Little Shop of Horrors - Directors Cut

[Brazoo]

Oh my god!

SPOILERS AHEAD:

I just watched the original cut of the 80s musical, and maybe this is old news, but I had no idea!

Normally I'm fairly cynical about these things, but now I'm thoroughly disturbed. Poor Seymour and Audrey!

Apparently this version follows the original stage version more closely. Audrey is attacked by Audrey II, and Seymour saves her, but he's too late. Seymour carries Audrey's frail body into the alleyway and as she lays in his arms she uses her last breaths to beg seymour to feed her to Audrey II, so Seymour can continue his success and she can be with him after she's dead. Seymour feeds Audrey to Audrey II, then heads for a nearby rooftop to kill himself, when Paul Dooley shows up explaining his plan to mass market Audrey II. This prompts Seymour to head back to the shop to fight Audrey II, but Seymour looses and is eaten!

Then, there's this insanely great 20 minute spectacle of giant Audry IIs tearing apart America Godzilla-style, all set to music! It's really outstanding, but it's surprisingly depressing.

Apparently the happy ending was added after test audiences didn't like it. I think they were right, but I wish they could have left the invasion scenes somehow.

Anyone else see this?

[ctc]

>Anyone else see this?

Yeah. The city smashing bit is fantastic. I'm okay with the unhappy ending too. It's different.

Don C.

[Mikey]

Did they ever officially release it in color ?

[Brazoo]

The version I saw was colour. To be honest I got the avi file from a friend, so I assume it was at least offered on DVD at some point, but I don't know.

[Brazoo]

Apparently the version I saw was from the new blu-ray, which restored the original ending as it was originally shown - in colour.

I'm warming up to the ending now, mostly because I really loved the effects in the big invasion scenes. The happy ending IS really boring, and kind of a let down since the rest of the movie is such a blast.

I'm not even sure Seymour and Audrey dying is the problem - I think it feels wrong because they're killed so dramatically and then forgotten about. We spent the other 70 minutes with them, and then they're just gone for the end 20 minutes. It's weird. If they survived Audrey II and then were around for the end of the world I would have liked that best. Like, if they're going "down with the ship" I think that's less jarring.

Another thought: the last shot is of two gigantic Audrey IIs attacking the Statue of Liberty - maybe they should have stole a little from the Corman movie and made the two last AudreyIIs look a little bit like Seymour and Audrey? I think maybe if the audience got to see Seymour and Audrey at the end - even as monsters - they wouldn't have felt as cheated.

[Mikey]

- maybe they should have stole a little from the Corman movie and made the two last AudreyIIs look a little bit like Seymour and Audrey? I think maybe if the audience got to see Seymour and Audrey at the end - even as monsters - they wouldn't have felt as cheated.

And end with the Seymour pods saying "I didn't mean it"

[Brazoo]

And end with the Seymour pods saying "I didn't mean it"

Yeah yeah! In the Corman version - but the pod looks like Seymour, right? I'm saying that at least if the two giant Audrey IIs at the end looked a bit like Seymour and Audrey it might have worked as a punchline and tied the last 20 minutes into the main story more.

I just kept waiting for Seymour and Audrey to come back somehow. Audrey says if he feeds her body to Audrey II they can be together forever - I thought if they came back as Audrey IIs it would have been wacky enough to take some of the edge of the overly dramatic way they die.

Maybe it's just me. It was just a weird idea I had.

Rick Moranis is to lovable for me to see him go through such a tragedy after he's beaten and picked on the whole movie, maybe?

[Brazoo]

The first half of the movie really held up. Great songs and performances - incredible puppetry - it's too bad the ending has always fell flat, or in this director's cut, feels too different from the rest of the movie.

[Mikey]

Agreed, the puppetry is so good it looks like CGI

And yea, Moranis was PERFECT for the role -- including being able to carry a tune

I totally love Downtown and Suddenly Seymour

[PNGwynne]

I liked the stage show & movie--I was always curious as to why they changed the film ending. I'll have to track down this blu-ray--does it include both versions, as well as the Corman film?

[Brazoo]

I believe there's a three disc version of the blu-ray with commentary tracks and both versions of the musical, but I don't think it has the Corman movie. I've never found a great transfer of the Corman version, but I have a few versions on random horror DVD collections I have.

[Brazoo]

Agreed, the puppetry is so good it looks like CGI

And yea, Moranis was PERFECT for the role -- including being able to carry a tune

I totally love Downtown and Suddenly Seymour

I've had those two stuck in my head all day!

The production was kind of insane, there's this thing in the opening where the three chorus girls are singing and dancing in the street as rain pours down, but it's meant to look like they're magically not getting wet. It looks like such an insane thing to shoot. NOW they would just add them into the shot using computers, but back then it seems like it must have been a crazy amount of work to pull off.