Little Shop of Horrors

MOVIE
VIDEO
AUDIO
EXTRAS
OVERALL

One Disc
Anamorphic 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
English & French Dolby Digital 5.1
English & French Subtitles
Commentary
Production Notes
Theatrical Trailers & TV Spots
Making-Of Featurette
Outtakes with Director's Commentary
Isolated Music Track

MOVIE
Rated PG-13 for language and a scary concept

Little Shop of Horrors is one of those movies that brings a lot of baggage with it to the screen (be it big or little), in this case, a cheepo black and white Roger Corman film that inspired a quirky off Broadway musical from the early eighties. The Corman film wasn't great, but did introduce Jack Nicholson to the world. The musical took a little while to get going, but quickly became a highly reviewed and acclaimed sensation in New York. The baggage is both good (the musical) and bad (Corman's "two day" film.) But Little Shop is a rarity in that it lives up to expectations, and often surpasses them. In a time when musical films were "on the outs," little shop came along with a wonderfully quirky cast, hilarious cameos, a rocking soundtrack (by Aladdin composers Howard Ashman and Alan Menkin) and that, unlike most mid-eighties music, isn't dated, and ahead of its time special effects. Little Shop will always hold a special place in my heart as being one of those movies I wasn't allowed to see (being not 13 and therefore not old enough for a PG-13 movie) but was introduced to by a knowing friend who had seen the way.
Seymour Krelborn (Rick Moranis) is a gawky young orphan turned glorified flower shop janitor who enjoys dabbling with creating new species of plants. Along with his coworkers, the very Jewish shop owner Mushnik (Vincent Gardenia) and blonde bombshell Audrey (Ellen Greene) he eeks out an existence well below the poverty line in New York's Skid Row. When all seems hopeless and Mushnik is about to close "this God and customer forsaken place," Seymour puts a strange plant on display, drawing an obscene amount of business suddenly. All would be well if the plant didn't require human blood to live and grow. As Seymour murders his way to fame and fortune, we meet a host of strange and interesting characters that almost overshadow the enormous plant. Most notably Steve Martin as Orin Scrivello, the Marquis de Sade of dentists, Bill Murray (in the role Nicholson created) as his masochistic patient, John Candy as a radio personality, The Four Tops' Levi Stubbs as the voice of plant Audrey II and a trio of young women serving as a Greek chorus.
Little Shop is a delightful film with an amazing cast of eccentric characters and two leads that you grow to love in the 94 minutes you spend with them (which is the reason that the original film and play's downer ending was jettisoned in favor of this happier resolution.) The special effects are still amazing and it's no wonder it took a Muppet to direct the film (Frank Oz, who voiced Fozzie Bear and Miss Piggy.) Oz himself addresses in his commentary that, were the movie shot today, everybody would have insisted on using a CGI plant rather than the puppetry that made this creation so convincing. The reason I've dubbed this DVD Little Shop of Horrors 2.0 is because Little Shop was previously released as a special edition with the original downer ending included. It was quickly recalled and is now an expensive eBay collector's item. This is their new version.

VIDEO QUALITY
The picture quality on Little Shop looks good, with some grain evident (damn that film stock!) but is marred by a great deal of edge enhancement. It's presented in its original theatrical ratio of 1.85:1. The colors of the Technicolor film are well produced and look great, especially the pastel tones of Audrey's "Somewhere That's Green" dream. The picture is somewhat of an improvement over the previous DVD edition (a single layer disc, while this disc is dual) but both were massive improvements over the laserdisc release. Flesh Tones are natural and accurate. In this bright film, the blacks are well reproduced.

AUDIO QUALITY
The film's audio portion is delightful, exactly what you look for in a musical, with a great 5.1 remastering (same as previous DVD release.) The musical numbers are rich and fill the channels with the lyrics crisply emanating from the center channel. The front two speakers are played with, sound effects moving between them and around, enveloping the user and making the experience all the more enjoyable. Dialogue for the most part comes from the center channel unless the scene requires otherwise. A very enjoyable audio mix that doesn't sound at all dated. The music only track is fantastic, especially for those fanatics (i.e. me) who want to get a CD of the ENTIRE film score, not just what the studio deemed necessary. Take special note of the jazz organ when Seymour feeds Orin to Audrey II.

EXTRAS
Okay. Now, we all know the DVD that could have been, rightfully should have been, was and then isn't anymore. Yes, that glorious DVD with the deleted original ending on it that now can run you somewhere in the neighborhood of 50-100 dollars on eBay. The original DVD release contained a black and white rough cut of the "Plant Conquers The World" ending where all of our principal cast members bite the dust. This supplement was pulled by David Geffen who (depending on your source) either didn't like the quality of the print and wanted to prepare a special version himself, or is just an evil little man who hates people. I personally believe the first. But I'll try to judge the film's extras on their own merit, despite having seen that beautiful original. The DVD, even without the original ending, still contains more supplements than most older films, and those included are a hoot. All other features of the original disc are here, however, including a fun commentary by Frank Oz that is altogether enjoyable except for his run-on description of the different frame rates during the "Feed Me" song. He offers many insights into the film's production and talks at length about the transition from stage to screen. The Making of Little Shop of Horrors featurette is longer and better than most featurettes on DVDs these days. It was filmed at the same time as the movie and gives us some glimpses of the set design and building (on James Bond's Pinewood Studios) as well as interviews with many involved in the production. The eleven minute gag reel is presented with Oz providing offhanded commentary, it's very funny and offers us a fleeting glimpse at a few cut scenes, sadly also unavailable on the disc. The trailers and TV spots are fun, though dirty and grainy. There's a short montage of outtakes and pieces of deleted scenes (little more than scenery) in this short narrated by Frank Oz. Pretty funny, especially Steve Martin's lip synching and Rick Moranis trying to do the last song sans effects. Several text based production guides including a description of the conceptual process the movie went through from film to stage to film (Film To Stage & Back Again) a description of the absent original ending and why it was changed (A Happy Ending) a discussion of the set building on the 007-Pinewood studio stages (On Location) a description of the construction of Audrey II (named appropriately Audrey II) and a discussion of the use of the three singing girls (The Greek Chorus)

CLOSING THOUGHTS
While not the "Special Edition" its predecessor was, this standard edition is much more special than other so-called Special Editions (Halloween: H2O anyone?) and for roughly $15 dollars most places, it's a great disc at a great price. Put this one in your collection the next time you go out movie searching.