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Little Shop of Horrors - The Director's Cut + Theatrical [Blu-ray]
(Frank Oz, 1986)
Review by Gary Tooze
Production: Theatrical: The Geffen Company Video: Warner Video
Disc: Region: FREE! (as verified by the Momitsu region FREE Blu-ray player) Director's Cut Runtime: 1:43:12.182 / Theatrical: 1:33:54.670 Disc Size: 39,068,812,101 bytes Director's Cut Feature Size: 29,287,716,864 bytes Theatrical Feature Size: 26,780,921,856 bytes Video Bitrate: 29.89 Mbps / 29.91 Mbps Chapters: 23 Case: Digibook Blu-ray case Release date: October 9th, 2012
Video: Aspect ratio: 1.78:1 Resolution: 1080p / 23.976 fps Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video
Audio: DTS-HD Master Audio English 4181 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4181 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit) * Dolby Digital Audio English 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB / Dolby Surround * Dolby Digital Audio French 192 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB * Dolby Digital Audio German 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB * Dolby Digital Audio Italian 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB * Dolby Digital Audio Japanese 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB * Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB * Dolby Digital Audio Spanish 192 kbps 1.0 / 48 kHz / 192 kbps / DN -4dB
Theatrical:
DTS-HD Master Audio English 4322 kbps 5.1 / 48 kHz / 4322
kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 5.1 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)
Subtitles: English (SDH), English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, none
Extras:
• Theatrical version of the film with optional Frank Oz commentary
Bitrate: Director's Cut:
Theatrical:
Description: A skid-row florist's "mean green mother" of a monster plant is the center of "the looniest, nuttiest, most outrageous movie musical comedy in years" (Jeffrey Lyons, Sneak Preview). Rick Moranis, Steve Martin, Ellen Green, Billy Murray and other comedy greats star.
The Film: In the basement of Mushnik's Skid Row florist's, weedy shop-boy Seymour pines for bubbly-blonde shop-girl Audrey. But the basement is also home to a strange and unusual plant, a growing, bloodthirsty demon determined to devour mankind. It's hard to pinpoint just what makes this surreal saga such a delight. There's the music, a wonderful doowop score from the off-Broadway hit based on Corman's 1960 cult classic. There's the antics of Second City veteran comedians (Murray, Candy, Belushi). There's Steve Martin as 'The Dentist', Audrey's biker-boyfriend, a happy-go-lucky sadist who nearly steals the show. And finally there's the plant, a 50-ft jiving, root-stomping, vegetable from whose 49-ft lips comes the voice of Levi Stubbs of the Four Tops. Though Frank Oz will be damned for changing the play's original ending - let them eat carrots - this wild and witty musical is great fun. Excerpt from TimeOut Film Guide located HEREIt started as a 1960 Roger Corman horror comedy, filmed in two days; it then inspired a lavish 1982 Broadway musical with music and lyrics by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman. Finally in 1986, Little Shop of Horrors (1960) graduated into a multimillion-dollar, all-star film musical. Rick Moranis plays nebbishy Seymour Krelborn, who works in a rundown flower shop on Skid Row. While his boss (Vincent Gardenia) bemoans the lack of business, Seymour seeks a way of bringing the shop -- and himself -- fame and fortune. He purchases a strange plant from an even stranger oriental street vendor (Vincent Wong), naming the plant after his girlfriend Audrey (Ellen Greene, one of the few carry-overs from the Broadway version). Gradually, Seymour learns to his horror that "Audrey II" (given the voice of R&B performer Levi Stubbs) craves blood and flesh. With each of Audrey II's "FEEED MEEE"s, Seymour must scare up human food to satisfy the plant's appetite. One such victim is dentist Steve Martin, a leather-jacketed Elvis type (the dentist's ultra-masochistic patient played by Jack Nicholson in the 1960 original is here impersonated by Bill Murray). The lighthearted tone of the film darkens as Audrey II grows in monstrosity, but the unhappy ending of the Broadway version is avoided herein. Excerpt from MRQE located HERE
Image : NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc. Little Shop of Horrors appears decent on Blu-ray from Warner. It is advertised as the "Director's Cut' but also contains the theatrical version - both in 1080P /AVC - seamlessly branched identical (same bitrate) up until the "Suppertime reprise". The image quality looks solid with bright colors (girl's outfits) and a bit of inherent softness. This is dual-layered and transferred in the 1.78:1 aspect ratio. I saw no noise but it does look a shade blocky at times. This Blu-ray image has a pristine quality giving it a very fresh-looking appearance. This is more the excellent art-direction, I suppose.
CLICK EACH BLU-RAY CAPTURE TO SEE ALL IMAGES IN FULL 1920X1080 RESOLUTION
Audio :1986's Little Shop of Horrors was released with a 6-track mix, so the Blu-ray's audio has its work cut out for it but comes through with flying colors utilizing a DTS-HD Master 5.1 at a resounding 4181 kbps. Aside from Miles Goodman's film score, we have so many joyous musical numbers performed including Skid Row, Da-Doo, Feed Me (Git It) and many others. The lossless quality definitely brings this up a notch over the past SD while exporting some healthy depth and tight high-end. There are optional subtitles and foreign-language DUBs and m y Momitsu has identified it as being a region FREE disc playable on Blu-ray machines worldwide.
Extras : So, we get the aforementioned theatrical version of the film including an optional Frank Oz commentary and the the Director’s Cut featuring the newly restored 20-minute alternate ending. Introducing the DC is a 10-minute piece entitled "Frank Oz and Little Shop of Horrors: The Director's Cut" with Frank Oz with Richard Conway discussing the differences and reasons behind the, sadder ending of Broadway production. "A Story of Little Shop of Horrors" is a 23-minute behind-the-scenes documentary. There are also about 9-minutes of Outtakes and deleted scenes with optional commentary and two trailers (Teaser and Theatrical.) It comes in a book-style case with plenty of color photos.
BOTTOM LINE: Gary Tooze May 14th, 2014
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About the Reviewer: Hello, fellow Beavers! I have been interested in film since I viewed a Chaplin festival on PBS when I was around 9 years old. I credit DVD with expanding my horizons to fill an almost ravenous desire to seek out new film experiences. I currently own approximately 9500 DVDs and have reviewed over 5000 myself. I appreciate my discussion Listserv for furthering my film education and inspiring me to continue running DVDBeaver. Plus a healthy thanks to those who donate and use our Amazon links.
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