Little Shop of Horrors (2021 film)

Little Shop of Horrors is a 2021 horror comedy musical film directed by Greg Berlanti, based on the musical comedy of the same name written by Howard Ashman with music by Alan Menken, which in turn was based on the 1960 film The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman. The film stars Josh Gad, Celine Dion, Danny DeVito, Jim Carrey, and Mark Hamill as the voice of Audrey II, with Destiny's Child as the three urchins and cameo appearances from Jack Black, Steve Buscemi, Bill Hader, and others.

Like other adaptations of the play, the film follows Seymour Krelborn (Gad), a passive, nerdy florist shop employee who becomes a celebrity on the filthy town of Skid Row when he discovers a strange flytrap-like plant lovingly dubbed "Audrey II". Unfortunately for Seymour (and all of mankind), this plant needs human blood to grow, and when it begins to demand more blood than one man can give, poor Seymour is forced to commit murder. Meanwhile, Seymour's secret crush, Audrey (Dion), is in an abusive relationship with sadistic dentist Orin Scrivello (D.D.S.) (Carrey), and while Seymour's meek demeanor prevents any dominate action on his part, all it takes is a little push from the plant and Seymour serves revenge in a dish best served bloody.

Like the 1986 film adaptation, this film is faithful to the stage version, with a few changes; for examples, the song "Now (It's Just the Gas)" is removed, and the scene where Orin suffocates to death from his laughing gas is replaced with Seymour becoming so incensed over Orin insulting Audrey that he grabs a chainsaw (which he found in the tool shed behind Mr. Mushnik's florist shop) and goes straight-up Leatherface on the screaming dentist (off-screen, of course) before feeding his blood-soaked remains to Audrey II, justifying the crime to Mr. Mushnik as being for Audrey's sake. The change was to make Seymour less sympathetic than most versions for actively committing murder, and thus making his consumption by Audrey II near the end all the more well-deserved. Some of the dialogue and song lyrics are rewritten (for example, "He knows your life of crime" from "Suppertime" to "He knows about your crime"), Seymour omits "...and so am I!" when referring to Audrey II as a monster during the climax, and a sequence is added during Patrick Martin's appearance where Seymour flashes back to the events of the film, realizing in horror that the plant had a plan to take over the world, and that he had helped it grow in power. Unlike the theatrical version of the 1986 film, the movie ends with the song "Don't Feed the Plants", as in the stage version, where Audrey II succeeds in conquering the world.

The film was produced by Warner Bros. Pictures and released in the United States on October 30, 2021, the day before Halloween. The film was shot on-location at the Bowery, known as New York's Skid Row, and the Skid Row in Los Angeles, to accurately depict the Skid Row featured in the show. It received mixed reviews, with the direction, acting (particularly the performances of Gad, Dion and Hamill), songs, special effects, and overall presentation largely praised, with criticism directed at Seymour's change in characterization starting from the end of the first act.

The six plant pod puppets in the film were built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop in New York, based on puppet designs for the original musical by Martin P. Robinson. Robinson was directly involved with the creation of the film's puppets, overseeing the building process and even acting as principal performer for Audrey II, leading a team of twelve puppeteers from the Jim Henson Company. To ensure that no jealousy or conflict occurred between them, each puppeteer took turns operating the mouth, while the others controlled the lips, tongue, vines, and leaves. For example, Robinson was lead plant puppeteer for the song "Grow for Me", Karen Prell performed the mouth during "Feed Me", David Rudman lip-synced to "Suppertime", and Kevin Clash lead puppeteered the plant during the climactic battle. For the "Don't Feed the Plants" number, around 240 puppeteers were needed to control twelve versions of the plant in its biggest form, reused for several shots to illustrate the idea of a large plant army taking over Earth, with the twelve main puppeteers controlling the mouth of each plant. While not directly involved with the film's production, Dave Goelz and Steve Whitmire are credited as "puppeteer consultants".

Plot
"On the twenty-first day of the month of September, in an early year of a decade not too long before our own, the human race suddenly encountered a deadly threat to its very existence. And this terrifying enemy surfaced, as such enemies often do, in the seemingly most innocent and unlikely of places..."

Three street urchins (Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon) introduce the film, as they tell of forthcoming horror ("Prologue/Little Shop of Horrors"). We are introduced to Seymour Krelborn, a pathetic orphan living in a gritty New York neighborhood called "Skid Row", and Audrey, a beautiful but meek woman with a tacky fashion sense and no self-worth. Both desperately wish to escape the city, but can't because they're poor and down on their luck ("Skid Row (Downtown)"). They work at a florist shop run and owned by the grumpy but well-meaning Mr. Mushnik, one that's run-down and on the verge of bankruptcy. Seymour has recently bought a new, weird-looking plant, but doesn't know what it needs to grow. Suddenly, a man stops by the store and notices the plant, asking Seymour where he got it. Seymour reveals that he was walking by a florist shop run by a Chinese man one day, when an eclipse of the sun occurred. As it did, a new plant suddenly materialized in the shop, and while even the Chinese man had no idea where it came from, he offered to sell it to Seymour for a cheap price ("Da-Doo"). Seymour, who has a secret crush on Audrey, names the plant after her: "Audrey II".

In his bedroom underneath the shop, Seymour laments to a dying Audrey II that he has tried numerous ways to make it grow, all to no avail ("Grow for Me"). During the song, while filing Mushnik's taxes, Seymour gets a paper cut and his finger bleeds. This attracts Audrey II's appetite, and Seymour realizes that's what the plant needs to grow; he reluctantly agrees to feed it a few drops of blood, on the condition that it not make it a habit. Sure enough, once Seymour exits the room, Audrey II does indeed grow. The plant soon becomes a popular tourist attraction on Skid Row, revitalizing Mushnik's business and making Seymour the hottest celebrity in town. Meanwhile, Audrey returns with a black eye and her arm in a sling, and despite concern from the urchins, is too afraid to leave her abusive boyfriend. That said, she does have feelings for Seymour, and secretly wishes to live a modest life in the suburbs and start a family with him ("Somewhere That's Green"). Unfortunately, her lack of self-esteem prevents her from believing she even deserves this lifestyle.

Meanwhile, Mushnik decides to renovate the shop using all the money they've made from Audrey II being displayed in the window, and asks Seymour to help him. Audrey arrives late again, her injuries still remaining. Mushnik angrily demands to know who she's been dating, and in the next scene, we get the answer: Orin Scrivello, a shameless sadist who rides around on a Harley, gets off on bringing pain and suffering to those around him, and has a job as a dentist ("Dentist!"). His mere presence intimidates anyone who sees him, including Seymour, who calls him "a disgrace to the oral care industry. And the motorcycle industry." Orin, while respectful of Audrey II's success, tells Seymour to take the plant and get out of Skid Row, explaining that Seymour could "go big on Wall Street" with a plant like Audrey II. Mushnik then realizes that the plant (and Seymour) is the sole reason why his shop has been doing good business, and offers to adopt him as his "son" and have him as his business partner. Seymour happily accepts ("Mushnik and Son").

Alone in the shop, Seymour reflects on his newfound fame, and thanks the plant for helping him ("Sudden Changes"). As he leaves, however, the plant starts dying again, and as Seymour tells it that he needs to heal his finger, he hears cries of, "Feed me!" Audrey II reveals itself to be able to talk, and resists Seymour's offer of buying him some sirloin to eat, insisting it must be fed blood. The plant promises Seymour everything he's dreamed of, including fame, fortune, and the love of Audrey, if he continues to feed it ("Feed Me (Git It)"). Seymour refuses, fearing he may have to start killing people and feeding them to the plant to keep it healthy, and showing clear disgust at the idea that anyone could deserve such a fate. Audrey II directs his attention to Orin, who continues to berate and abuse Audrey outside. This is the last straw for Seymour, who declares that Orin has more than enough blood for the plant.

After Orin finishes with a masochistic patient named Arthur Denton, who wishes for "a long, slow root canal", Seymour barges through the door, armed with a chainsaw owned by Mushnik. This terrifies Orin, who tries to reason with Seymour and demands he drop the tool, and even promises to quit his job and leave Skid Row, never to return. Seymour contemplates letting Orin live, until the dentist calls Audrey "a slut with a dirty life." This pushes Seymour over the edge, and he grinds the screaming dentist into chunks. Outside, a woman witnesses Seymour committing the murder and runs to phone the police. Soon after, Seymour drags the pieces of Orin's body outside, leaving a heavy trail of blood, and into Mushnik's, where Audrey II happily consumes its meal.

The next morning, Seymour wakes up to find the police at Audrey's house, asking her about Orin's disappearance; they suspect that "foul play" was involved. Audrey confesses to Seymour that while she's happy that Orin is finally gone, she also feels guilty, because deep down, she wished the day would come. When asked by Seymour why she was willing to put up with Orin, Audrey reveals she was once a stripper at a nightclub, wearing crude, tacky attires, and believes she deserves no better man than Orin. Seymour tries to convince Audrey to put her relationship with Orin in the past, and tells her there are nicer guys willing to do anything to please a girl like Audrey, subtly revealing his own feelings for her ("Suddenly, Seymour"). At the end of the song, Seymour and Audrey share a passionate kiss.

The two say goodbye and Seymour returns to the shop to take a nap in his room. Suddenly, Mr. Mushnik emerges from the shadows, unintentionally scaring Seymour, and reveals that the woman who had seen Seymour kill Orin, a frequent customer at the shop, had told him what had happened. While Mushnik refused to believe it at first, he started noticing something was up when he discovered the trail of blood connecting from Orin's office to his shop, followed by his chainsaw splattered with blood. Mr. Mushnik exasperatedly asks Seymour how he could do such a thing, and Seymour tries to justify his actions as being for the sake of Audrey. This causes Mr. Mushnik to suspect that his crush on Audrey was his motivation for the crime, and prepares to turn him in to the police. The voice of Audrey II appears in Seymour's head, telling him he must get rid of Mushnik or else he will lose Audrey's affections and his new reputation will be ruined ("Suppertime"). Mushnik tells Seymour that he hates to do this, but insists it's best that Seymour go to prison before he can kill again. Seymour refuses, saying he'll turn himself in, and says farewell to Mushnik. As Seymour solemnly leaves the shop, Mushnik walks backwards...right into the gaping maw of Audrey II. As he's eaten alive, Mushnik angrily screams, "Seymour Krelborn! You son of a--!" before being swallowed whole.

As Seymour exits the shop, he is greeted by reporters, salesmen, lawyers, agents, television producers, financial investors, magazine publishers, and documentary filmmakers, all promising Seymour even more fame and fortune ("The Meek Shall Inherit"). Although he at first is interested in these offers, he then tries to talk himself out of it, realizing that if he signed their contracts, he'd be forced to kill even more people to preserve the plant, and begins to have nightmares about himself turning into Audrey II. He decides to destroy Audrey II for good, but then remembers that without the plant, Audrey may not love him anymore. Against his own will, but feeling he has no other choice, Seymour begins selling his soul.

As Seymour begins writing a script for a lecture tour, Audrey II begins squawking for more blood. An annoyed Seymour tells the plant, which complains about not being fed since eating Mr. Mushnik the week prior, to wait a few more days until Time magazine arrives to interview him, then, in his words, the plant will "never go hungry again," stated with the obvious intent on killing the plant soon after. Audrey walks in on Seymour rambling about destroying Audrey II, and smacks him back to his senses, then asks when Mr. Mushnik will return from "visiting his long-lost stepdaughter in Cincinnati." Seymour asks Audrey if she would still love him even if he never bought Audrey II to begin with, to which Audrey reassures that she'd love Seymour no matter what. Smiling on the outside but depressed inside, Seymour asks Audrey politely to leave the shop so he can pull himself together. Audrey obliges and runs into the night.

After she leaves, Audrey II resumes demanding blood. Just about had it with the "vegetable", Seymour offers to pick up "a nice medium rare" for it to eat. The plant refuses, but reluctantly accepts the offer once it finds out that it's Seymour's last. Seymour runs off, but not before telling the plant not to even think about dessert. After he leaves, the plant whispers sinisterly, "I know I'm getting dessert!" Worried about Seymour, Audrey returns to the shop, only to find him gone. As she continues to search, the voice of Audrey II appears in her head ("Suppertime (Reprise)"). As she follows the voice, she discovers the plant in its default position, with only its voice and moving trap providing clues to her as to its sentience. Audrey II tells an overwhelmed Audrey to water it quickly, as its "branches" are beginning to "dry up". However, this is all a ruse, for as Audrey returns with a watering can, the plant reveals its full sentience and prepares to eat her, even revealing to her with twisted glee that Mr. Mushnik and Orin are "right inside!" Seymour returns to find Audrey in the plant's trap, and forcefully pulls her out. But the damage is done: Audrey's lost most of her blood from the experience, and she knows that she'll die soon. As her dying wish, Audrey asks Seymour to feed her to the plant, happy that "finally, [she]'ll be somewhere that's green." Reluctant to feed Audrey to the plant, but respecting her wish, he slowly walks into the store, and Audrey II, expressively remorseful of its actions and hesitant to eat Audrey, slowly lowers its jaw as Seymour gently places her body in the plant and sadly watches her devoured. After this, Audrey II lowers its head and sniffles while shedding a "tear".

Seymour grabs a shotgun from the back of the shop and steps outside, prepared to commit public suicide. He pulls the trigger, only to find the weapon jammed. World Botanical Enterprises representative Patrick Martin approaches the despondent Seymour, who tells Martin to go away and leave him alone. The determined Martin tells Seymour that he has a deal for him; WBE has sent Martin to ask for Seymour's permission to sell little Audrey IIs, made from leaf cuttings of Seymour's plant, in florist shops, greenhouses and marketplaces across America. The horrified Seymour flashes back to the events of the film as Martin continues his sales pitch, confident that all American households will soon own an Audrey II, and that they can even sell the cuttings around the world, ensuring that with proper advertising, the plants could be "bigger than hula hoops!" Martin asks Seymour if they have a deal, and Seymour wordlessly runs away. Martin doesn't see this as a problem; since the Audrey II is now in the public domain, they can sell them no matter what.

Seymour returns to the shop, confronting the plant about planning on being sold in U.S. markets so that thousands of new plants can start eating, eventually leading to world domination. The plant confirms his suspicions, and mockingly thanks him for helping it grow in size and power. Seymour, labelling Audrey II as a monster and berating it for eating "the only thing [he] ever loved" (both of which it cruelly shrugs off), concludes that the plant must be killed now. Seymour uses a machine gun, a pack of rat poison, a butchering knife, a pickaxe, and a stick of lit dynamite to off Audrey II, all with no success. Finally, a desperate Seymour whips out the chainsaw with which he killed Orin Scrivello. "You made me kill the dentist with this...and now...it's time you got your just deserts!" Very poor choice of words, for as Seymour runs into the plant's trap, it gobbles him up, then burps out the chainsaw. Patrick Martin soon returns, looking for Seymour in the shop, with no success (although he does spot the bloodied chainsaw). Still insistent that he doesn't need Seymour's help, Martin directs his co-workers to start taking leaf cuttings and loading them into their moving truck. The camera pans out to a wide shot of Skid Row as the scene fades to black.

As the credits roll, we see the three urchins standing in front of a large supermarket as they, through song ("Finale (Don't Feed the Plants)"), reveal that similar plants across the United States began to attract other "unsuspecting jerks" and "sweet-talked" them into feeding them blood until they were big and powerful enough to rampage through whole cities. The scene then changes to shots of a large army of Audrey IIs charging through New York City, Los Angeles, Orlando, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Houston, and other American cities. Eventually, we get shots of the plants destroying other cities around the world, like London, Toronto, Sydney, Mexico City, Berlin, Glasgow, Dublin, Beijing, Tokyo, and Madrid. Through voice-over, Seymour, Audrey, Mr. Mushnik, and Orin warn the audience that no matter what they persuade you with to be fed, you must not give in to greed and selfishness. The song ends with a shot of Earth ravaged with explosions.

After this, we cut to a mid-credits scene featuring a thinly-veiled, '60s-style parody of Fox News, with an unnamed anchorman claiming that the Audrey IIs were made by President John F. Kennedy and "deep state operatives" to help undermine the integrity of the Republican establishment. He is promptly eaten by an Audrey II, which then lunges at the camera.

Cast
Mark Hamill as Audrey II (voice)

Josh Gad as Seymour Krelborn

Celine Dion as Audrey

Danny DeVito as Mr. Mushnik

Jim Carrey as Dr. Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.

Beyonce Knowles-Carter as Crystal

Michelle Williams as Ronette

Kelly Rowland as Chiffon

Steve Buscemi as Patrick Martin

Jack Black as Wink Wilkinson

Bill Hader as Arthur Denton

Pam Ferris as Mrs. Luce

Adam Sandler as First Customer

Andy Samberg as Skip Snip

Kevin James as Bernstein

Ellen Greene as Murder Witness

Jet Li as Chinese Florist

Bonnie Hunt as Supermarket Clerk

Lee Wilkof as Newspaper Salesman

Al Roker as Television News Reporter

Morgan Freeman as Narrator

Audrey II Principal Puppeteers: Martin P. Robinson, Anthony Asbury, David Rudman, Karen Prell, Kevin Clash, Bill Barretta, Matt Vogel, Peter Linz, Noel MacNeal, Eric Jacobson, Tyler Bunch, Ryan Dillon

Audrey II Puppeteers: Brad Abrell, Pam Arciero, Heather Asch, Grant Baciocco, Greg Ballora, David Barclay, Billy Barkhurst, Jennifer Barnhart, Tau Bennett, Carol Binion, Ronald Binion, Tim Blaney, Cheryl Blaylock, Rickey Boyd, Warrick Brownlow-Pike, Lisa Buckley, Julianne Buescher, Kevin Carlson, Raymond Carr, Leslie Carrara-Rudolph, Kristin Charney, Charles Chiodo, Edward Chiodo, Stephen Chiodo, Brian Clark, Bruce Connelly, Frankie Cordero, Melissa Creighton, John Criswell, Stephanie D'Abruzzo, Nathan Danforth, Dorien Davies, Bill Diamond, Alice Dinnean, Jamie Donmoyer, Jodi Eichelberger, Nameer El-Kadi, Artie Esposito, Darci Lynne Farmer, David Matthew Feldman, Olga Felgemacher-Marin, Roberto Ferreira, Tom Fisher, Mark Gale, Aymee Garcia, Rob Gardner, Cameron Garrity, James Godwin, Jerome Green, BJ Guyer, Terri Hardin, Christopher Thomas Hayes, Andy Hayward, Rachel Herrick, Lynn Hippen, Dave Hulteen Jr., Haley Jenkins, Patrick Johnson, Scott Johnson, Sean Johnson, Avery Lee Jones, Brian Michael Jones, Francis Kane, James Kemp, Vicki Kenderes-Eibner, John Kennedy, Kathleen Kim, Donna Kimball, Joe Kovacs, Adam Kreutinger, Jim Kroupa, Tim Lagasse, Scott Land, Bruce Lanoil, Michael Latini, Jayden Libran, Spencer Lott, Paul Louis, Rick Lyon, Lara MacLean, Amanda Maddock, Greg Manion, Alexander Mantia, Jim Martin, Drew Massey, Ed May, Paul McGinnis, Jess McKay, Alison Mork, James Murray, Michael Oosterom, Brett O'Quinn, Carmen Osbahr, Anney Fresh Ozar, Christine Papalexis, Annie Peterle, Marc Petrosino, David Quesal, Mike Quinn, Tim Rose, Michael Schupbach, Michelan Sisti, David Skelly, Colleen Smith, Andy Stone, John Tartaglia, Norman Tempia, Leif Tilden, Allan Trautman, Gabriel Velez, Russ Walko, Robin Walsh, James Wojtal, Victor Yerrid, Bryant Young, Paul Zaloom

Additional Puppeteers: Catherine Adell, Christian Anderson, Rachel Appelbaum, Steve Axtell, Lawrence Basgall, Jake Bazel, Nate Begle, Mary Brehmer, Patrick Bristow, Matt Brooks, Lee Bryan, Brian Carson, Ceili Clemens, Josh Cohen, Spencer Cohen, Austin Michael Costello, Carole D'Agostino, Ben Durocher, Peggy Etra, Genevieve Flati, Galen Fott, Thom Fountain, Dan Garza, Noah Ginex, Stacey Gordon, Alex U. Griffin, Art Grueneberger, Tanya Haden, Sam Koji Hale, Zach Haumesser, Chris Heady, Joshua Holden, Patrick Holmes, David Hosay, David Jordan, Liz Joyce, Jonathan Kidder, Mary Robinette Kowal, Erik Kuska, Tiffany Lange, Matthew Lavin, Len Levitt, Michael Lisa, Weston Chandler Long, Pons Maar, Boitumelo Betty Maretele, Karen Maruyama, Cathy McCullough, Ted Michaels, Tracie Mick-Shoemaker, Jason Murphy, Jim Napolitano, Russell Nauman, Eric Novak, Sarah Oh, Adam Pagdon, Chris Palmieri, Tim Parati, Ian Petrella, Tony Sabin Prince, Casey Pyke, Jared Ramirez, Bill Remington, Steven Ritz-Barr, Julio Robles, Andy Rocco Kraft, Abby Roderick, Melissa Roja, Misty Rosas, Joey Rudman, Carla Rudy, Paul Rugg, Nicolette Santino, Rob Saunders, Benjamin Schrader, Michael Schwabe, Tomas Seidita, Joe Selph, Pam Severns, Chad Ethan Shohet, Benjamin Siemon, James Silson, Scott Silson, James Sloane, Jeff Speetjens, Thom Stanley, David Stephens, Kenny Stevenson, David Strassman, Lisa Sturz, Ian Sweetman, Jack Tate, Blair Thomas, Zachariah Tolchinsky, Star Townshend, Steve Troop, Basil Twist, Art Vega, Jack Venturo, Alex Villa, Jack Vogel, Cynthia Von Orthal, Justin Walters, April Warren, Daniel Weissbrodt, Vanessa Whitney, Steven Widerman, Susan Widerman, Mark Bryan Wilson, Scott Woodard, Chase Woolner, Eric Wright, Evy Wright, Matt Yates, Emre Yilmaz, Teddy Yudain, Michelle Zamora

Crew
Directed by Greg Berlanti

Screenplay by Jordan Peele

Based on the musical of the same name by Howard Ashman, which was based on the film "The Little Shop of Horrors" directed by Roger Corman and written by Charles Byron Griffith

Produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Executive Producers: Tim Burton, David Geffen, Tim Rice

Director of Photography: Guillermo del Toro

Edited by Gregory Plotkin

Music by Danny Elfman and Hans Zimmer

Songs from the play: music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman

Production Designer: Bo Welch

Costume Designer: Tom Broecker

Choreographer: Susan Stroman

"Audrey II" built by Jim Henson's Creature Shop based on original puppet designs by Martin P. Robinson

Special Effects Supervisor: Rick Lazzarini

Stunt Coordinator: Walter Garcia

Stunts: Dan Bell, Patty Chong, Tom McComas, Michael Munoz

Audrey Performance Consultant: Ellen Greene

Supervising Puppeteers: Brian Henson, Kathryn Mullen, Louise Gold, Joey Mazzarino

Puppeteer Consultants: Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire