Classics: Little Shop of Horrors

Before yesterday, I had never watched this film. Knew of it, never watched it and I hate musicals. So as I gathered, Little Shop of Horrors is a black comedy about a struggling flower shop with a nerd of a florist who happens to be working on a new flower, a Venus flytrap. After feeding it his own blood one day, the plant grows bigger and bigger and demands to be fed…in blood, which leaves blood on the florist’s hands. It’s the film adaptation of an off-Broadway musical comedy of the same name that debuted in 1982.

Couple of things, forgot this was a musical. So at every turn, they wrote and song about it and we had to hear how it went. Rick Moranis, clearly not a singer but they gave him songs to sing anyway. As a side note, has there ever been a movie where they make him take his glasses off, fluff his hair up and try to make him sexy? Yes? No? Someone comment and let me know because his entire acting career cannot be just him as a nerd. Audrey’s voice was annoying, I never knew Steve Martin and Bill Murray were in the movie nor did I know that the flytrap’s name was Audrey II but it was definitely a male plant.

Of course in movies like this, things like putting the Venus flytrap in the window of the shop boosts interest in and sales at the shop. Steve Martin as a bad guy was horrible. Also, didn’t really like seeing him with black hair and the Elvis persona. I also thought there would have been more murder in this film but only two people died? For a flytrap that grew to be that big, there should have been a whole investigation into random murders but I guess no one wanted to make Seymour a real killer.

So, here’s what grinds my gears, Audrey, her man and Seymour. The entire movie people are telling Audrey she should leave her abusive boyfriend and she keeps telling people she’s ok and that she doesn’t have anyone else. Sis, Seymour fawns over you all day every day. No one saw it? It was just me and maybe the flower shop owner?

So is it safe to say that Little Shop of Horrors is the plant version of Sweeney Todd? May be a stretch but I’m thinking I’m close. Now, I’ve labelled this as a classic but don’t really know why it’s classified that way. Leave me some comments on why you believe Little Shop of Horrors is a classic!