentioned at some point in the conversation. However, I don't think I caught on to the fact that there are actually two Little Shop of Horrors movies. Aside from the 1986 film, there's an original movie from 1960 directed by "the Pope of Pop Cinema" himself, Roger Corman. 

Needless to say, my young curious mind wanted to see this "Little Shop of Horrors." I somehow talked my mom into allowing me to rent it. I'm guessing I would have been about 10-years old at the time.  

I recall standing in an aisle at California Video (I've mentioned this place several times before) and finding both films side by side on the rental shelf.

One video cassette cover had a picture of Jack Nicholson, grinning his Jack Nicholson grin at the viewer, and holding a potted flower. The shadow behind his flower shaped like a ravenous plant monster showing its piercing sharp teeth. 

The other video had a large plant monster with sharp teeth and a huge tongue sticking out of its gaping mouth as it popped people in like candy. 

I don't recall how or why I couldn't tell these two apart. I was confused as to which one was the version I wanted to see - namely, the more recent one. 

But I picked the Jack Nicholson cover, checked it out, and watched it. And I was disappointed at the choice I made. My 10-year old self wasn't as appreciative of classic films as I am now. 

Still, I watched it regardless. So, Roger Corman's Little Shop of Horrors was my introduction to the franchise.

The story takes place inside the financially struggling floral shop of Gravis Mushnick (Mel Welles), located in the impoverished part of the city called "Skid Row." His shop sees very few customers walking through the doors. 

One of his two employees, Seymour Krelborn (Jonathan Haze), is rather clumsy and often screws up customer orders. He also has a crush on his co-worker, Audrey Fulquard (Jackie Joseph), which is reciprocated. After he makes one more mistake, Mushnick fires him on the spot. 

In an attempt to save his position, Krelborn says he has a special and unique plant that resembles a Venus Fly Trap which he's been trying to care for. 

Krelborn thinks if Mushnick puts this plant, which he affectionally named "Audrey, Jr.," on display, it will surely attract on-lookers with money in their pockets.

He runs back to his apartment, which he shares with his hypochondriac mother Winifred, to fetch Audrey, Jr. 

He claims to have grown his intriguing plant from some seeds he purchased from a Japanese gardener on Central Avenue.

It's already beginning to wilt as Krelborn doesn't know how to properly care for it. 

When he returns to the shop, Mushnick is less than enthused. But he gives Krelborn one week to figure how to bring some life back into his plant.

Later, while alone with his Audrey, Jr., Krelborn accidentally pricks his finger. While shaking his hand in pain from the sting, his blood lands in the open plant. 

Audrey, Jr., reacts in a way making Krelborn realize it wants more blood. 

He starts feeding the plant by pricking his fingers. But as Audrey, Jr., grows, it needs more than what Krelborn can supply from his finger tips.

Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles, Jonathan Haze, and Dick Miller.

It begins talking and demanding to be fed. 

Its presence in the shop has increased sales. Still, its constant need for food leaves only one path for Krelborn to go down in order to keep the sudden success continuing. 

He doesn't know if he can bring himself to it, but Audrey, Jr., says it'll make it worth his while.

This is an eccentric, outlandish film for sure.

For instance, a lot of the characters have their own weird quirks. 

For instance, Krelborn's mother, Winifred Krelborn (Myrtle Vail) is a hypochondriac. Dick Miller's character, Fouch, enjoys eating flowers. Another of Mushnick's customers, Mrs. Shiva (Leola Wendorff) tells sob stories in an attempt to acquire free flowers. And, of course, the local dentist, Dr. Phoebus Farb, DDS (John Shaner), is in his field for the joy of inflicting pain on his patients. Steve Martin plays the dentist in the '86 film, his character name being Dr. Orin Scrivello. 

The most notable eccentrics in the film is Jack Nicholson's character, Wilbur Force. He visits Dr. Farb because he loves pain like a masochist (in the general use of the term). 

He even reads the latest issue of "Pain" magazine while waiting in the dentist's office. The same character, by the way, is called Arthur Denton in the 1986 movie, and is played by Bill Murray.

But despite the rather over-the-top quirky humor, and obvious low-budget quality, it all still works as an entertaining horror movie. And the gruesome elements aren't watered down.

It comes on like a switch during a scene in which Krelborn witnesses a railroad tramp get hit by a train. 

Since the guy dies from the impact, Krelborn decides to feed his remains to his plant. 

It's worth mentioning that this tramp character is played by Robert Coogan (uncredited in the film). Robert is the brother of Jackie Coogan who played "the kid" in Charlie Chaplin's legendary movie The Kid (1921). Jackie also plays Uncle Fester in the 1960s sitcom The Addams Family. 

When it comes to the comedy, the best lines go to Mr. Mushnick. 

In one scene where he's having dinner with Audrey, Mushnick realizes he forgot his wallet back at the shop. After being chided by the waitress, even before his meal is done, he walks back to the shop to grab some cash. When he gets there, Mushnick witnesses Krelborn feeding Audrey, Jr., severed body parts. 

Shocked, he makes his way back to the restaurant and asks the waitress to bring him whatever kind of booze she can find. 

"Did you bring the money?" she asks. 

"Don't work me with the money. I've got to get drunk, now!" he says. 

The movie's opening narrator is a clearly a spoof of Dragnet, as are the characters Sgt. Joe Fink (Wally Campo) and Officer Frank Stoolie (Jack Warford). They're a rip on Joe Friday and Frank Smith from the classic detective program. This humor might be lost on younger audiences, which certainly isn't the movie's fault. It definitely dates the film, though. 

Some fans speculate that Little Shop of Horrors is inspired by the 1932 John Collier short horror story Green Thoughts about a man-eating plant. 

In his book Five Easy Decades: How Jack Nicholson Became the Biggest Movie Star in Modern Times, author Dennis McDougal thinks it may have been inspired by the 1956 science fiction horror story The Reluctant Orchid  by Arthur C. Clarke. 

Clarke's story is inspired by H.G. Wells's story The Flowering of the Strange Orchid. Wherever the idea stems from, it's now fairly well known.  

Neither version of the film is obscure. The Corman film later became a stage musical in 1982, which is when the popularity really took off. It led to the 1986 musical movie followed by thousands upon thousands of high school and community theater productions. It even became a Saturday morning cartoon called Little Shop that aired on Fox Kids TV for one season back in 1991. 

While the carnivorous plant is named "Audrey II" in the musical version, it's called "Junior" in the animated series. Is that a nod to the Corman original? I'd like to think so.   

Incidentally, the 1986 film has two endings. There's the theatrical ending, and an original ending. The latter is somewhat similar to this movie's ending insofar as Krelborn's fate is concerned. 

I've seen stage productions ending the same way, accompanied by the song "Don't Feed the Plants." There is a lot to say about the Frank Oz film, but that's another post for another time.  

It seems the second biggest claim to fame for this movie is Jack Nicholson's cameo. His appearance on the VHS cover is rather misleading in that not only is his appearance short, but his character never interacts or even appears with Audrey, Jr., in any scene.

And the claim that this is his "first motion picture performance" is simply wrong.

Before his Little Shop of Horrors cameo, Nicholson had in a lead role in the film The Cry Baby Killer (1958), produced by Corman and directed by Joe Addis. 

By the way. he also stars in another well known Corman movie, The Terror (1963) were he appears alongside Boris Karloff.  

Another legend in the horror genre, Dick Miller, has appeared in a large handful of Corman's earlier films such as Apache Woman (1955), It Conquered the World (1956), The Undead (1957). Bucket of Blood (1959), The Terror (1963), and X: The Man With X-ray Eyes (1963) to name a few.

With Little Shop of Horrors, it's not the last time Miller and Jackie Joseph would work with each other. They're both in the Joe Dante films Gremlins (1984) and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990) where they play Mr. and Mrs. Futterman in both movies.

Little Shop of Horrors is a drive-in style, or late night Creature Feature comedy horror that's fun to watch for its own sake. It's certainly a foundational film, and one that deserves to be on the same pedestal as other such classics like Night of the Living Dead and Godzilla: King of the Monsters.

Update (10/19/2024)

It's worth mentioning that Jackie Joseph made an appearance on the classic quiz show "You Bet Your Life," hosted by Groucho Marx, back in October 1959, episode #59-02! 

Did she win the big money? Watch and find out.