Little Shop of Horrors
1986, PG-13, 88 min. Directed by Frank Oz. Starring Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, James Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Guest, Bill Murray, Levi Stubbs.
REVIEWED By Marjorie Baumgarten, Wed., May 2, 2001
This 1986 musical has aged about as well as any film about a singing house plant with an appetite for flesh could. Based on the hit off-Broadway musical, which was itself inspired by the 1960s Roger Corman low-rent pic of the same name, Little Shop of Horrors is good, campy fun. Moranis is typecast as geeky Seymour, caretaker to the bloodthirsty plant, and Greene plays his love interest, Audrey, in a love-it-or-loathe-it performance marked by a screeching, squeaking voice. A handful of the songs are catchy enough to still stick all these years later; especially memorable is Steve Martin's shining number as a leather-clad, laughing-gas-happy dentist bent on causing as much pain as possible.
A note to readers: Bold and uncensored, The Austin Chronicle has been Austin’s independent news source for over 40 years, expressing the community’s political and environmental concerns and supporting its active cultural scene. Now more than ever, we need your support to continue supplying Austin with independent, free press. If real news is important to you, please consider making a donation of $5, $10 or whatever you can afford, to help keep our journalism on stands.
Jillian Owens, July 26, 2013
Toddy Burton, Aug. 17, 2007
Marjorie Baumgarten, June 11, 2004
Little Shop of Horrors, Frank Oz, Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, James Belushi, John Candy, Christopher Guest, Bill Murray, Levi Stubbs
