LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is another one of the Roger Corman quickies made on the cheap. This one was shot in just two days and it shows. It's got a one-trick storyline, takes place for the most part in a single set, and with a small group of actors involved, many of whom were Corman regulars. It could have been a load of old rubbish but it works and the major reason for that is down to the interesting, original storyline. Griffith's idea is about a sort-of Venus flytrap plant that feeds on human blood rather than flies; in essence this is a vampire story, but with a plant rather than a human. There were lots of 'killer plant' type stories being churned out in the pulp age of weird fiction and this is just like one of them. Corman chooses to play things for laughs and the result is a quirky comedy with lots of surreal humour involved.
Many of the laughs come from the bizarre characters in the film. Jonathan Haze is very good as the dim-witted Seymour and Jackie Joseph shines as the beautiful object of his obsession, Audrey. Mel Welles has fun as the larger-than-life flower shop owner and there are great, minor roles for Corman regulars Jack Nicholson (hilarious as a sado-masochist) and Dick Miller (as a guy who loves eating flowers). The special effects of the killer plant are VERY limited but the ending, with the faces of the victims appearing in the blossoms, is imaginative and slightly disturbing. It's not a film that you'll want to watch more than once, and the musical remake vastly outclassed it in terms of budget and technical proficiency, but the skewed, off-kilter comedy and bizarre storyline make it worth a watch.
Many of the laughs come from the bizarre characters in the film. Jonathan Haze is very good as the dim-witted Seymour and Jackie Joseph shines as the beautiful object of his obsession, Audrey. Mel Welles has fun as the larger-than-life flower shop owner and there are great, minor roles for Corman regulars Jack Nicholson (hilarious as a sado-masochist) and Dick Miller (as a guy who loves eating flowers). The special effects of the killer plant are VERY limited but the ending, with the faces of the victims appearing in the blossoms, is imaginative and slightly disturbing. It's not a film that you'll want to watch more than once, and the musical remake vastly outclassed it in terms of budget and technical proficiency, but the skewed, off-kilter comedy and bizarre storyline make it worth a watch.