La Petite Boutique des horreurs

Funny, sexy black comedy shot by "King of the B's" Roger Corman on a landmark budget of 27 000 and in landmark time of only 2 days! Its the funniest movie i've seen from 1960 or before, and between this fact, the fact that it is black comedy, and the fact that it has the charm and lack of pretension of a cheaply made horror movie, its no wonder it has such a huge cult following.

It has the incredibly sexy Jackie Joseph, one of the most buxom lasses i've ever seen, and many risque scenes, which, along with the jazzy soundtrack and black humour, give this a much freer feel than any studio picture of the era, or any picture before. Its humour hasn't aged a bit - and feels quite modern compared to most humour of the day.

As an added curio, this features Jack Nicholson in his first ever appearance in a feature film (he was in one short film before it), as the nerdy, masochistic patient who squeals with delight when the dentist is drilling holes in his mouth and pulling teeth. Though its only a five minute part, its a great part.

The movie is filled with an edgy humour that the remakes (including the broadway musical, which the 1986 film was based on) are too conservative for. I thoroughly recommend it to you.

Corman went on to become one of the most important producers of the century, since he provided opportunities to many young filmmakers in the 70's, whose projects the major studios would never have invested in, and so we would have been deprived of the talents of Peter Bogdanovich, Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now), Martin Scorcese (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull), Jonathan Demme (Silence of the Lambs) and many others. Corman taught them how to just go out and make a good movie, and make it cheaply - and his major qualification to be able to teach them this, in my opinion, is that he made Little Shop of Horrors.

This charming little B-movie tells the story of Seymour (Jonathon Haze), a good hearted yet rather slow boy, who works at a flower shop owned by Gravis Mushnick (Mel Welles). During his spare time Seymour develops a new type of plant, which he names Audrey Junior after a woman he likes (Jackie Joseph). Unfortunately this particular plant feeds off human blood and when Seymour can no longer feed it on his blood, the plant itself forces him to look elsewhere for food.

This delightful horror-comedy was remarkably shot in just two days and was originally intended as a sequel to director Roger Corman's ‘Bucket of Blood' (1959). However, ‘The Little Shop of Horrors' stands out in its own right as a charming and inventive low-budget horror movie. Throughout the movie we meet a whole variety of weird and wonderful characters including a man who eats plants (played by Dick Miller who would also work with Jackie Joseph in ‘Gremlins' (1984)), a sadistic dentist, a masochistic dental patient (an early performance from Jack Nicholson) and a woman who can't go a day without a family member passing on. Despite (or maybe because) of the overall absurdity of the movie, ‘The Little Shop of Horrors' manages to be strangely captivating yet portray an air of darkness in the right places.

Roger Corman directed this movie very well considering his resources and complimented the fairly tight screenplay written by Charles Griffith. The special effects were not of that high a standard but, considering the budget and shooting time one, can hardly have anything negative to say about that. The appearance of the plant as it grows throughout the movie may not be that great but overall it takes nothing away from the viewers enjoyment. Perhaps a little bit more could have been done to represent the plants movement more realistically but, even so, this is just a minor flaw of an otherwise great film. The performance from the three main stars was delightful. Though the acting was hammed up in places the movie never lost its comical charm and some slightly dramatic performances towards the end helped create an unsuspected eeriness in the dying moments.

Surprisingly ‘The Little Shop of Horrors' was virtually ignored on its initial release but eventually attained a cult status due to continuous TV play. For those of you who doubt its classic status ‘The Little Shop of Horrors' has now spawned a Broadway musical, a high-budget musical remake and even a Saturday morning children's TV programme. Short (around 68mins) but very entertaining, I recommend this to fans of quirky horror comedies and general horror fans alike! The movie features good direction, a well written story, interesting and likeable characters and some excellent one-liners. My rating for ‘The Little Shop of Horrors' 8/10.

Gravis Mushnick is a cheapskate flower shop owner in a poor neighborhood. Seymour Krelboyne is a clumsy worker. Mushnick wants to fire him but he claims to have a new kind of flower that could be a good money maker. Seymour's mother is a bed ridden drunk. He names the plant Audrey junior after his beautiful co-worker Audrey Fulquard. Then late one night, he discovers that Audrey junior loves blood. The plant becomes healthier overnight.

This is one of the great contributions of schlock filmmaker Roger Corman. This is a completely weirdly original story. It is insanely quirky and odd. I wouldn't say it's laugh out loud funny. However it's quite watchable even though the quality of production is very low. For such a great original, I am willing to add one to my rating. Also watch out for a young Jack Nicholson as masochistic patient Wilbur Force.

If there is ONE movie that made Roger Corman THE king of low-budget quickies, it's The Little Shop of Horrors!! Practically no budget and shot in two days this movie still looks very decent now, almost 45 years later. That's quite an effort if you ask me and it's good to see that this movie finally received the status of immortal cult movie.

This is a very charming little movie, to say the least. The story is simple but it keeps you alert all the time ( originally, it was meant to be a sequel to Bucket of Blood ) but it's the characters that steal the show. Every character that walks through the screen is exceptional and hilarious. We've got a guy who feeds on flowers, an old lady who loses a family member every day, a mother with a fetish for diseases, a masochistic undertaker who visits the dentist and almost has an orgasm ( legendary appearance by Jack Nicholson in one of his first roles ) and a whole bunch of others...Too much to list, actually. Jonathan Haze is brilliant as the dumb florist assistant in love. He created a new type of plant and that causes a whole lot of trouble...and comedy.

Watch Little Shop of Horrors for it's value in cult cinema, maybe. Or because Roger Corman is an interesting director who deserves to be checked out. Or you could watch it to see where Jack Nicholson started his impressive career a long time ago. But - most of all - watch it because it's an adorable little movie with very funny sequences and a lot of low-budget charm. The 80's musical version by Frank Oz is also worth a look but it doesn't come close to this original version.

'The Little Shop Of Horrors' is one of the movies that Roger Corman's reputation as the "king of the quickies" is founded on. Filmed in two days on a budget less than Spielberg's dinner money, this is one of the all-time b-grade camp classics. While the humour is extremely dated the concept is very black and contemporary. Charles B. Griffith probably deserves as much credit for this movie as Corman. Writing this, 'A Bucket Of Blood', 'The Wild Angels' and 'Death Race 2000' has ensured him movie immortality! Corman semi-regular Jonathan Haze may not be as fondly remembered as Dick Miller, but he is well cast as the klutzy Seymour Krelboyne, "father" of the blood thirsty exotic plant Audrey, and Mel Welles hams it up as his tyrannical boss Mushnick. But the show is stolen by Miller as a flower eating hipster, and an astonishingly fresh faced Jack Nicholson as a masochistic dental patient (a classic bit!), as much as Audrey herself. Forget the crappy 80s musical version, stick with this, the real deal. It is pretty creaky in places but still a lot of fun!