The Little Shop of Horrors - 1960
Duration: 1:11:49
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Submitted: 3 weeks ago
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Description:
Roger Corman strikes again with The Little Shop of Horrors, a film that has become the gold standard for "lightning in a bottle" low-budget filmmaking. Legend has it that Corman shot the entire movie in just two days and a night using leftover sets from A Bucket of Blood, but the result is far more than a mere rush job. It is a delightfully warped piece of black comedy that balances absurdist humor with a genuine sense of the macabre, effectively skewering the tropes of the 1950s "monster movie" while leaning into the eccentricities of its skid row setting.
The story revolves around Seymour Krelboined (Jonathan Haze), a bumbling, well-meaning florist’s assistant who works for the penny-pinching Gravis Mushnick. In an effort to save his job and impress his crush, Audrey, Seymour discovers a unique, exotic plant he names "Audrey Jr." The catch, of course, is that the plant thrives exclusively on human blood. As the plant grows in size and oratorical skill—demanding to be fed with the iconic line, "Feed me!"—Seymour finds himself spiraling into a series of accidental and intentional murders to satisfy its hunger. The film manages to make Seymour both a victim and a perpetrator, a pathetic figure caught in a carnivorous upward-mobility nightmare.
The ensemble cast is what truly elevates the material. Mel Welles is fantastic as the perpetually stressed Mr. Mushnick, but it is the minor characters that steal the show. Most notably, a young Jack Nicholson makes a brief, legendary appearance as Wilbur Force, a masochistic dental patient who takes a disturbing amount of pleasure in unnecessary root canals. This scene typifies the film's unique brand of "sick" humor, finding comedy in the grotesque and the uncomfortable—a hallmark of the counter-culture movement that was just beginning to simmer in 1960.
Visually and tonally, the film is a product of its constraints, which actually works in its favor. The cheap sets and fast-and-loose cinematography give it an off-kilter, theatrical energy that matches the script's frantic pace. Unlike the polished 1986 musical adaptation, the 1960 original feels cynical and gritty, more concerned with the desperate lengths people will go to for success than with sentimental romance. It remains a towering achievement in independent cinema, proving that a clever script and a cast of committed weirdos can create a cult classic that outlasts its far more expensive contemporaries.
The story revolves around Seymour Krelboined (Jonathan Haze), a bumbling, well-meaning florist’s assistant who works for the penny-pinching Gravis Mushnick. In an effort to save his job and impress his crush, Audrey, Seymour discovers a unique, exotic plant he names "Audrey Jr." The catch, of course, is that the plant thrives exclusively on human blood. As the plant grows in size and oratorical skill—demanding to be fed with the iconic line, "Feed me!"—Seymour finds himself spiraling into a series of accidental and intentional murders to satisfy its hunger. The film manages to make Seymour both a victim and a perpetrator, a pathetic figure caught in a carnivorous upward-mobility nightmare.
The ensemble cast is what truly elevates the material. Mel Welles is fantastic as the perpetually stressed Mr. Mushnick, but it is the minor characters that steal the show. Most notably, a young Jack Nicholson makes a brief, legendary appearance as Wilbur Force, a masochistic dental patient who takes a disturbing amount of pleasure in unnecessary root canals. This scene typifies the film's unique brand of "sick" humor, finding comedy in the grotesque and the uncomfortable—a hallmark of the counter-culture movement that was just beginning to simmer in 1960.
Visually and tonally, the film is a product of its constraints, which actually works in its favor. The cheap sets and fast-and-loose cinematography give it an off-kilter, theatrical energy that matches the script's frantic pace. Unlike the polished 1986 musical adaptation, the 1960 original feels cynical and gritty, more concerned with the desperate lengths people will go to for success than with sentimental romance. It remains a towering achievement in independent cinema, proving that a clever script and a cast of committed weirdos can create a cult classic that outlasts its far more expensive contemporaries.
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