Why did Warner Bros scrap their most expensive ending ever for ‘Little Shop of Horrors’?
Showcasing the unusually vibrant, eccentric, and bizarre approach to 1980s horror cinema, Little Shop of Horrors is an over-the-top cult classic directed by puppeteer Frank Oz. Based on Alan Menken’s musical of the same name, the film tells the story of a floral shop worker who houses a sentient carnivorous plant that feeds on human blood.
The movie vision of Little Shop of Horrors features a brilliant and talented cast who carry its genre-hybridity of horror and comedy with a dash of music. The ensemble includes Rick Moranis, Ellen Greene, Vincent Gardenia, Steve Martin, and Levi Stubbs. When it comes to situating events from the original Broadway show to the screen, which the director initially struggled to find a ‘cinematic’ way to do so, the movie diverts into its own unique perspective. However, the original 23-minute finale was directly based on the musical’s ending but had to be rewritten and reshot after test audiences gave negative responses.
This scrapped ending intended to pay tribute to the source material. It featured the plant attacking Greene’s Audrey and reveals that it also ate Orin, played by Martin and Mr Mushnik, performed by Gardenia. Moranis’ Seymour tries to rescue her from the plant’s jaws but is too late, pulling out a mortally wounded Audrey.
After hearing that Seymour fed Orin and Mushnik to the plant, she asks Seymour to let her meet the same fate so he can achieve his success. Upon fulfilling her dying wish, he attempts suicide by jumping off the roof of a building, only to be stopped by Patrick Martin, played by Jim Belushi, who offers to sell Audrey II, the evil plant version of the original Audrey.
Seymour understands what he must now do: destroy the monstrous plant and Audrey II. However, his heroic attempt falls short as the creature tears the shop down to ruins and eats the owner alive, spitting out his glasses as a cruel act to the audience. Three chorus girls appear in front of an American flag and inform the audience that Audrey II has become a global phenomenon, growing into an army of flesh-eating plants that have conquered the planet.
Despite Oz and writer Howard Ashman feeling strongly that the film should end this way, producer David Geffen thought otherwise, as Oz told Entertainment Weekly: “He said ‘you can’t do that.’ But again, he knew what Howard and I wanted to do, so he supported us”. The team worked on the original ending, which required $5million to produce, and elaborate special and visual effects, hauling Little Shop of Horrors into becoming the most expensive Warner Bros film of its time.
However, early audiences were frigid after watching this tragic ending. “For every musical number, there was applause, they loved it, it was just fantastic… until Rick and Ellen died, and then the theatre became a refrigerator, an ice box,” the director revealed. “It was awful, and the cards were just awful. You have to have a 55 per cent ‘recommend’ to really be released, and we got a 13. It was a complete disaster.”
Following this catastrophe, which could have resulted in a harsh branding of a disappointing or insulting conclusion, a new ending was written and filmed. It was just as explosive but a little happier. Seymour rescues Audrey from the plant and electrocutes her evil plant copy. The two soon marry and move into the suburbs for the American dream life, unbeknownst to the Audrey II bud growing in their front yard. The rehash was a success, but it came at a huge cost for the production company.
Watch the original ending that left audiences frosty here.
