The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

Director:

Roger Corman

Guionista:

Charles B. Griffith (screenplay)

Release Date:

14 septiembre 1960 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy

Frase comercial:

The funniest picture this year!

Plot:

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

Plot Keywords:

Dead Woman Carried | Flesh Eating | Attacked By Plant | Public Domain | Hit By Train

Comentarios de los usuarios:

Charming little movie!

Cast

Jonathan Haze	...	Seymour Krelboin
Jackie Joseph	...	Audrey Fulquard
Mel Welles	...	Gravis Mushnik
Dick Miller	...	Burson Fouch
Myrtle Vail	...	Winifred Krelboin
Karyn Kupcinet	...	Teenage girl (as Tammy Windsor)
Toby Michaels	...	Teenage girl
Leola Wendorff	...	Siddie Shiva
Lynn Storey	...	Mrs. Hortense Feuchtwanger (Society of Silent Flower Observers of Southern California)
Wally Campo	...	Det. Sgt .Joe Fink / Narrator
Jack Warford	...	Det. Frank Stoolie
Meri Welles	...	Leonora Clyde (as Merri Welles)
John Herman Shaner	...	Dr. Phoebus Farb (as John Shaner)
Jack Nicholson	...	Wilbur Force
Dodie Drake	...	Waitress

También conocida como:

The Passionate People Eater (USA) (working title)
Tienda de los horrores, La (Spain) [es]
Tiendita del horror, La (Argentina) [es]

Duración:

70 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sonido:

Mono

Clasificación:

Finland:K-11 (DVD rating) (2007) | Finland:S (1998) | UK:A (theatrical rating) (1973) | Argentina:16 | Australia:PG | UK:PG | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Chaplin Studios - 1416 N. La Brea Avenue, Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Santa Clara Productions

Trivialidades:

The name of the character 'Siddie Shiva' is a pun from the phrase 'sitting Shiva', a Jewish funerary ritual, as well as a direct reference to her unlucky and constantly expiring relatives.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Winifred begins sipping her Dr. Slurp's high-octane 'cough medicine' in the bedroom, the bottle is almost full; a moment later when she walks into the living room, the bottle is half empty even though she doesn't drink again until Seymour is leaving.

Quotes:

Seymour Krelboin: I'm getting pretty tired of you.
Audrey Jr.: I need food.
Seymour Krelboin: I don't care what you need. Look what you've done, you not only made a butcher out of me but you drove my girl away.
Audrey Jr.: Shut up and bring on the food.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Some Nudity Required (1998)

Charming little movie!

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.