Little Shop of Horrors (1986) Reviews

• My favourite film of all time

  AudreyToo2015-09-06

  I certainly don't understand the low rating on here for this film - if you've never seen it before don't let that put you off watching it. LSOH was my 'family movie' as a kid, introduced to us by our dentist uncle. Everything about it is just perfect it - is funny, self-aware and contains too many brilliant scenes to count. The songs are consistently great and the casting is spot on. I especially love all the amazing cameos: Bill Murray, John Candy etc. Whenever I'm ill or feeling down, all I need to do to feel better is just watch this film. I never trust anyone says they don't like this film!

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• A Wacky and "Out There" Musical that's a lot of Fun...

  ijonesiii2005-12-22

  The 1986 film version of the Broadway musical LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is an entertaining movie based on the black comedy from the 1960's about a nerdy milquetoast who raises a man-eating plant that gets totally out of control. Rick Moranis is perfection as Seymour, the nebbish who is at a loss at what to do when his own Frankenstein grows too big for him to control and Ellen Greene (reprising her role in the original musical) is delightful as Audrey, the object of Seymour's affections. Moranis and Greene make one of the most engaging screen teams I've seen in a while. Vincent Gardenia plays the greedy flower shop owner, Mr. Mushnik and Bill Murray is hysterically funny in one scene as Arthur Denton, a man who seems to enjoy going to the dentist a little too much. Tischina Arnold, Tisha Campbell, and Michelle Weeks are awesome as the Greek Chorus known as "The Urchins" and Steve Martin practically steals the movie as "Orin Scrivello, DDS". His song "Be a Dentist" is hysterically funny. The voice of the plant, Audrey II, is provided by Levar Stubbs of The Four Tops and he is superb. A fun musical comedy that the whole family can enjoy.

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• An off-beat delight

  Bill-3081999-01-31

  No, not the black & white Roger Corman jewel featuring Jack Nicholson, though I suppose I'd watch that one again too. I'm talking about the 1986 color musical with Rick Moranis and Audrey II by way of Frank Oz. Like I tell my friends about "Babe," I love a film with a Greek chorus. In this one, the chorus consists of three Motownish women singers, Crystal, Chiffon and Ronette. I'll watch this film again, just to hear them sing one line: "TO – TAL – E – CLIPSE – OF – THE – SUN!" This is an all-singing, all-dancing science fiction black comedy that features human misery, a sadistic dentist, a masochistic patient, casual murder, girlfriend abuse, and a blood-sucking alien house plant monster. It's hilarious from beginning to end. And the music is outstanding.

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• Loving homage to B movie ideals

  djfoster1999-01-07

  One of the most unappreciated films of the eighties, the songs, performances, and especially the affectionate screenplay all harken back to the cheap old days of Roger Corman and his B movie compatriots. From Steve Martin's sadistic Elvis-inspired dentist to the early girl-group rock score, "Little Shop" moves with an appropriately cheesy style that lets you in on the joke, yet never insults you for loving those poverty row movies.

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• Spectacular film, a piece of real genius

  smokehill retrievers2004-06-01

  Noting the several comments from people who hated or just didn't "get" this film, I am more convinced than ever that democracy is a rather lame idea since many people are simply too stupid or vapid to deserve a vote. But I digress.... I laughed my ass off when I first heard that "Little Shop" was being remade as a musical, and gleefully predicted that it would be an even bigger turd than the musical remake of "Lost Horizon" -- truly one of the most ghastly things that ever soiled a piece of film. I rented the presumed-abominable "Little Shop" musical, invited a few friends over, and we flat fell in love with this movie. None of us are even big fans of musicals; I liked "Carousel" and "Oklahoma," but that's pretty much my complete list of musicals that will bear re-watching. And now this one! Boy, did I ever call this one wrong, and I'm damned glad I did. I've seen it ten or fifteen times, and caught pieces of it another few dozen times while flipping channels. I never tire of it. It's that good. The music is fabulous (as many others have commented), and every piece of casting is perfect. Rick Moranis, who I never thought of as anything other than a competent character actor, does a grand job; he's actually VERY competent and perfect for this role. Surprisingly, he does an amazingly good job of singing (if it was lip-synched, the voice-match was simply perfect). His stock shot up a lot of points with me for this work. His duet work with Ellen Greene (particularly on the operatic "Suddenly Seymour") was superb, though I'll bet he was sorely intimidated to be belting out a duet with someone with the power and range of the incredible Ellen Greene. But he rips right in, carries it off beautifully, and magic happens. There are a lot of tremendous voices in "Little Shop," but "Suddenly Seymour" never fails to bring out the goose bumps for me. How that tiny little woman can shake the walls like that is a great mystery -- my God, what a pair of lungs! Everyone else has sung the praises of Levi Stubbs and Steve Martin, and a raft of other cameo roles, so I'll just say, "Ditto." As I said, I was a big fan of the very dark "original" version, and I never saw the stage play. I've read enough about the "original" ending of this musical (which I won't spoil) to believe that I'd have liked the "original" ending at least as much as the basically "happy" ending we were left with. I'd love to see a DVD with both versions, just to compare. I was perfectly prepared to hate this film, and particularly since I have nothing but disgust for Geffen, personally. However, this has become one of my favorite films of all time -- certainly on my "Top 30" or thereabouts, maybe even "Top 20."

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