Little Shop of Horrors (1986)

This is an imperfect-but-creditable movie. Shy and clumsy Seymour (Rick Moranis) works in a flower shop. During a solar eclipse he purchases a strange plant being sold by a Chinese street vendor. The owner of the flower shop is worried about going out of business, but Seymour suggests displaying the new plant in a front window. Immediately, sales start to increase. One night after being pricked by a rose thorn, he discovers that the alien plant eats blood. As it quickly grows, the employees of the store become prospective plant food.

This was the only screenplay written by lyricist Howard Ashman. The original ending was replaced with new scenes due to negative reactions from a test audience. In the final version Paul Dooley was replaced by Jim Belushi, as the marketing executive who wants to sell the plant. This was the first DVD to be recalled for content. It is a remake of the 1960 film directed by Roger Corman. At its largest size the plant puppet weighed one ton and was operated by 60 technicians. Audrey II re-appeared in 2004 in a Pizza Hut commercial. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius (2001) includes a girl-eating plant.