So here is the return of my regular feature the Sunday Night Movie post. I very nearly queued up my copy of Village of The Damned, the original not the boring John Carpenter remake, but at th3e very last moment decided I was in the moody for lighter fare and reached for the musical comedy.

This film has an interesting history. It started way back in 1960 as an extremely low-budget film from the prolific producer/director Roger Corman. Hollywood legend has it that the original film The Little Shop of Horrors was created as part of a bet with Corman and another filmmaker as to who could make a feature film the quickest. (Wikipedia states production was all of two days.) The horror/comedy is best know as the big screen debut of Jack Nicholson as a masochistic dental patient.

By the 1980s a Broadway musical, Little Shop of Horrors, had been born from love for the campy 1960 feature film. After it found success on the stage,Hollywood, the most creative place on Earth, decided to make the musical into a feature film, closing the circle. Last night’s Sunday Night Movie was the 1986 musical feature film.

Rick Moranis is Seymour Krelborn, a schlub of a young man working in a down and out florist shop on skid row during the early 60s. He holds a secret flame for the front counter girl, Audrey, and is the subject of scorn from his boss Mr. Mushnik. Everything changes whenSeymourintroduces an unusual plant to the shop, prompting an increase in business, riches for himself and Mushnick and opening up the possibility of love between himself and Audrey. However disaster is in the air because the plant – names Audrey II by the love-sick Seymour – feeds on blood and Seymour is willing to provide it.

Directed by Frank Oz, this film is fun and the music is catchy, however it failed at the box officer. In part I think it failed because the director wanted to cleave to closely to the original and depressing ending for the story and when that crashed and burned during test screens the attempt to throw together a more upbeat resolution came off as forced and fake. Despite this I enjoy the film and I am a little sad I did not get out last year and see a revival production of the play when it ran here inSan Diego.

Don’t expect too much, and be forgiving in the ending, and I think you’ll enjoy this movie.