Little Shop Of Horrors [Blu-ray] [1986] [Region Free]

Little Shop of Horrors is a comedy horror musical released in 1986. The movie was directed by muppet legend Frank Oz and is an adaption of a 1982 Broadway musical production composed by Alan Menken and written by Howard Ashman. The film stars Rick Moranis and Ellen Greene with some great supporting roles including Steve Martin, John Candy and Bill Murray. The voice of Audrey II is none other than Levi Stubbs, well known as a musician from The Four Tops. The film takes place in the early '60s in a run down part of New York. Seymour (Moranis) works at a flower shop, one that is down on its luck on the verge of closing. By some amount of luck, he comes across this strange plant. One so captivating, that it brings in customers by the dozen. Bringing the business back to life. When the plant starts wilting, he has to quickly find a cure or risk the fame and fortune. The cure is quite interestingly, human blood. After each feeding, the plant grows in size and eventually grows into a funky singing personality. On top of this, Seymour is madly in love with Audrey (Greene). The woman he named the plant after. We follow poor Seymour as he tries to balance his love for both Audrey's and keeps its secret diet hidden. The movie is a fairly strange one. It's got a very dark sense of humour and isn't the innocent love story that it portrays. There are moments of pure sugary lovey-dovey yuckiness. But it's always wrapped around some evil joke about dismemberment, sadism, jealousy or spousal abuse. This is always done in a '50s doowop singing style. It's a strange mix of styles and really sticks out from a lot of films of the time. As a film, it's very easy to follow. The story is pretty basic and the characters are so up front that it would be impressively difficult to lose track of what is going on. It's also a nice easy ninety five minutes long, not really dragging out for a second. My favourite moments in the film are by far the small role, the mad dentist Steve Martin. His song is great fun and the humour is right on the money. It might be a bit sinister for some, but it always cracks me up. The music is pretty good through out. Rick Moranis has a great singing voice and makes for a great duet with Ellen Greene. Though, she very quickly over shadows him vocally when she starts belting it out. She may have had a very noticeable lisp and soft spoken dialogue, but she can really go when the song demands it of her. Of course, Levi Stubbs really steals the show as Audrey II. The voice and songs from the great space plant are easily the most memorable parts of the film. I was really impressed with the quality of the bluray. There wasn't any problems with the visual or audio elements, not one. It's a truly fantastic bluray. The screen clarity and strong colours look fantastic. Audrey II's green and purples really jump out. It's pretty crazy to look at it. It hasn't aged a day. The audio surround mix is fantastic. There's isn't any signs of age on the track. The bass and mids are all there, complimenting the style of music beautifully. I don't know if people would put this movie up there with the likes of Grease or The Blues Brothers, it is quite a contrast in styles. But it doesn't take much to see the uniqueness behind it. The music is well done, it's quite striking visually and that sense of humour, you couldn't do that now. If you're like me and love that '50s music and enjoy a good evil chuckle, this definitely one for your collection.

Absolutely love this film

Love this film.

An amazing film, good quality effect for its era

Nostalgia, an absolutely cheesy film, but a bloody good funny film at that. It brought back some good memories from back in the day, a more normal day from what we're living through these days! I do wish Steve Martin (the mad dentist) was in the film longer as he was hilarious in this film!

good

Just to be clear, I am reviewing the Region Free Director's Cut blu ray. I was wary of buying this at first because I wasn't sure if the theatrical cut was included, but in the end I chanced it. It does include the theatrical version, as well as some excellent extras and the wonderful director's cut. I won't go into too much detail about the story - if you are looking at this you probably have seen the theatrical version before and to say too much about the director's cut would spoil it. But as one who loved the 'happy ending' version, I have to say I really enjoyed the version as originally scripted just as much. And it is a crying shame that the special effects finale has been unseen for so long. I cannot praise this blu ray highly enough, in fact. The picture quality is superb, the sound excellent, and the extras genuinely entertaining. And it definitely works without the slightest hitch on a British blu ray player, so if you had any worries about that, put them from your mind and buy this- you won't regret it.

Great performances by Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene and Vincent Gardenia, a great score with brilliant songs, and quirky comedy make this the best filmed musical ever for me. The music is by Alan Menken, who also did the songs for a host of Disney animations including The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame and my own personal favourite Hercules [1997 ] so if you enjoyed the songs in those, that's a pretty good recommendation for Little Shop of Horrors. This also contains what is probably Steve Martin's best cameo as the dentist from hell, helped by Bill Murray as his patient, and my 'most memorable film squeak' - the moment Seymour tells Audrey that he's named his plant after her. For those interested, I think it's also notable for use of Crystal, Ronette and Chiffon as a small "Greek Chorus' to help move the plot along - a device also used in Hercules with five of the Muses being used to provide background and summaries.

This will NOT play on US DVD players. Apparently I didn't read the description thoroughly. The seller was great when I realized my mistake.

I was really worried after I realized it was a UK product. I ordered off Canadian Amazon so I assumed wouldn't be an issue. Played no problem through our ps3. Love this movie!

This is an excellent DVD packed with features that actually add to the viewing experience of the film.

Immer wieder schön

Anche in questo caso questa commedia "canora" è impossibile reperirla in veste Italiana per cui dopo un po' l'ho trovata in versione estera, amazon ottima come sempre che dire "la piccola bottega degli orrori" è un qualcosa di assolutamente brillante, a tratti un po' volgare ma ha delle musiche che vi coinvolgeranno immediatamente! Per gli amanti dei film canori è davvero impossibile lasciarlo sfuggire