I'm much more familiar with the 1986 version with Rick Moranis. I missed not seeing him, but this is still a good film. The story's pretty easy to understand, with a guy named Seymour raising a man eating plant named Audrey Jr. This is one of the best movies Roger Corman ever worked on. With someone so prolific, he was bound to have a good movie sooner or later. I was surprised to see Jack Nicholson in the movie.He gives possibly the best performance in the whole movie. The funniest part was probably when Seymour says his name is Seymour and the woman he's with mockingly says that and then he says that's his name too! I admit it's kind of dumb, particularly with how the characters act. I guess it's to be expected that a movie filmed in a few days would be short. It's still a well paced film. The visuals are pretty good too. ***

Roger Corman's low-budget classic about Mushnick's flower shop on skid row where inept Seymour creates a hybrid plant, named Audrey Jr. after Seymour's co-worker and crush. Audrey II is sickly at first but once Seymour accidentally gives it some human blood, it grows quickly and is a big hit with the public, bringing in lots of new business for Mushnick. But to keep Audrey, Jr. happy and growing, Seymour must find new ways of getting it blood.It's a brilliantly creative black comedy, with a script by Corman and Charles B. Griffith. There just wasn't anything else quite like this when it was released. It does owe a little to another fun Corman and Griffith black comedy, A Bucket of Blood. The cast is made up of mostly forgotten actors today but they're all wonderful. Jonathan Haze and Jackie Joseph are likable as Seymour and Audrey. Myrtle Vail is a hoot as Seymour's hypochondriac mother. Mel Welles plays Mushnick and steals every scene he's in. The two most recognizable faces in the cast are Jack Nicholson in his famous cameo as a masochistic dental patient and Dick Miller as an oddball customer who eats flowers. The film is limited by its budget and how quickly it was shot. But those same limitations add to the charm of it as well as making it perfect for adapting to the stage, which it was in the 1980s. That version, a musical, was eventually turned into a great movie all its own. That is also the one I grew up with, having seen it many times before I ever saw this original. This is often cited as Corman's best work. That's debatable, I suppose, but it certainly has to be considered pretty high on the list. Very few of his films have stood the test of time and resonated quite the same as this one. It's a unique and funny movie with colorful characters and a good script. Love that ending!

Superb B movie mayhem.Either by design or through a fortunate coming together of genius this movie hits all the marks. Well paced with good balance of black humour. This movie could probably stand the test of time in it's own right but the sprinkling of artists who delivered well here and went on to greater heights just adds to its fun.I'm torn between the concept of "if an infinite number of monkeys directed an infinite number of films" and Corman's personal approach "make 'em fast 'n make 'em cheap" ... he had to strike gold eventually. As a Corman fan, for me everything just comes together in a perfect storm for this one, actors, writers and director and maybe he blew an extra $50 on this one.

I loved the 1986 version and all the songs performed and when I found the original on YouTube, I got excited and gave it a try. There was, however, a minor flaw in this film, NOT A SINGLE SONG WAS PERFORMED IN THIS MOVIE ONCE!!!!! The scene where Seymour killed the dentist was EXTREMELY unrealistic and unbelievably preposterous. HOW HARD DID SEYMOUR HAVE TO STAB THE DENTIST TO KILL HIM BY USING ONE OF HIS TOOLS??? Pitiful. Just Pitiful. And the Audrey II puppet must've been made straight out of the garbage can, didn't sound creepy when it spoke, and the only thing it said was, "Feed me." Jack Nicholson's scene wasn't too bad, but other than that, this movie SUCKED!