Headlines

Monday, October 1, 2012

HMM '12 Day 1: Little Shop of Horrors

It's finally October (technically)!  That means two very important things: Pumpkin Pie Pop-Tarts are almost here, and Halloween is near!  My favorite thing to do in October to prepare myself for Halloween is to, of course, watch movies that I feel best exemplify the season.  Now, this doesn't just mean extreme gore fests (of course, I do love me some gore), but I like to include movies that have that Halloween feel.  Anyway, here I am with Halloween Movie Madness 2012!

Our first movie is one of my all-time favorites!

Little Shop of Horrors
(The Geffen Company, 1986)

Little Shop of Horrors poster

Little Shop of Horrors is one of my all time favorite movies. I can still remember the first time I saw it. I was in 5th grade. I was at a friend's birthday party. He got a bunch of Jayce and the Wheeled Warriors toys. After presents and cake, we started playing the new NES game he got: T&C Surf Design. When we were done with that, his mom started the movie. When they told me the title, I wasn't sure what to expect. Was this movie going to scare me? Was I going to have nightmares? Once the movie started, I realized that those thoughts were completely unfounded. I had never known that a movie about a giant plant that ate people could be so funny. Or toe tapping.

Little Shop of Horrors Audrey II

The day after, I went to the mall with my mom and she bought me the soundtrack on cassette. It was all I listened to for at least a month. I had to replace the tape a number of times because I would literally wear it out.  I have since stopped listening to the soundtrack all the time, but I still have all of the songs memorized (along with a majority of the dialogue in the film).  I know watching the movie with me annoys the snot out of my wife because of this, but she still sat here and watched it with me tonight.  Now that is love!

Aside from the music, my favorite thing about the movie is Orin Scrivello, DDS. Steve Martin absolutely owned his role as the psychotic dentist. I can't imagine anyone else playing that character. It's like trying to imagine what Indiana Jones would have been like if Tom Selleck would have actually been able to take the role.

Little Shop of Horrors Steve Martin as Orin Scrivello, DDS

If you want to watch a movie that combines infectious music with killer topiary, this might be the movie for you. And if you have never seen it before, be on the lookout for a guest appearance by Bill Murray.

The question here that begs to be asked, of course, is if you could 86 someone real quiet-like and introduce them to the gullet of a carnivorous houseplant, who would it be? As Audrey II puts it, "A lot of folks deserve to die." 

COMING SOON:
They Live
Bubba Ho-Tep
Pitch Black
Dead Alive
Bio Zombie