Line #36 Film/TheLittleShopOfHorrors


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7	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/littleshop1960.png]]
8
9	->''"Look at it, it grows like a cold sore from the lip."''
10	-->-- '''Gravis Mushnick''', regarding Audrey Jr., the [[ImAHumanitarian man-eating plant]].
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12	''The Little Shop of Horrors'' is a low-budget 1960 [[SlidingScaleOfComedyAndHorror comedy horror]] film, directed by Creator/RogerCorman and written by Charles Griffith. The rather loose plot concerns a bumbling florist's assistant named Seymour Krelboin (Jonathan Haze), whose plant cross-breeding experiments accidentally create a talking plant with hypnotic powers that feeds on human blood.
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14	It was famously filmed in under 48 hours, using pre-existing sets that were built for [[Film/ABucketOfBlood a different film]]. It also features a then-unknown Creator/JackNicholson in a small role as masochistic dental patient Wilbur Force, who consequently tends to get [[BillingDisplacement top billing]] whenever the film is [[RetroactiveRecognition released on home video]].
15
16	Years later, the movie was adapted into [[Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors a stage musical by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken]], itself turned into [[Film/LittleShopofHorrors a feature of its own directed by Frank Oz]]. The film and/or musical also probably served as partial inspiration for the plant in Creator/StephenKing's ''The Plant''. Probably the biggest impact this movie had on pop culture? The Piranha Plants in ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros''.
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18	Since this movie is in the public domain, you can watch it for free or download it from a bunch of sources, including [[http://www.hulu.com/watch/201832/the-little-shop-of-horrors Hulu,]] [[http://www.archive.org/details/The_Little_Shop_of_Horrors_60 Internet Archive]] and [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r3OOJ0DLAc YouTube.]]
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20	----
21	!!The film provides examples of:
22
23	* AlcoholicParent: Mrs. Krelboyne drinks heavily throughout the movie.
24	* AllJewsAreCheapskates: One scene features Mr. Mushnick grumbling about the prices at a restaurant. [[spoiler:After accidentally walking in on Seymour feeding Audrey Jr. body parts, he quickly changes his tune and buys all the alcohol on the menu.]]
25	* AlterKocker: Gravis Mushnick, the florist.
26	* AndIMustScream: [[spoiler: At the film's ending, Audrey Jr. puts forth a flower with Seymour's face in it, with Seymour then pitifully wailing "I didn't mean it!" Implying he's still ''alive and conscious'' inside of Audrey Jr. Subverted a second later when the plant dies]].
27	%%* BMovie
28	%%* BigEater: Audrey, Jr., [[ImAHumanitarian of people]].
29	* {{Brainwashed}}: Audrey Jr. hypnotizes Seymour to make a final kill.
30	* BrainBleach: Mr. Mushnick [[spoiler:walks in on Seymour feeding body parts to Audrey Jr.]] and immediately decides to get drunk in order to forget about it.
31	* BrickJoke: Frank Stoolie speaks [[AngstWhatAngst extremely casually]] about [[spoiler:his child dying in a fire]]. Turns out that the child is [[spoiler:[[RunningGag yet another relative of Siddie Shiva]]]].
32	* BurpOfFinality: The giant carnivorous plant Audrey Junior tends to burp after eating a whole person.
33	* CharacterCatchphrase:
34	** Seymour: "I didn't mean it!"
35	** Audrey Jr.: "Feed me!"
36	** Mushnick: "Excellent!"
37	* ChekhovsGun: One scene features the characters talking about the buds that Audrey Jr. is growing and wondering when they will open, with Seymour estimating it happening on the day after tomorrow at sunset. [[spoiler:Sure enough they bloom right when Seymour is getting his award, revealing the murders that Seymour had committed to feed Audrey Jr.]]
38	* CollectibleCardGame: ''Attic Cards'' had a Kickstarter funded set of 69 cards made.
39	* ComicBookAdaptation: Roger Corman's Cosmic Comics made a three issue adaptation called ''Welcome to The Little Shop of Horrors'' in 1995. Each issue also includes a 2-page "Behind the Scenes" feature, as well as a comedic single-page original story chronicling the further exploits of the characters.
40	* CordonBleughChef: Mrs. Krelboyne, who serves Seymour and Audrey a dinner of chow mein flavored with Chinese herbs and epsom salts, soup made with cod liver oil and salsa powder, and [[PunnyName Dr. Flem's cough syrup]] as drinks.
41	%%* CreepyPhysical: '''Administrivia/ZeroContextExample'''
42	* DeadpanSnarker: Gravis Mushnick for most of the movie. Audrey Jr. also gets in on the action after revealing its man-eating nature to Mushnick, who [[InvokedTrope invokes this trope]]:
43	--> '''Mushnick:''' ''Who'' would you like to [[IAmAHumanitarian have]] tonight?
44	--> '''Audrey Jr.:''' You look fat enough.
45	* DepravedDentist: The psychopathic dentist who enjoys hurting his patients. [[spoiler: And ends up being fed to Audrey Jr.]]
46	* DisappearedDad: Seymour's father left him and his mother.
47	* DontYouDarePityMe:
48	** [[LampshadeHanging Mentioned by Seymour]] and [[AvertedTrope averted, because he doesn't get mad at Audrey,]] and he's actually a meek guy who accepts Audrey's consolation when Mr. Mushnik gives him one week to nurse the plant back to health:
49	--->'''Audrey:''' Don't feel sad, Seymour.\
50	'''Seymour:''' [[LampshadeHanging Don't waste your pity on me, Audrey, I'm not worth it.]]\
51	'''Audrey:''' Who says you're not?\
52	'''Seymour:''' Everybody.\
53	'''Audrey:''' Yeah, I know. But I think you're a fine [[{{Malaproper}} figurative of a man...]] and I know that Audrey Jr. will be the sweetest thing in the whole wide world.
54	* DownerEnding: The finale of the movie: [[spoiler: Seymour gets so upset with Audrey Jr. that he tries to kill it, only to end up being eaten by it. On the other hand, due to the framing device of the film being that it's the recollection of a cop who got involved with the case, it's pretty obvious Audrey Jr. got destroyed afterwards (in contrast to the [[Theatre/LittleShopOfHorrors later theatrical version]]'s alternate ending, where Audrey [=II's=] kill off humanity) and, hey, Seymour ''was'' a murderer, so it's kind of a KarmicDeath.]]
55	* EatTheEvidence: Invoked when [[spoiler: Seymour and Mushnick respectively dispose of corpses in Audrey Jr's stomach.]]
56	%%* FedToTheBeast: [[spoiler:Mushnick pulls this on a robber]].
57	* FluffyTheTerrible: Audrey Jr, the carnivorous plant.
58	* GenderBlenderName: Audrey Jr., who is voiced by Charles B. Griffith.
59	* GeorgeLucasAlteredVersion: Was colorized twice in 1987 and 2006.
60	* GreedyJew: The shop owner Gravis Mushnick is greedy, has a name that sounds like a Yiddish word, speaks with a noticeable Yiddish accent, and describes the plant as "meshugana", which got the film accused of antisemitism. The actor, Mel Welles, who is himself Jewish, countered that he came up with the accent on his own.
61	* GroupieBrigade: Seymour has a gaggle of girls following him around cause they love his flowers, even after it's revealed Audrey Jr. ate at least four people.
62	* HarmlessVillain: Audrey Jr. can really only do two things; eat and talk. While he does display slight hypnotism powers, Seymour still has to do most of the heavy lifting to get the food to the plant.
63	* HealItWithBooze: Seymour's mother gets a bottle of Dr. Slurpsaddle's famous tonic, with a 98% percent alcohol content. If they made a tonic out of gin...
64	* IDidntMeanToKillHim: [[spoiler:The final line, a repeat of Seymour's catchphrase]].
65	* INeedAFreakingDrink: Mushnick, after he catches Seymour [[spoiler:feeding body parts to the plant]].
66	-->'''Mr. Mushnick:''' I've got to get drunk, now!
67	* JewishMother: Seymour's mom is an expert at guilt-slinging:
68	-->'''Mrs. Krelboyne:''' She'll take you off to some shady sanitarium, and leave me to chiropractors and faith healers. I know when I'm not wanted.\
69	'''Seymour:''' ''[after his mom kicks him to the floor]'' Aw gee, ma!\
70	'''Mrs. Krelboyne:''' [[LampshadeHanging Don't feel sorry for me!]] I'll just find a nice wet alley somewhere and curl up and wait for the end.
71	* KarmaHoudini: [[spoiler:Mushnick. Not only did he know what Seymour did to feed the plant for most of the movie, one of Seymour's presumed victims - namely, the robber - was actually ''his''.]]
72	* TheKlutz: Seymour Krelboyne. He regularly bumps and trips over things at his work, which would have cost him his job if it were not for the success of Audrey Jr., and his {{Character Catchphrase}} is "I didn't mean it".
73	* LargeHam: Pretty much everybody, but Mel Welles as Mister Mushnick really stands out.
74	* LethalKlutz: Seymour. First, he [[spoiler:throws rocks at a bottle on a roof until one of them hits a bystander who falls onto train tracks and gets hit by the train]]. Then he [[spoiler:stabs a dentist with one of his own instruments in self-defense]], and then he [[spoiler:throws yet another rock while under the plant's hypnosis and hits a call girl in the head]].
75	* {{Malaproper}}: Both Audrey and Mr. Mushnick frequently use wrong words.
76	-->'''Mr. Mushnick:''' It is finger of speech!
77	%%* MamasBoy: The nebbish Seymour Krelboyne.
78	* ManEatingPlant: Audrey Jr., being the predecessor to one of the most famous ones, eats several people over the course of the film. [[spoiler:He even ends the film with a slightly higher count than Audrey II, with 5 eaten compared to II’s four, ending song notwithstanding.]]
79	* MeaningfulName: The detectives Fink and Stoolie, as well as Siddie Shiva, ("sitting shiva")[[note]]A sitting shiva is a week-long mourning period after the funeral in Judaism, with the day of the funeral being considered the first day of the week of mourning[[/note]]who frequently buys floral arrangements for her relatives, and the masochist, Wilbur Force.
80	%%* MyGodWhatHaveIDone
81	* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Near the end of the film, Audrey Junior shows off the ability to hypnotize others, an ability he was never hinted at having before.
82	* NoSell: Mister Mushnick is unaffected by the plant's demands to be fed and simply tells it to shut up.
83	* NotDistractedByTheSexy: Leonora Clyde, a call girl, repeatedly tries to get a hypnotized Seymour's attention, but to no avail. It takes making him slip on a BananaPeel to get him to notice her.
84	* OffscreenTeleportation: Leonora Clyde, the very persistent call girl going after Seymour, seems to do this when pursuing him.
85	%%* OnlySaneMan: Mister Mushnik and the robber.
86	* PasteEater: Burson Fouch buys flowers from the shop as take-out meals, and furthermore is something of an epicure, having eaten at florist shops all over the country. He even sees Audrey Jr. as a potential food item (complaining that it looks "stale"). When he finally leaves it's because his wife is making gardenias for dinner. Though there are many edible flowers, to the point that salads can be made entirely from them, carnations and gardenias are not among them.
87	* {{Planimal}}: Audrey, Jr. is a plant, but has vocal cords and apparently, a full digestive system in its stalk.
88	* PoliceAreUseless: What a bunch of [[InJoke finks!]]
89	* PublicMediumIgnorance: Some fans of the Frank Oz movie are not aware that it derived from this movie, and the two are often confused as a result. Jack Nicholson is also not the star of the movie, despite a [[OneSceneWonder memorable role]] and being top billed on many home video releases (a noteworthy example? One VHS tape had a painting of Nicholson ''[[CoversAlwaysLie holding the plant]]'', even though the two do not come into contact with each other at any point). This is also not a straightforward horror movie, despite being categorized as such on {{Creator/Hulu}} and Website/YouTube or miscategorized on DVD shelves. In fact, when it was originally released, fans of the movie noted it for its ''Magazine/{{Mad}}''-like humor and satire.
90	* PunnyName: Siddie Shiva, a pun on the Jewish mourning custom of "sitting shiva."
91	* SingleSpecimenSpecies: Seymour states that Audrey Jr. is most likely the only one of its kind that will ever exist.
92	* SelfPlagiarism: Of Corman's earlier film, ''Film/ABucketOfBlood''. Same exact plot, same soundtrack, characters with similar personalities. [[spoiler: It even ends in the same exact way.]] The two movies were also written by the same person (Charles B. Griffith), were shot back-to-back, and were shot on the same set.
93	* StealthPun:
94	** When Seymour sees his mother at home:
95	--->'''Winifred Krelboyne:''' Did you stop at Dr. Mallard's and get the results from that test?\
96	'''Seymour:''' Yeah, he said there's nothing wrong with you.\
97	'''Winifred:''' Oh, not Dr. Mallard; he's one doctor I thought would tell the truth!\
98	'''Seymour:''' He said you should be playing fullback for the Rams.\
99	'''Winifred:''' He wants me dead! I'll bet he's assistant coroner.
100	** Since Mrs. Krelboyne doesn't think too highly of her physician, it might be said that she thinks Dr. Mallard's a quack.
101	* TakingYouWithMe: In the climax of the movie, [[spoiler:Seymour enters Audrey Jr. to tear it apart from the inside, but is himself eaten in the process. The ending shows his effort to kill the plant was successful.]]
102	%%* ThirdPersonPerson: Gravis Mushnick.
103	* TooDumbToLive: Seymour. [[spoiler: It's what turns him into a murderer in the first place, and it's how the film ends. Seymour never even tries giving Audrey Jr. animal blood, instead he quickly resorts to feeding it human body parts and later corpses, hoping that each time would be the last. Near the end of the film, he decides the best way to kill Audrey Jr. is to ''climb into its mouth and start stabbing it with a knife''. Naturally, he gets eaten.]]
104	%%* ToServeMan: [[spoiler:Audrey, Jr.]]'s preferred fare.
105	* WeNamedTheMonkeyJack: Audrey Jr., named for the human Audrey, whom Seymour has a crush on.
106	%%* WorldOfHam

Context Film / TheLittleShopOfHorrors