Genre/Category: Black Comedy, Drama, Horror, Science Fiction, US, World Wide – 3D

Director: Roger Corman

Producer: Roger Corman

Writer: Charles B.Griffith

Production Company: Filmgroup Studio (PD)

Country: USA

DVD Release Date: September 14, 1960

Running Time: 70 Minutes

Rated: “G”

Cast: Jonathan Haze, Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles, Dick Miller, and Jack Nicholson.

Press Kit: Little Shop of horrors is perhaps the greatest movie ever shot in two days. It is a 1960 American comedy film directed by Roger Corman and written by Charles B. Griffith. The movie is a FARCE about an inadequate young florist’s assistant, Seymour who works at the Skid Row flower shop of Mr. Mushnick (Mel Welles). Experimenting in his spare time, Seymour cultivated a plant that feeds on human flesh and blood. Seymour hopes this experiment will lead him to fame and fortune. The plant also talks, or rather commands: “Feeed Me! Feeed Me please!” Before long, the luckless Seymour has fed his plant the bodies of a railroad detective, a sadistic dentist, and a flashy trollop. Magically, when the plant blooms, the faces of its various victims are reproduced in its flowers. The film’s concept is thought to be based on a 1932 story called “Green Thoughts”, by John Collier, about a man-eating plant. The film was produced under the title “The Passionate People Eater. It employs an original style of humor, combining black comedy with farce and incorporating Jewish humor and elements of spoof. The Little Shop of Horrors was shot on a budget of $30,000.00 in two days utilizing sets that had been left standing from A Bucket of Blood.
Ignored on its initial release, the film slowly gained a cult following through repeated TV exposure in the 1960 and thru word of mouth when it was distributed as the “b” movie in a double feature with Mario Bava’s Black Sunday and eventually with The Last Woman on earth. The film’s popularity increased with local television broadcasts, in addition to the presence of a young Jack Nicholson, whose small role in the film has been prominently promoted on home video releases of the film.