History Characters / LittleShopOfHorrors

* CoolOldGuy

* AscendedExtra: He has many more scenes in the musical, even dating female lead Audrey.

* CardCarryingVillain

* {{Asexuality}}: Well, it ''is'' a plant. However, (s)he gets awfully... ''close'' to Audrey. NaughtyTentacles, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything anyone]]? There's also a scene where it tries biting a woman's butt.

* YanktheDog'sChain: Really the whole story is to Seymour. Being a geeky, down-on-his-luck shlub living in an extremely poor part of town, working for a failing shop with a boss that treats him poorly. Than it seems like things are looking up when he aquires a "strange and interesting plant"bringing some badly-needed success to his workplace and even becoming famous, with the chance at moving out of Skid Row and becoming a bigshot celeberty. If only the plant didn't have such....unusual cravings

* AdaptationalWimp: The film version is much more passive than the in play version. Instead of deliberately tricking Mushnik into the Audrey II's mouth like in the play, film's Seymour somewhat backs Mushnik next Audrey II and it is Mushnik's own fault for looking directly into the plant's open maw. This passiveness is likely what caused the original ending to gain negative reception from test audiences, as it showcases Audrey II humiliating a cowardly Seymour before eating him rather than Seymour growing a spine and voluntarily jumping into the plant's maw with a machete in his hand to atone for his sins.

* CatchPhrase: "I didn’t mean it " whenever he makes a mistake in the original film.
* CorruptTheCutie: He agrees to feed people to Audrey II to keep it alive and win Audrey's affections. However, after he feeds Audrey and realizes what Audrey II is planning, he decides to try destroying it. He fails in the play but succeeds in the theatrical cut of the movie.

* CharmPerson: Can hypnotise people into coming to the shop and making Seymour successful.

* ForgotAboutHisPowers: Doesn’t seem to be able to hypnotise Seymour in the musical. Has to offer him success or threaten Audrey in order to get fed.

-->'''Played By:''' Jonathan Haze / Creator/RickMoranis

* AccidentalMurder: Audrey Jr.'s first couple victims in the original movie are people Seymour killed by accident.

* CatchPhrase: "I didn’t mean it " whenever he makes a mistake in the original movie.

* DefeatByModesty: In both versions of the film, Audrey II thwarts Seymour's attempt to axe it by pantsing him, prompting Seymour to drop the ax and duck behind a counter.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: The FocusGroupEnding closes "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space".
* DisappearedDad: In the original movie, his father left because of his mother’s terrible cooking.
* DrivenToSuicide: In the original film, after feeding Audrey to the plant, Seymour goes up to the roof so he can jump off the building. Then Paul Dooley shows up and Seymour learns what Audrey II has planned.

-->'''Played By:''' Jackie Joseph / Ellen Greene

* DeathByAdaptation / SparedByTheAdaptation: Didn’t die in the original movie but was supposed to die in the remake before the FocusGroupEnding.

* DumbBlonde: Subverted. Audrey's not stupid, just too trusting. This is what got her into an abusive relationship with Orin Scrivello, [[spoiler: and later into the mouth of the plant]].

* LookingForLoveInAllTheWrongPlaces: This is how she ended up with Scrivello.

* VikingFuneral: In the Director's Cut, Audrey II gives her a dignified death similar to one.
* YouAreBetterThanYouThinkYouAre: Mushnik tell her this. She doesn't think she deserves anyone good like Seymour.

-->'''Played By:''' Mel Welles / Vincent Gardenia

* AdaptationalVillainy: Gets this twice. In the original movie, he's a BadBoss, but in fairness Seymour was a pretty bad employee. In the play he becomes an abusive ParentalSubstitute, but he seems to believe Seymour when he says he didn't kill Scrivello and just wants him to come to the police station to make a statement. In the '86 movie, he blackmails Seymour at gunpoint so he can have the plant and the profits to himself.

* INeedAFreakingDrink: In the original after witnessing Seymour feeding a human foot to the plant, he goes back to the restaurant and orders every alcoholic drink he can think of.

-->'''Played By:''' Charles B. Griffith / Levi Stubbs

* SissyVillain: While he speaks in a very masculine voice, he's also a shining bright green plant and it appears at some point he wears lipstick.

* VillainSong: "Feed Me", "Suppertime" and "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space".

-->'''Played By:''' John Shaner / Creator/SteveMartin

-->'''Played By:''' Creator/TichinaArnold, Michelle Weeks, and Creator/TishaCampbell (1986 version)

-->'''Played By:''' Creator/JackNicholson / Creator/BillMurray

* AdvertisedExtra: Some copies of the original movie have Jack Nicholson’s name on the front cover , even though he’s in it for less than five minutes.

* ItIsDehumanizing: When Orin sees Arthur, he asks his nurse "Does, uh, ''that'' have an appointment?"
-->'''Nurse:''' "''Ask'' it. I'm off duty."

* DrivenToSuicide: In the original film, after feeding Audrey to the plant, Seymour goes up to the roof to shoot himself in the head. Then Paul Dooley shows up and Seymour learns what Audrey II has planned.

* FamousLastWords:
** From the musical:
--->'''Orin:''' ''(singing)'' Are you dumb or hard of hearing / Or relieved my end is nearing? / Are you satisfied? I laughed myself to... ''death''.
** From the film of the musical:
---> '''Orin:''' What'd I ever do to you?
---> '''Seymour:''' Nothing. It's what you did to her.
---> '''Orin:''' Her who? ''(pause)'' Oh. '''Her'''. ''(dies)''

* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite his gruff attitude, he still cares for Audrey.
** JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: He still treats Seymour like crap and admits he never liked him to begin with in the play-only "Mushnik and Son," even after Seymour is solely responsible for saving the flower shop, and tries to get rid of Seymour so he can feed Audrey II himself. [[spoiler: He does, but not in the way he thought.]] At least in the movie -- in the play, Mushnik has good reason to believe Seymour killed Orin and is simply doing his duty as a citizen by telling the police what he knows after they question him, and he gives Seymour the opportunity to come with him and defend himself, in case it really isn't what it looks like. [[spoiler:Seymour tricks him into getting too close to the plant, purely to save his own ass.]]

-->I got killer buds, a power stem, nasty pods, and I'm using them!

* AmbiguousGender: Audrey II is named after a woman and calls itself a "mean green mother" in the film. Yet in most productions Audrey II is played by a man. Some versions have a woman playing the plant, which further muddy the issue.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: 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.

* UnlimitedWardrobe: The Greek Chorus have a better dresser than Michelle Obama.

* ItIsDehumanising: When Orin sees Arthur, he asks his nurse "Does, uh, ''that'' have an appointment?"

* TheBadGuyWins: In the play and original ending for the film, Audrey II succeeds in spreading plants all over the globe and taking over the world. Averted in the theatrical cut of the film, where Seymour kills the plant, though the surviving bulb implies that things aren't over yet.

-->'''Played By:''' Tichina Arnold, Michelle Weeks, and Creator/TishaCampbell (1986 version)

-->'''Played By:''' Tichina Arnold, Michelle Weeks, and Tisha Campbell-Martin (1986 version)

* ItIsDehumanising: When Orin sees Arthur, he asks his nurse "Does ''that'' have an appointment?".

[[/folder]]

* PetTheDog: When he first meets Seymour, he bullies him a bit, however in two instances he was nice to him in his own depraved way. Before knowing who he is, he offers him some Nitrous Oxide, something he doesn't even give his patients. When he does know him he acts starstruck and is genuinely amazed that Seymour was able to have a plant as big as Audrey 2.

* AdaptedOut: Is only in the movies but not the play.

* AnnoyingPatient: Variation in that he likes painful dental treatment which disappoints his sadistic dentist.
* CampGay: This character has shades of this.
* ChildishToothGap: Has several teeth missing in the original movie after being worked on by Seymour pretending to be a dentist.

* ItIsDehumanising: When Orin sees Arthur, he asks his nurse "Does that have an appointment?".
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: While he is a masochist, he understands not everyone is as enthusiastic to pain as he is. And since he opted for the most painful procedure on himself, he honestly considers the poor kid with the wired jaw to be considered lucky.
* MeaningfulName: Arthur ''Denton'' loves getting painful dental work done...

* FreudianExcuse: His masochism may or may not have been caused by his child dentist's habit of giving him candy bars after painful procedures.

* TooKinkyToTorture: "CANDY BAAAAAAR. THAAAANK YOUUUUUU..."

* AdaptationalBadass: Mostly played straight with a slight zigzag. In the 1960 movie it can't move at all and needs food to be placed directly into its mouth, it can't reproduce, and after a few days [[spoiler:it reaches the natural end of its lifespan and dies]]. If it wasn't for its ability to hypnotize Seymour, it would have been a completely HarmlessVillain. In the 1986 movie it has prehensile vines, limited (and eventually unlimited) range of motion, and no apparent limitations on its growth or reproduction, but no mind control powers.