A fantastically funny and frightening horror comedy musical. Why you must be talking about “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.” False. “Little Shop of Horrors,” the 1986 remake of the Roger Corman classic, combined some of the heaviest hitters of 1980s comedy and put them all together in one of the most criminally underrated films of the decade.
The incomparable Rick Moranis plays Seymour Krelborn, a dorky kind of dude that loves flowers and spends his days as a florist. Through his naivety, Audrey II, a giant venus flytrap of sorts manipulates him into feeding people to it. It’s a simple enough plot. Boy meets girl. Boy and girl like each other. Boy’s plant is seeking world domination. We’ve seen that like at least a million and one times before.
The supporting cast is killer. Steve Martin and Bill Murray- in somehow their only onscreen appearance in film just kill it. Their scene – with Martin’s sadomasochistic dentist and Murray’s wide-eyed pain-loving patient, that could have been an amazing Saturday Night Live sketch ten years earlier. Bill Murray – as always – is solid gold and Steve Martin thrives in the against type role. Props also to the late and great John “#unclebuck# Candy.
The thing with “Little Shop of Horrors”that might bother some people is the fact that it is a musical. If you don’t dig “Rocky Horror” or “The Demon Barber of Fleet Street,” this might not be your particular poison of choice. The repeated appearances of Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon as backup singers adding emphasis to the plot and the soundtrack could be seen as another annoyance that actually distracts from the film.
“Little Shop of Horrors” is the kind of film you need to dive head first into and swim with and enjoy and lose yourself in it. The pacing is strange and some scenes play like isolated events rather than part of a collective narrative. And again, the onslaught of music. This isn’t going to be for everyone and even if you enjoy the musical aspects, the comedy is offbeat and at times, truly bizarre, borderline dark comedy.
In spite of some of its perceived flaws, the performance of Rick Moranis is one for the ages. No one perfected the schtick of the dork better than he. “Little Shop of Horrors” is just one of a run of excellent films he starred in where he stole every scene he was in and brought you to tears with unabashed dorkiness. Whether “Ghostbusters,” “Spaceballs,” or “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids,”Rick Moranis owned 1980s comedy and “Little Shop of Horrors”isanother great example of that.
If you’re in the market for some lighter fare this Halloween season, this could do the trick – or treat. You can’t deny the greatness of Bill Murray, Steve Martin, and John Candy. Maybe – if for no other reason than that, you need to get this on your watch list this spooky season.
