Little Shop of Horrors

Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

What editions are available?

  • Theatrical Cut (94 min.)
  • Director’s Cut (103 min.)

The highly anticipated director’s cut of the cult musical Little Shop of Horrors finally saw the light of day in 2012 when it was released on Blu-ray. The Blu-ray release included both the theatrical and director’s cut of the Frank Oz screen adaptation of the Off-Broadway show. The director’s cut of the film adds 9 minutes where the main attraction is a new ending.

In the featurette “Frank Oz and Little Shop of Horrors: The Director’s Cut” on the Blu-ray Oz talks about how audience reaction of the preview of the film had him change the ending. Oz begins the featurette by saying the following:

“What you’re gonna see here is the original ending of Little Shop of Horrors as Howard Ashman originally wrote it and intended it to be which mirrored the original ending of the Off-Broadway show. And it was this original ending that we had to take out in the previews… But all along, Howard and I, where hoping at some point people could see this ending. We didn’t think it would ever happen.”

Oz goes into great details with special effects artist Richard Conway how much time and work went into the original ending. In the later half of the featurette Oz states:

“… and we were both never satisfied with the original ending. But we were satisfied that we did the job that was necessary in order to release the movie to make the movie work for the audience at the time who wanted a happy ending… At the end of the day, the joy here is that not only the audience see what was intended in the beginning, but also see the works of Richard Conway and now he finally gets to finally get is due and he deserves it.”

Source: Frank Oz in the featurette “Frank Oz and Little Shop of Horrors: The Director’s Cut” on the Blu-ray release

The director’s preferred edition: Director’s Cut

Comparison of the editions with courtesy of Movie-Censorship.com

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