The Little Shop of Horrors - Plot

Plot

On Los Angeles's skid row, penny-pinching Gravis Mushnick (Mel Welles) owns a florist shop and employs sweet but simple Audrey Fulquard (Jackie Joseph) and clumsy Seymour Krelboyne (Jonathan Haze). Although the rundown shop gets little business, there are some repeat customers; for instance, Mrs. Siddie Shiva (Leola Wendorff) shops almost daily for flower arrangements for her many relatives' funerals. Another regular customer is Burson Fouch (Dick Miller), who eats the plants he buys for lunch. When Seymour fouls up dentist Dr. Farb's arrangement, Mushnick fires him. Hoping Mushnick will change his mind, Seymour tells him about a special plant that he crossbred from a butterwort and a Venus Flytrap. Bashfully, Seymour admits that he named the plant "Audrey Jr.", a revelation that delights the real Audrey.

From the apartment he shares with his hypochondriac mother, Winifred (Myrtle Vail), Seymour fetches his odd-looking, potted plant, but Mushnick is unimpressed by its sickly, drooping look. However, when Fouch suggests that Audrey Jr.'s uniqueness might attract people from all over the world to see it, Mushnick gives Seymour one week to revive it. Seymour has already discovered that the usual kinds of plant food do not nourish his strange hybrid and that every night at sunset the plant's leaves open up. When Seymour accidentally pricks his finger on another thorny plant, Audrey Jr. opens wider, eventually causing Seymour to discover that the plant craves blood. After that, each night Seymour nurses his creation with blood from his fingers, and although he feels increasingly listless, Audrey Jr. begins to grow, and the shop's revenues increase due to the curious customers who are lured in to see Audrey Jr.

The plant (voiced by writer Charles B. Griffith) develops the ability to speak and demands that Seymour feed him. Now anemic and not knowing what to feed the plant, Seymour takes a walk along a railroad track. When he carelessly throws a rock to vent his frustration, he inadvertently knocks out a man, who falls on the track and is run over by a train. Miserably guilt-ridden, but resourceful, Seymour collects the body parts and feeds them to Audrey Jr. Meanwhile, at a restaurant, Mushnick discovers he has no money with him, and when he returns to the shop to get some cash, he secretly observes Seymour feeding the plant. Although Mushnick intends to tell the police, the next day, when he sees the line of people waiting to spend money at his shop, he procrastinates.

When Seymour later arrives that morning, suffering a toothache, Mushnick sends Seymour to Dr. Farb (John Shaner), who tries to remove several of his teeth. Grabbing a sharp tool, Seymour fights back and accidentally stabs and kills Farb. Seymour is disturbed that he has now murdered twice, as well as putting up with the masochistic Wilbur Force (Jack Nicholson) but feeds Farb to Audrey Jr. Sgt. Joe Fink (Wally Campo) and his assistant Frank Stoolie (Jack Warford) of the homicide division of the local police department, take-offs of Dragnet characters Joe Friday and Frank Smith, question Mushnick about the recent disappearances. Although Mushnick acts suspiciously nervous, Fink and Stoolie conclude that he knows nothing. Audrey Jr., which has grown several feet tall, is beginning to bud, as is the relationship between Seymour and Audrey, whom Seymour invites on a date.

When a representative of the Society of Silent Flower Observers of Southern California comes to the shop to check out the plant, she announces that Seymour will soon receive a trophy from them and that she will return when the plant's buds open. While Seymour is on a date with Audrey, Mushnick stays at the shop to see that Audrey Jr. eats no one else. The plant opens, demands food, but Mushnick refuses. A robber comes in, catches Mushnick hiding in the case, and demands (while threatening to shoot him) the large amount of money he assumes was earned from the hundreds of people he observed in the shop earlier that day. To save his own life, Mushnick tricks the robber into thinking that the money is at the bottom of the plant, and when the robber falls for it, Audrey Jr. eats him.

Not only does the monstrous plant's growth increase with this latest meal, but its intelligence and abilities do as well. It intimidates Mr. Mushnick, who is now more terrified than ever, but not so much that he will pass up on the money the plant is bringing in as an attraction. After he is forced to damage his relationship with Audrey to keep her from discovering the plant's nature, an angry Seymour confronts the plant, asserting he will no longer do its bidding just because it orders him. The plant then employs hypnosis on the feckless lad and commands him to bring it more food. He wanders the night streets aimlessly until pursued by a rather aggressively persistent high-end call girl (Meri Welles) intent on making a score. Believing him harmless, she flirts with him to no avail until he inadvertently knocks her out with a rock and carries her back to feed Audrey Jr.

Still lacking clues about the mysterious disappearances of the two men, Fink and Stoolie attend a special sunset celebration at the shop during which Seymour is to be presented with the trophy and Audrey Jr.'s buds are expected to open. As the attendees look on, four buds open. Inside each flower is the face of one of the plant's meals. Seymour panics and runs through the streets, and the police lose his trail later when he takes refuge in a yard filled with sinks and toilets. Seymour eventually makes his way back to Mushnick's shop, where Audrey Jr. is yelling for food. Blaming the plant for ruining his life, Seymour ignores its demands as he takes a knife and climbs into Audrey Jr.'s mouth in an attempt to kill it. When Audrey, Winifred, Mushnick and the police return to the shop, Audrey Jr. has begun to wither and die. Its final bud opens to reveal the face of Seymour, who pitifully whines, "I didn't mean it!" before drooping over.