Title: THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Date: 6/15/1995; Publication: Magill's Survey of Cinema;

Magill's Survey of Cinema

06-15-1995

THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS

Abstract:
This black comedy centers on nerdish Seymour Krelboin (Jonathan Haze), who works in a Skid Row flower shop and has designs on the boss's daughter, Audrey (Jackie Joseph). One day Seymour cuts his finger, and his dripping blood revitalizes a Venus's-flytrap; quickly becoming the plant's slave, Seymour is forced to murder to provide it with human food.


Summary:
To appreciate fully the work of Roger Corman, often referred to as "King of the 'B's," it is first necessary to cast aside that misleading title, which simplifies and somewhat obscures his accomplishments as a filmmaker. Strictly speaking, Corman never made "B"-films. He began his career in the early 1950's, at a time when the traditional "B"-film, the staple of double bills and Saturday matinees, was nearing its demise. For more than two decades, the low-budget feature film served a particular function for its audiences and occupied a well-defined position within the economic structure of the motion picture industry. "B"-films were the "junk food" of Hollywood, usually competently made and easily digestible, but rarely exceptional. They were manufactured according to a strict formula--limited budgets, tight shooting schedules, familiar plots, stereotyped characters, and even a scaled-down "star system" consisting of hundreds of Hollywood's lesser lights who were no less beloved by their fans than the more famous ones.

During the 1930's and 1940's, when motion pictures were still the preeminent form of mass entertainment in America and Hollywood the principal supplier, the production and distribution of the "B"-films was so carefully tailored for the relatively stable market that their profitability, while modest, was virtually assured. The major producers relied on their "B"-programs as a solid backup for the somewhat riskier big-budget ventures, while many other companies--known collectively as Hollywood's "poverty row" studios--turned out low-budget programmers exclusively. The advent of television in the late 1940's, however, precipitated a radical reordering of the film industry, and the traditional "B"-film was one of the primary casualties. There were, of course, many other contributing factors, but it was television that most directly usurped the form and function of the "B"-film--and at no cost to its audiences. This did not mean the death of low-budget filmmaking, but it did signal the need for a redefinition of methods and objectives. The career of Corman, more than that of any other individual, reflects the new direction the makers of such films would take.

The changes in the motion picture business during the 1950's--decreased attendance, the breakdown of the previously set differentiation between "A"-films and "B"-films, the breakup of the vertical integration of the industry (that is, ownership of theaters by production companies) by Federal court order in 1948--all added up to increased competition for a diminished box-office dollar. In the mad scramble for public favor, producers of big-budget films opted for technological extravagance--the wide-screen, color, cast-of-thousands approach that was obviously beyond the resources of all but the major studios. For their part, low-budget filmmakers cannily directed their product toward one particular segment of American society which was not interested in staying at home and watching television--teenagers. The films that pointed the way toward the developing "youth market" were major Hollywood productions such as THE WILD ONE (1954), BLACKBOARD JUNGLE (1955), REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE (1956), and others--but it was the independent producers who exploited this market to the fullest. While they did not necessarily invent the most popular genres of the 1950's--science fiction, motorcycle and hot-rod films, dramas of troubled youth, and rock 'n' roll musicals--they exploited them shamelessly. Topicality and sensation were the hallmarks, and advertising became even more important than before. To lure their audiences, films had to promise something special--exotic, daring, exciting, shocking--and unavailable on television. The basis of the traditional "B"-film--the careful preplanning and relatively reliable financial outcome--was gone; the high-risk atmosphere made low-budget filmmaking a much more adventurous enterprise than in previous years. Budgets were squeezed even more tightly, shooting schedules more breakneck than ever; producers, with one eye on the headlines and the other on box-office receipts, tried to read the public pulse, rushing to capitalize on anything that smelled like a popular trend. In such a highly competitive milieu, quality was usually a minor consideration.

It was in this atmosphere that Corman's career began. Following a few odd jobs in the industry, he made his first script sale, a crime melodrama called HIGHWAY DRAGNET, in 1953; combining the proceeds from that enterprise with his other meager resources, he formed his own company and produced MONSTER FROM THE OCEAN FLOOR (1954). This science-fiction "epic," in a clear presaging of his later career, was shot in six days on a miniscule twelve-thousand-dollar budget. His next production, another criminal-on-the-lam story entitled THE FAST AND THE FURIOUS (1954), became the first film to be released by James H. Nicholson and his partner Samuel Z. Arkoff; it provided the basis for their formation of American International Pictures, the first notable corporate success in the "new" Hollywood. The early fortunes of AIP and of Corman were almost inseparable. Corman's output over the next fifteen years totaled sixty-eight films, most of which he produced, and forty-eight of which he directed; all but a few of these were profitable, and most were released by AIP.

Corman began directing with FIVE GUNS WEST (1955). While some of his early efforts were in the more traditional genres such as Westerns and gangster films, by the end of the decade he had tried his hand at many others--science fiction (IT CONQUERED THE WORLD, 1956, and WAR OF THE SATELLITES, 1957), rock music dramas (ROCK ALL NIGHT, 1957), teen melodramas (TEENAGE DOLL, 1957, and SORORITY GIRL, 1957), black comedy (A BUCKET OF BLOOD, 1959), and a few films which defy generic classification (TEENAGE CAVEMAN, 1958, and VIKING WOMEN AND THE SEA SERPENT, 1957). Many of the twenty-three films of Corman's first five years as a director were crudely exploitative, but few are unwatchably bad, and a handful are remarkably good--notably MACHINE GUN KELLY (1958), TEENAGE DOLL, and A BUCKET OF BLOOD. Corman was obviously feeling his way, learning his craft under the adverse circumstances imposed by severe budgetary limitations, and the overall quality of his work is only a modest cut above that of other low-budget directors of the period. His work during this period, however, does show the development of a fluid, striking visual style--clear, dynamic, and occasionally graceful--that would flower more fully in his post-1960 films. His early films, particularly those in collaboration with cinematographer Floyd Crosby, display an intelligent, inventive use of the black-and-white, wide-screen format--and a consistent avoidance of the static, visually awkward quality of many wide-screen Hollywood productions of the decade.

THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is one of Corman's most remarkable films, not merely because it was shot in the phenomenal time of only two days (and a night), but because it manages, in spite of its extremely limited material resources, to be funny, imaginative, and entertaining. It is black comedy of the purest sort and lends itself as well to serious analysis of its social satire. The story concerns simple-minded schlemiel Seymour Krelboin (Jonathan Haze, in a performance clearly derivative of Jerry Lewis), who works in a Skid Row flower shop as an assistant to greedy florist Gravas Mushnik (Mel Welles) and is in love with Mushnik's daughter Audrey (Jackie Joseph). Seymour is frustrated at his lot in life and at his inability to gain respect and social acceptance. One night, while in the shop tending to a mysterious young Venus flytraplike plant that seems near death, Seymour accidentally cuts his finger. His blood then drips onto the plant, which is immediately revitalized. It slurps up the spilled blood, all the while grunting and groaning ecstatically. Appalled by his discovery of the fern's grisley diet, Seymour is nevertheless gratified by the praise he receives when others witness the miraculous recovery of the unusual plant. Sensing the great potential of his chance notoriety, Seymour christens the plant "Audrey, Jr.," in honor of Miss Mushnik, and in secret continues to appease its morbid appetite by squeezing his other nine fingers dry. Realizing that he cannot himself give blood indefinitely, he agonizes over a substitute. Audrey, Jr., meanwhile, begins to speak! "Feeeeeeed me! I'm huuuuuungry!" it implores.

That night, wandering the streets in despair, Seymour startles a tramp, who in his panic stumbles into the path of an oncoming train and is killed. Although at first Seymour is upset and guilt-stricken over his role in the man's death, it soon occurs to him that the problem of sustenance for Audrey, Jr., has been solved, albeit temporarily. He feeds the body, piece by piece, to the voracious plant. Spurred by this extravagant feast, the fiendish fern begins to grow at a phenomenal rate, attracting even more attention from the local community; Seymour, taking credit for the plant's prodigious development is at last winning the affections of Audrey and the admiration of her fame-starved father. The ravenous plant, however, becomes increasingly demanding--and vocal. Driven by a desperate need to maintain his tenuous grip on his newfound fame, Seymour embarks on a series of murders--a streetwalker, an obnoxious neighbor, and a sadistic dentist--to provide food for Audrey, Jr. As the plant grows to gigantic proportions, Seymour is presented with a trophy from a local organization, and a horticultural magazine expresses an interest in photographing the gruesome greenery. Mushnik holds an exhibition to celebrate these events, but at the most inopportune moment, the plant blooms, revealing in each of its enormous flowers the terrified face of one of Seymour's victims. A wild chase ensues; eluding his pursuers, Seymour returns to the shop that night and confronts his creation. Despondent at his dead-end situation, he blames the plant and suicidally attacks it; the next morning, Mushnik and Audrey discover Seymour's face in one of the plant's flowers.

Corman says that THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS "was the film that in the long run has made me whatever legend I am." He recalls that it was made as a kind of "joking challenge" when a studio manager offered him the use of a store set. Working with writer Charles B. Griffith, a frequent collaborator, he developed a rough outline, which Griffith turned into a script in a week; the film was then shot at breakneck speed. Corman and Griffith used the premise of an earlier collaboration, A BUCKET OF BLOOD, as a taking-off point. In that film, aspiring artist Walter Paisley (Dick Miller), working as a busboy in a beatnik coffee house, discovers that the corpse of his accidentally slain pet cat--covered in clay--is hailed by the beat crowd as a brilliant work of sculpture. Eventually, as in THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, he is forced to go on a murder spree to supply "models," and when discovered, he creates his ultimate "work of art" by covering his body with clay and hanging himself. A BUCKET OF BLOOD was also a horror comedy; it was shot on the relatively expansive schedule of five days, yet THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is a superior film.

Both films have an undercurrent of biting social satire, but the particular ethnic flavor of THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS lends it some additional weight. Seymour Krelboin and the Mushniks are lower-middle-class Jews in a generalized urban ghetto milieu; Seymour's innocence quickly succumbs to his literally murderous social climbing. He sacrifices his humanity in order to increase his social status; ultimately, the source of his success becomes the instrument of his destruction. The film is implicitly critical of this sort of ambition, portraying it as physically and morally destructive. Serious considerations aside, however, the film is frequently hilarious: the repartee between Seymour and Audrey, Jr., is excellent (the plant's vocabulary consisting entirely of variously modulated pleas for more food), and among other small delights, the goings-on include a bizarre cameo appearance by a young Jack Nicholson as a masochistic dental patient. THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS has quite deservedly gained a cult following among film buffs.

THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, in the circumstances and spirit of its production, is the crowning achievement of Corman's early directorial career. It comes significantly in the middle of an important transitional period. That same year, he also produced and directed HOUSE OF USHER, the first in his series of Edgar Allan Poe "adaptations," a few of which were reasonably faithful to their sources, others being mere borrowings of titles. It is for this group of films that Corman is most widely known as a director; during the next several years, he directed THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM (1961), THE PREMATURE BURIAL (1961), TALES OF TERROR (1961), THE RAVEN (1962), THE HAUNTED PALACE (1963), TOMB OF LIGEIA (1964), and THE MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH (1964). Shot on comparatively extravagant three-week schedules, in color, and with budgets that could have financed a half-dozen of his earlier films (although still quite low by general Hollywood standards), the Poe films were extremely profitable. They also exhibited an increasingly complex and ambitious visual style and gained Corman some slight attention in critical circles. (British critic Penelope Houston referred to them as "Roger Corman's elegant arabesques of horror.") The mainstay of the series was Vincent Price, who starred in all except THE PREMATURE BURIAL, but the films' appeal was enhanced by the occasional presence of such charismatic veterans as Ray Milland, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre, Basil Rathbone, and Lon Chaney, Jr. Several of the Poe films--particularly THE PIT AND THE PENDULUM and TOMB OF LIGEIA--rank among Corman's best work as a director.

It was also during this period that Corman made his only foray into "serious" filmmaking with THE INTRUDER (1961), a drama of racial tension in the American South, adapted by Charles Beaumont from his own novel. Its impact enhanced by location shooting (on a typically low budget), THE INTRUDER was a solid and compelling film, featuring a superb performance by William Shatner as a rabble-rousing bigot. As socially conscious melodrama in the Stanley Kramer vein, it is superior to many better-known essays on the same theme, as well as being several years ahead of its time in its cinematic treatment of school desegregation in the Deep South. The film received excellent reviews and won prizes at several film festivals, but at the box office it was a dismal failure, one of only a small handful in Corman's career. While he remains justifiably proud of THE INTRUDER, it was probably this factor that dissuaded him from similar ventures after that time. For the rest of his directorial career, while hardly avoiding themes and subject of social importance--THE WILD ANGELS (1966), THE TRIP (1967), and GAS-S-S-S (1969) are valuable reflections of contemporary American society, regardless of their strengths or weaknesses as films--Corman generally couched his "statements" more firmly in the context of entertainment. In retrospect, it is interesting to speculate on the quite different direction his career might have taken had THE INTRUDER been a box-office hit.

In 1970, following several years of decreased activity as a director and bad experiences with the distribution of his last few films, Corman abandoned the director's chair to form his own production and distribution organization, New World Pictures. Essentially, New World is a corporate extension of Corman, not only in the continuation, from an executive position, of the same well-honed principles of budgetary tightness and no-nonsense commercialism that contributed significantly to the success of American International, but in his more serious aspirations as well. In this sense, New World is a somewhat schizophrenic operation. From THE STUDENT NURSES (1970) and WOMEN IN CAGES (1971) through GRAND THEFT AUTO (1977) and HUMANOIDS FROM THE DEEP (1980), Corman's mainstay remains the low-budget, trend-following, profit-making "exploitation" films which he pioneered in the 1950's. Yet his company has also imported and distributed such films as Ingmar Bergman's CRIES AND WHISPERS (1976) and AUTUMN SONATA (1978), Federico Fellini's AMARCORD (1974), Francois Truffaut's THE STORY OF ADELE H. (1975), Akira Kurosawa's DERSU UZALA (1978), and Volker Schloendorff's THE TIN DRUM (1979), as well as backing "prestige" films such as I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN (1977) and Peter Bogdanovich's SAINT JACK (1979). Artistic considerations aside, however, Corman has always been a canny businessman, and under his guiding hand New World has become one of the most successful Hollywood ventures of the 1970's. His success, coupled with the degree of control he exercises over his production program, makes him the spiritual heir to such old-time Hollywood moguls as Jack Warner, Darryl F. Zanuck, and Louis B. Mayer.

In addition to Corman the director and Corman the producer/studio head, there is a third Corman: the mentor. His nurturing of potentially important film talent is another key element of his status in the film industry; he has long been known for his willingness to give young, untested filmmakers an opportunity to learn their craft as he once did, toiling under the pressures imposed by tight schedules and small budgets. His motives for this policy are perhaps more economic than altruistic, but the list of Corman "alumni" is nevertheless impressive: Francis Ford Coppola, Martin Scorsese, Peter Bogdanovich, Robert Towne, Jack Nicholson, Jonathan Demme, Bruce Dern, and Peter Fonda, among others, all received valuable experience working for Corman early in their careers--experience without which there may never have been films such as THE GODFATHER (1972), THE LAST PICTURE SHOW (1971), MEAN STREETS (1973), EASY RIDER (1969), and CHINATOWN (1974), all important influential films. With all his activities taken into account, Corman emerges as far more than "King of the 'B's"; he has obviously had a major influence, directly and indirectly, on both the commercial and artistic shape of the American cinema for more than two decades.

Corman as a director, however, is a figure of critical controversy. Consideration of his films as cinematic art invariably leads directly into the "art versus money" argument which pervades much film criticism. Unable to come to grips with the concept of a true "commercial art form," many critics do not look beyond the generally exploitative surfaces of Corman's films. Indeed, their perception is easily clouded by the titles alone: Can the creator of such lurid-sounding films as TEENAGE DOLL, THE WASP WOMAN (1959), A BUCKET OF BLOOD, THE TRIP, THE MAN WITH THE X-RAY EYES (1963), and dozens of others be taken seriously as an artist? The official tastemakers tend to say no, although they may nod in Corman's direction out of sociological interest--a fertile, although obvious, field for exploration of his prolific output.

As a reaction to this narrow, elitist attitude, there have been attempts to elevate Corman to the status of a full-fledged auteur, postulating (to quote one example) that his body of work is "a series of comments and variations on the theme of sacred time, largely expressed in terms of the Myth of the Eternal Return." This position seems equally extremist, a manifestation of the generally undisciplined nature of film criticism and of the often perverse desire to elevate the obscure at the expense of the established. While the first approach demonstrates a blindness to the complex nature of film as an art form, the latter displays a riotous lack of perspective on Corman's work. It is obvious from Corman's own statements that he is primarily a businessman with a constant eye on a film's finances; as a director (a position he seems in no hurry to resume after a decade in the executive's chair), he regards himself as an entertainer, not an artist. It should be remembered, however, that the American cinema's main purpose has always been entertainment, and that some of the directors who are now acknowledged to be among our greatest film artists--such as Howard Hawks and Alfred Hitchcock--were equally modest about their achievements and were overlooked or denigrated as "mere" entertainers by many critics.

At the very least, Corman's films exhibit a prodigious financial resourcefulness that is in itself a form of virtuosity, a cinematic grace that often belies the film's tawdry subject matter, a compelling dynamism that easily eclipses the work of many better-known filmmakers, and a keen awareness of the currents and rhythms of American life. Perhaps one day the influence and quality of Corman's work will be fully appreciated by critics and historians--as they always have been, anonymously, by film audiences.


Country of Origin: USA

Release Date: 1960

Production Line:
Roger Corman for Santa Clara; released by Filmgroup

Director: Roger Corman

Cinematographer: Archie Dalzell

File Editor: Marshall Neilan, Jr.

Additional Credits:
Art direction - Daniel Haller

Run Time: 70 minutes

Cast:
Seymour Krelboin - Jonathan Haze
Audrey - Jackie Joseph
Gravas Mushnik - Mel Welles
Dental patient - Jack Nicholson
Winifred - Myrtle Vail
Mrs. Shiva - Leola Wendorff
Fouch - Dick Miller

Review Sources:
New York Times.
Newsweek.
Time.
Variety: May 10, 1961, p. 6.

Named persons in Production Credits:
Roger Corman

Studios named in Production Credits:
Santa Clara
Filmgroup

Screenplay (Author):
Charles B. Griffith

Black and White



Video Available.

Genre:
Comedy, Horror

Notes:
The film was shot in two days and one night.

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