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The Story: A nerdy skid row florist's apprentice becomes a celebrity by inadvertently inventing a talking man-eating plant, which quickly grows out of control and turns him into a reluctant murderer.

B-movie king Roger Corman used to make movies almost as guerilla-type operations. There was a time during the late 1950s and early 1960s when he would use left over sets from previous movies to make new quickies as the sets were being torn down around him and his crew. Most of the time, the results were fun but obviously cheap and rather forgettable. Little Shop of Horrors, on the other hand, was a happy accident in every way. This two-day film was made for a reported $27,000 and has proven to be a comedy/horror classic with scores of imitators and admirers. It even spawned a Broadway musical version that was later successfully turned into a film by Muppeteer Frank Oz, starring Rick Moranis and Steve Martin.

According to legend, Corman found himself one Friday afternoon with a finished film and some skid row sets that weren't due to be torn down until early the next week. He asked his regular screenwriter Charles Griffith to come up with a screenplay that could utilize the sets. Griffith cannibalized his own script for Bucket of Blood, changed the sculptor character into a nebbishy florist employee, added more jokes and goofy subplots, and had it all ready for filming by the next morning. Corman drafted his usual crew and a cast of his faithful repertory actors and filmed the whole thing before the crews showed up Monday to dismantle the sets.

The film stars Corman regular Jonathan Haze as a Seymour Krelborn, a geeky apprentice in Mushnick's (Mel Welles) skid row flower shop. The sign in the window says "Lots plants - cheap!" in what is not the first and certainly not the last in a nearly non-stop series of assaults upon the integrity of the English language ("What do you call this salad?" "Caesarean." "Does your plant have a scientific name?" "Yes, of course, but who could denounce it?"). Seymour brings in a goofy-looking little decrepit plant one day. He names it Audrey Jr. after the sweet flower shop girl (Jackie Joseph) he has a crush on. Everyone in the shop except Audrey makes fun of the pathetic thing until Seymour accidentally discovers its taste for blood ("Feed me," it implores, "feeeeeed me! More!" The voice was done by screenwriter Griffith, by the way) and it grows into a magnificent specimen. He becomes a local celebrity and the flower shop finally becomes a success. The plant becomes more and more voracious, and more and more intelligent and controlling, until Seymour finds himself pressed into service providing human food for it. Eventually, Seymour's secret is found out and he is on the run.

On the surface, this sounds like a simple remake of Bucket of Blood with a slight change of venue. The basic plot is rather similar and some of the scenery and music is even recycled from the previous film. Where this film rises above its predecessor is mostly in the added dimensions of the supporting characters, from Bucket of Blood star Dick Miller as a flower-eating customer (Mushnick's inferior looking flowers have more nutritional value than actual pretty ones, it would seem) and Myrtle Vail as Seymour's hypochondriac mother (but all those alcohol-based medications sure do get her through the day) to Jack Nicholson in one of his first roles as a masochistic dental patient named Wilbur Force ("Oh God," he exclaims in the dentist's chair, "Don't stop now!"). The dialogue has also grown several layers of wit, nuance and style since the earlier film.

All in all, this is one of the most hilarious comedy horrors ever, and for a change is not even without suspenseful and rather shocking moments as well. This movie provides a never-ending supply of clever one-liners and original, quirky and multidimensional characters. The jokes come in fast and furiously, from the lowest slapstick to surprisingly sophisticated verbal wit. If it weren't for its obvious (but quite charming) cheapness and the rushed quality of the sound, camera work and editing, it would be a nearly perfect film. As it is, it is still an undying horror comedy classic, deserving of and nearly demanding repeat viewings. Viva skid row!