Little Shop of Horrors (film): Difference between revisions

[[File:audrey-ii.jpg|frame|[[To Serve Man|It's Suppertime]].]]

 

 

A musical reimagining of the 1960 [[Roger Corman]] film ''[[The Little Shop of Horrors]]'', made by Howard Ashman and [[Alan Menken]], which debuted in 1982, loosely adapted from Corman's film. The musical was subsequently turned into a [[The Movie|film]] in 1986 starring Rick Moranis in his [[Overly Narrow Superlative|last singing role]], which [[Long Runner|in turn]] inspired a [[Recursive Adaptation|revival of the musical]]. It is Frank Oz's first movie he directed without [[Jim Henson]] and his first outside of the Muppet label, and would start his line of subsequent comedy films.

* [[Crowd Song]]: "Skid Row", "Don't Feed The Plants".

* [[Cut and Paste Suburb]]: Audrey reveals her greatest dream is a simple life in a tract house in "Somewhere That's Green".

* [[Darker and Edgier]]: Than the [[The Little Shop of Horrors|original film]], to a degree. While the original was loaded with [[Black Comedy]], the musical manages to throw in plenty of extra angst:

** In the film, Seymour is a bumbling innocent who's so clumsy that he [[Accidental Murder|kills his victims by mistake]], while in the musical he's {{spoiler|seduced into deliberate murder by being promised fame, fortune and the girl he loves, Audrey}}. Additionally, while the film Seymour lived with his mother, the musical Seymour was abandoned at the Skid Row Home For Boys and taken in by Mushnik, who never liked him and treated him horribly.

* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: {{spoiler|Audrey's death}}.

* [[Desperately Looking for a Purpose In Life]]:

''Sweep that floor, kid!"'' }}

* [[Did We Just Have Tea with Cthulhu?]]: Seymour's relationship with the plant, especially in "Feed Me (Git It)".

* [[Died in Your Arms Tonight]]: {{spoiler|Audrey, in Seymour's arms}}.

* [[Die Laughing]]: "Now (It's Just The Gas)".

'''Seymour:''' ''...death?'' }}

* [[Dirty Communists]]: The original premise of the film the play was based on, is obviously a commentary on appeasing Nazis and Communists (and other dictator types). It's even lampshaded in one of the songs.

* [[Domestic Abuser]]: Audrey's boyfriend Orin Scrivello is a "semi-" sadist.

* [[Dumb Blonde]]: Audrey.

* [[Extreme Doormat]]: Seymour, and to a lesser extent Audrey.

* [[Famous Last Words]]: In the revised ending:

* [[Fed to the Beast]]

* [[Final Love Duet]]

* [[Grass Is Greener]]

* [[G-Rated Drug]]: PG Rated, Not very.

'''Chiffon:''' Watch him suck up that gas, Oh- my- God...! }}

* [[Greedy Jew]]: Mushnik--though, to be fair, a ''lot'' of characters want to make money off that plant.

* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]

* [[Hilariously Abusive Childhood]]:

* [[Historical Domain Character]]: Mrs. Luce (in real life, Clare Booth Luce) really ''was'' the wife of the editor of Life Magazine. She was also a playwright, journalist, socialite, ambassador and congresswoman.

* [[Hope Spot]]: There are quite a few moments when it looks as if Seymour's going to kill the plant, but {{spoiler|he never does}}.

** For his part, Seymour is convinced that he's not good enough for Audrey. When he finally realizes that she loves him back, he assumes that it's because he now has money and believes that he'll lose her if he loses his income from the plant. Tragedy ensues.

* [[Ironic Echo]]:

'''Audrey II:''' ''Feed me!'' }}

* [[The Ingenue]]: Audrey (the human)

* [[Theme Naming]]: Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon take their names from the Crystals, the Ronettes and the Chiffons; all 1960s New York African-American girl groups.

* [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill]]: Justified when Seymour tries it, because {{spoiler|all his weapons can't kill the plant anyway}}.

'''Seymour:''' And bullets! And rat poison! And a machete! }}

* [[They Call Me Mr. Tibbs]]: Orin insists that Audrey call him "Doctor" and use the term "D.D.S." when referring to him. It's implied that he's beaten her for neglecting to do so ("You gotta train 'em, eh, stud?").

* [[We Named the Monkey "Jack"]]

* [[Where Do You Think You Are?]]:

* [[Wife-Basher Basher]]: Seymour. He plans to ignore the plant and not feed it anything--until Orin abuses Audrey right in front of him. Audrey II is, of course, [[Magnificent Bastard|fully aware]] that this is Seymour's [[Berserk Button]].

'''Seymour:''' ''You need blood, and he's got more than enough!'' }}

* [[World of Ham]]

* [[Camp Gay]]: Bill Murray as the masochistic patient shows some inclinations.

* [[Cow Tools]]: Orin's medieval-looking dental appliances.

'''Orin:''' It's an antique. }}

* [[Curse Cut Short]]: "[[Oh Crap|OH SHI]]--" It should be noted, though, that elsewhere Audrey II is allowed to curse quite freely.

* [[Disney Creatures of the Farce]]: In the "Somewhere That's Green" [[Imagine Spot]].

* [[Even Evil Has Standards]]: A variation: the gleefully sadistic, completely heartless Orin Scrivello is so disgusted by his encounter with the masochist that he ends up kicking him out of doors.

* [[Expy]]: [[Steve Martin]]'s role in this film has been compared to his feature film debut as Dr Maxwell Edison in 1978's ''[[Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band|Sgt Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band]]''. [[Bill Murray]]'s role as Arthur Denton is an Expy of Wilbur Force, the [[Jack Nicholson]] character from [[The Little Shop of Horrors|the 1960 movie]].

* [[Focus Group Ending]]: The stage adaptation's [[Downer Ending]] {{spoiler|1=with our heroes being eaten and multiple Audrey IIs taking over the world}} was shot, but focus groups decided to change this in favor of the less confronting [[The End - or Is It?]] ending.

* [[Gender Equals Breed]]: In the "Somewhere That's Green" dream sequence, which was one of the inspirations for the trope, Seymour and Audrey's kids are identical to their mother and father.

* [[Groin Attack]]

I'm gonna ''bust your balls!'' }}

* [[Kaiju]]: In the original, unreleased ending, swarms of 50-foot plant-monsters rampage throughout New York in what may have been a [[Shout-Out]] to ''[[Godzilla]]''. (And ''[[King Kong]]''.)

* [[Hey, It's That Guy!]]: Christopher Guest, Bill Murray, John Candy, and Jim Belushi, who replaced Paul Dooley when the film was recut.

* [[Hilarious Outtakes]]: [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jXKORraalH8 Oh yeah]. So many gems in these. Especially [[Steve Martin]] at about 1:17.

'''Rick Moranis:''' THE SEQUEL! WHAT ABOUT THE SEQUEL?! }}

* [["I Am" Song]]: "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space".