When the movie was originally filmed, Conway developed a 23 minute long ending that involved the man-eating alien plant actually winning and its spawn taking over the Earth, but apparently that ending didn't test all that well with the audiences of 1986 and as result, the Theatrical Version's happy ending is what most people know. I will say that I much prefer the alternate ending which is a lot of fun, not only because it fits better with the dark feel of the movie, but also because of the technical effort that went into it.
The film opens on Skid Row, a downtown city filled with the downtrodden. On this street is a small flower shop that doesn't get much business. The only employees are Vincent Gardenia as Mr. Mushnik, Ellen Greene as Audrey (the same person who portrayed her in the off-Broadway show) and Rick Moranis as Seymour Krelborn. When Mr. Mushnik decides to close the store down, Seymour presents his boss with a strange plant he found and has been trying to nourish. Unable to identify the plant, he names it the Audrey II.
As soon as the plant hits the window sill, customers come flooding in. After a bit of experimenting, Seymour realizes that the Audrey II feeds on blood, and the strange plant soon grows quickly and even begins to talk to him, demanding more food. While Seymour can handle having the plant suck on his fingers for a while, when Audrey II starts demanding more, he has to find an alternate food source. The hungry plant suggests that Audrey's abusive boyfriend, Orin Scrivello D.D.S. (Steve Martin), will not only feed the plant, but also free Audrey from a terrible relationship.
This starts Seymour on a slippery slope of bad choices that gives the plant more and more control until, well one of the two endings, depending on which version of the film you are watching.
Little Shop of Horrors's odd story fits well with its odd songs. The film's musical numbers cover everything from the depressing life on Skid Row, to Audrey's dream of living in the suburbs and even Orin's sadistic tendencies leading him to the dental profession. One of the film's more famous songs is "Feed Me" where Levi Stubbs (Four Tops) comes through loud and clear as the voice of the Audrey II while the love song, "Suddenly, Seymour" feels radically different than every other song in the film. Throughout the film, there are three singers that help to push the narrative of the story. These are played by Tichina Arnold (Martin, Everybody Hates Chris), Michelle Weeks and Tisha Campbell (Martin, My Wife and Kids) and they just help to add to the overall mood of this dark-comedy.
While Martin was the biggest cameo, others like John Candy as a radio DJ and Bill Murray as one of Orin's clients also appear in the film. As a side note, in the Theatrical Version of the movie, Jim Belushi plays the role of a marketing executive, but in the Director's Cut version, this is played by comedian Paul Dooley who was not available for the filming of the altered ending.
The special features include two featurettes: one interviews Frank Oz and Conway and goes over the reason the ending was changed from the one seen in The Director's Cut to the happy ending found in theaters. It also talks a good bit about the amount of time and effort that went into the alternate ending.
The other featurette is an older making-of all about how the story came about. It talks about Roger Corman's decision to make a short film given an existing set and a couple of days of filming. From there, the 1960 film, which was one of Jack Nicholson's earliest movies, became a cult classic where it later became a stage show and then the 1986 movie. This featurette also touches on the casting and the decision to have Oz direct the film and how just about everyone involved with the project immediately thought of Moranis in the role of Seymour.
Little Shop of Horrors isn't for everybody. It is a campy movie that shouldn't be taken seriously. Quite frankly, it belongs on your movie shelf right next to Rocky Horror Picture Show, but it should sit there nicely in this well restored Blu-ray release.
