The Little Shop of Horrors (1960)

Director: Roger Corman

Starring: Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles, Dick Miller

More Info: IMDB

Tagline: The flowers that kill in the Spring TRA-LA

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

My Rating: 9.5/10

Would I watch it again? Hells YEAH!


I...LOVE...THIS...MOVIE! I first saw it as a teen back in the mid-80s around the time of the musical remake. If I had to choose which one I prefer, it's the original. I dig the remake but this one is just so out there and that it was filmed in just two days and released in 1960 makes it all the more special. It's a remarkably funny and well-made film that seems ahead of its time compared to everything else that was coming out 50 years ago.

Quirky is probably the best way to describe it. Charles B. Griffith's tight and witty script is loaded with subtle humor that requires multiple viewings to really understand what I mean. Even after more than 25 years and more than a dozen viewings later, I'm still finding laughs I never noticed previously. Griffith wrote a few other films I've seen lately, including a couple of all-time favorites, A BUCKET OF BLOOD (1959) and DEATH RACE 2000 (1975).

The performances are tops, especially for a low budget quickie. Sure, there's some over-the-top moments but shit, people, the movie's about a man-eating plant!

Jonathan Haze, as Seymour Krelboin, has moments of greatness. I recall not digging his performance so much the first time I saw it, although with subsequent viewings,I've grown to love it to where I can't imagine anyone else doing a better job.


Jackie Joseph plays Audrey Fulquard to a freakin' "T"! She's frighteningly good as Seymour's co-worker and possible future girlfriend who makes being dumb absolutely adorable. She needs to have my babies.


Mell Welles as the flower shop owner, Gravis Mushnick, gets his share of laughs and plays a great sounding board for the other characters to get even bigger laughs.


Myrtle Vail is hysterical as Seymour's alcoholic, hypochondriac mother, Winifred. Goddamn, that woman's funny.


Dick Miller is priceless as the flower-eating Bruson Fouch...


If you haven't seen it you've probably at least heard that Jack Nicholson has a cameo as a masochistic dental patient (Wilbur Force). He's playing it broadly but it works in the context of the outrageous-ness of the movie.


Hell, even the sadistic dentist, Dr. Phoebus Farb (played by John Herman Shaner), is a hoot.


The next two guys absolutely slay me. The two detectives, Sgt. Joe Fink (Wally Campo) and Frank Stoolie (Jack Warford) are about as deadpan as you can get. Their delivery is rapid fire and funny as hell. Here's a sample where we meet them for the first time...Frank enters Joe's office (seated).


Joe: How's the wife, Frank?
Frank: Not bad, Joe.
Joe: Glad to hear it. The kids?
Frank: Lost one yesterday.
Joe: Lost one, eh? How'd that happen?
Frank: Playing with matches.
Joe: Well, those are the breaks.
Frank: Yeah, I guess so.

As a teenager in the 80s, seeing this for the first time, that line "those are the breaks" instantly became part of my everyday vocabulary. I just altered it a bit to "them's the breaks" and every time I use it I think of this film and smile.

Everything about this picture works like a charm. The script, direction, camerawork (Archie R. Dalzell), the talented and funny ensemble cast and AWESOME jazz score by Fred Katz (with some help from B-movie staple, Ronald Stein) all come together to make a near-perfect B-movie. And what's even more amazing is the short filming schedule being filmed back-to-back with another great flick, A BUCKET OF BLOOD, which sports a lot of the same people (in front and behind the camera).


Enough cannot be said about how terrific this picture is and how top-notch EVERY SINGLE CHARACTER is, no matter how small the roll. Fuck Robert Altman's reputation for ensemble casting, Corman did it beautifully here and with next to no budget. (I like you, Robert Altman, so please don't come back from the dead and kick my ass.)


If you haven't seen this movie, PLEASE do yourself a favor and watch it. It's only an hour and twelve minutes long and not a frame is wasted in this black comedy classic. BEWARE, though, of the disc you get as it's in the public domain and every copy but one is shitty. Legend Films put out a restored B&W (and color - which, for being colorized, looks fantastic) print that includes a commentary by Mike Nelson of MST3K fame. After watching it on one shitty print after another it's like I watched it for the first time. I found my copy at a Big Lots for 3 bucks. Next to that used Fleshlight I bought off of eBay, it's the best $3 I've ever spent and, like Audrey Junior, it speaks to me, too. I think hear it calling for me to feed it now...