I know this is a year-old video, but there is another point a different video talks about. In the stage musical, when Seymour finally decides to turn against Twoey he goes down swinging. When the gun doesn't work, he tries poison, and when that doesn't work he grabs an axe. He goes into the plant's mouth hacking with the axe to the very end, trying even if he ultimately fails. In the director's cut of the movie, sure he's scrambling for options, but after the initial decision to be assertive instead of passive and face the plant, he mostly gets beat up and toyed with by Twoey. In the end, he's wrapped up in vines, gives up, and is passively eaten. This ends up being another instance where Seymour doesn't complete his character arc and compounds the unsatisfying feeling to the ending.

My family who keeps forgetting to water our flowers:

“We did it guys! We saved Cleveland, and Des Moines, and Peoria, and New York! And the theater!”

The dark ending could have worked if the film itself had a different tone, but based upon everything that came before 'Mean Green Mother...", the happy ending fit best. Tonally. I do love that we have the two versions available and fans can enjoy their favorite ending. I mean, that's pretty rare

Moral of the story, you know that a script is a beautifully written masterpiece if you can completely ruin the plot by taking away the smallest singular detail.

"Every household in America?!!"  After Seymour says this, it would have been a perfect time to put an imaginary sequence of the dark ending in the theatrical movie. Seymour imagines it and then shouts, "No! Stay away from that plant!" Both parties would have been happy.

One other tiny detail in Orrin's death scene that further undercuts the "Seymour succumbs to temptation" arc.

In the stage version, apart from briefly mentioning her just before he tries to shoot Orrin and loses his nerve, he doesn't talk about Audrey.  "Now, for the girl!  Now, for the plant!  Now, yes I will!  But I can't," is all the mention she gets.  And then Orrin spends two whole verses yelling at and then begging Seymour for help while Seymour talks himself into letting Orrin die.

In the film version, on top of the issues you pointed out, just before Orrin dies, he asks Seymour "What'd I ever do to you?"  And Seymour replies "Nothing, it's what you did to her."  And while, yes, we knew Orrin was violently abusive, reminding us of that right as he dies makes the murder (if you can even call it a murder in the film version) seem much more righteous.

4:54 For anyone whose seen the film just remember this one thing: The traumatic memory of watching this film is nothing compared to the traumatic memory of working on this film especially if you were a VFX artist.

3:28 Why do I have this visual of Audrey II trying to eat Cleveland Brown from Family Guy while Cleveland yells "No no no NO NO NO!!!" As Twoey's jaws slowly close?

Meek shall inherit is my favorite sequence in the stage show. It’s the closest Seymour comes to turning back and the emotion always gives me chills. Love the call out.

I have been trying to figure out why the original ending didn't work, thank you so much for making this!!! didn't know about the Faust Myth before, definitely gave me more appreciation for the stage musical

Absolutely amazing job, and no, you're not the only one with this hot take. I've been trying to give this exact argument for years and have never even gotten close to doing it justice.

Years ago, I was able to visit the Library of Congress and go through the Howard Ashman archive for research for my podcast, and you are exactly right. All the significant changes were made during the screenwriting phase. In the "preliminary notes" outline for the screenplay, dated November 1982, "Now (It's Just the Gas" and "The Meek Shall Inherit" appear to be cut (though, they may just not be noted or explicitly mentioned), and Mushnik's death is a cross between the stage musical and film, though there's no gun noted and though Mushnik asks about how to care for the plant, it seems like a practical question, there's no deal offered, and Seymour tells him to knock on the pod. In the first draft dated December 1983, the basics of both Orin's and Mushnik's death scenes already match what would be shot. The Meek Shall Inherit would be restored in full in the second draft (February 1984), though in the November 1984 draft, the basic idea of the song's restructuring (verse, chorus, soliloquy, final chorus) has been introduced. The early drafts seem to come from exclusively Howard, though I can't say for sure who would have had input and pushed for these changes, and it could very well could have been other directors who were attached during the development, David Geffen, or studio executives.

I think another one of the problems with how the ending was handled, and specifically with The Director's Cut editing, is the length. On stage, the ending keeps up a brisk pace and doesn't dwell on any moment too long, and when it does, there's overt campiness to it. In The Director's Cut, alot of that camp is gone, and every major moment is lingered on, which isn't helped by the introduction to Mean Green Mother from Outer Space. The ending works best in a workprint in the Library of Congress' collection because it has that brisk pacing, though it completely cuts Crystal, Ronette, and Chiffon from the finale and the reprise of "Somewhere That's Green."

You have a wonderful personality! Also I love your singing. You were spot on with the notes. And above all, you hit the nail on the head with this. 💜

Nice analysis, Aaron, but, to me, the original ending of the Little Shop of Horrors movie falls flat because of four key scenes, and they all have to do with characters dying and getting eaten:

1. Dr. Orin Scrivello, D.D.S.'s death. In the stage show, Orin is about to give a gun-wielding Seymour, who's all ready to kill the dentist on the spot, a checkup, before he [Orin] decides he needs to get some laughing gas (for Orin, not Seymour). As Orin puts on his gas mask and begins laughing, that's when the song "Now (It's Just the Gas)" begins. As Aaron said, Orin's mask gets stuck as he tries to take it off, and Seymour is presented with a choice: either help Orin take off the mask, or let him die from lack of oxygen. Seymour eventually realizes that, if he lets Orin laugh himself to death, he can claim that he [Seymour] didn't technically kill him. In the movie, however, "Now (It's Just the Gas)" is cut, and Orin, as he's dying inside the gas mask, asks Seymour, "What did I ever do to you?" Seymour replies, "Nothing; it's what you did to her [Audrey]," after which Orin breathlessly collapses instead of cackling to the grave. Now, Seymour does use Audrey as an incentive for killing Orin in the show, as he readies himself to shoot the dentist dead ("Just a flicker of pressure right here on the trigger, and Audrey won't have to put up with that pig for another day!"), but he never expresses this directly to Orin, so, in Orin's eyes, Seymour is letting him die for no reason. In the movie, though, Seymour pretty much tells Orin that he's letting him die because of his abuse towards Audrey; thus, while Orin's death in the musical and film are pretty much deserved, film Orin's demise feels even more deserved than that of show Orin.

2. Mr. Mushnik's death: In the show, Mushnik finds evidence of Seymour killing Orin, including little red dots on the shop's floor, a picture of Seymour's hat (which was left at the dentist's office), and a Mushnik's Florist Shop bag (which was used to stuff Orin's remains when Audrey II was fed). Seymour denies killing Orin (which is technically correct), and Mushnik tells Seymour to come to the police station. As he's doing so, Audrey II tells Seymour to off Mushnik just like he did Orin, justifying that if Seymour's evils were exposed, if would ruin his newfound reputation. Seymour eventually tells Mushnik that he stuffed thousands of dollars inside the plant (since he forgot the combination to the safe locker), which convinces Mushnik to step inside the plant to try and find the money, resulting in Mushnik's demise. In the film, Mushnik witnesses Seymour chopping up Orin with an axe, and later confronts him; while show Mushnik has only clues to go by when realizing Seymour is a murderer, film Mushnik really does have Seymour's number. Not helping things is that, instead of denying it, Seymour admits, "It's true, I chopped him up, but I didn't kill him!" (which, to be fair, is also true) Mushnik's not buying it, and is about to take Seymour to the police (at gunpoint!), when he reconsiders, instead giving Seymour the opportunity to leave Skid Row and lay low for decades, while Mushnik takes care of Audrey II; instead of going to the police and telling them about the murder, Mushnik in this film is willing to let Seymour get away with the murder, so long as he doesn't come back to town. This ultimately makes Mushnik's death less tragic and more karmic.

3. Audrey's death (or, rather, the events leading up to it). In the show, Seymour asks Audrey, if there had never been an Audrey II to begin with, if she would still love him. Audrey says that she does, and Seymour, in a mental breakdown, decides to destroy Audrey II before leaving Skid Row with Audrey. Thing is, he says all of this in the florist shop, within earshot of the plant. Later, after Seymour runs off to get the plant some meat, Audrey, worried sick about Seymour, returns to the shop (while singing a song called "Sominex"), only to find the alive Audrey II, which tricks her into watering it (to a reprise of "Suppertime") before grabbing her and preparing to eat her. Seymour arrives to save Audrey, but it's too late, and Audrey makes it her dying wish to have Seymour feed her to the plant. After Audrey goes out with a reprise of "Somewhere That's Green", Seymour feeds Audrey to the plant. In the film, Seymour asks Audrey the same question as in the show, with the same response (and even a marriage proposal, which wasn't included in the original show), but this time, they do so outside the shop, where the plant can't possibly hear them talking. Later, Seymour goes off to get Audrey II some meat, and, instead of Audrey returning to the shop to look for Seymour, the plant gets the idea to call Audrey (who is happy and smiling from her last interaction with Seymour instead of worried) on the phone. With the song "Sominex" being edited out of the film, Audrey receives a phone call from Audrey II, forcing her to run inside, where she is caught by the plant and almost eaten before being saved by Seymour. And after the "Somewhere That's Green" reprise, Seymour is much more hesitant to feed Audrey to the plant, slowly walking inside the shop while holding her. While in the show, the whole ordeal is kind of Seymour's fault for blabbering about his plan to leave Audrey II to die on Skid Row with Audrey II nearby (leading the plant to take spiteful action), in the film, it is Audrey II's fault entirely, and makes the plant's plan to eat Audrey out to be for simple shits and giggles.

4. Seymour Krelborn's death: In the stage show, Seymour finds out from Patrick Martin about a plan to sell leaf cuttings of Audrey II in florist shops all over America. As it turns out, this is what Audrey II had in mind from the start; thousands of bloodthirsty Audrey IIs would be numerous and (eventually) powerful enough to conquer the world. Underscored by an instrumental reprise of "Da-Doo", Seymour decides that the plant has to die right now, and so starts shooting the plant with a gun. When that doesn't work, Seymour goes for a pack of rat poison, and when that fails as well, Seymour decides to chop away at Audrey II from the inside, wielding a machete. Seymour screams, jumps into the plant, and gets eaten, and the distribution goes ahead. In the film, Seymour finds about the same deal, and the same consequences, and similarly realizes that he must stop this from happening. Underscored by the song "Mean Green Mother from Outer Space", Seymour uses a pistol and an axe against Audrey II, both of which fail (the latter is foiled by Audrey II pulling down Seymour's pants). After this, the plant toys with Seymour by trapping him in a wall of vines, before pulling down the shop's roof to crush Seymour. As Seymour climbs out, Audrey II grabs the guy and slowly pulls him into its mouth, while Seymour (silently) screams and weakly kicks his legs, after which the plant spits out Seymour's glasses. While show Seymour is actively making the effort to kill Audrey II (even if it does lead to his downfall in the end), in the film, it seems that Seymour's fate is being forced upon him.

With how amazing Audrey 2 looked in the movie I'm not surprised by it. I mean, the puppetry was basically designed by Frank Oz. You know, friend of Jim Henson, the og Miss Piggy, puppeteer of Yoda. Yeah, that guy

Playing Audrey in my schools production and am getting more familiar in the musical and therefore my role. Thank you for making this excellent video and deepening my connection with the musical !

one of the best theater themed video essays ive seen! great job my guy

I agree with you I do think they could have kinda saved it if they kept the moment Seymour sacrifices himself trying to kill Audrey by jumping inside of it. No it doesn’t change anything but you could play the moment up a little to match the tone of the rest of the movie it wouldn’t be the same as the musical but considering movie Seymour’s lack of action it could be the idea that he’s finally doing something. Much like in the movie, but in a more impactful way as Seymour’s just gone along with everything and is finally taking his own action, but like the musical it’s to late. Yes the endings still dark but it feels a little more earned as opposed to Audrey just picking him up and eating him. It feels like Seymour tried to fix his problem. I like both I just think if the didn’t keep the other stuff at least keeping this would have at least fixed the ending a little. Or it could make it worse I’m not sure.

The other issue at hand is, there are a lot of patter songs in the second half, which communicate the whirlwind our characters have been thrown into.

Halfway through the "hold please" song,  it stops dead in its tracks to reverently whisper "The Rose Bowl." I went to see the show at Beverly Arts Center the other night, and it struck me as wholly absurd that the Rose Bowl should pick this no-account florist's shop in Skid Row for its float, because no way do they have the infrastructure to do that.

Then it hit me: Audrey is magical, not alien. Audrey is subtly twisting the world to further the dream. Bigger plant, bigger antenna to broadcast bigger thoughts.

Great video. I was also looking at making a video about this, but I'm glad you did it first because there's no way mine would have been this good. I basically felt that the reason the dark ending works in the play, but not the movie is that the play is a horror and the movie is an action comedy. In the movie, every choice that would make Seymour deserve his death, is converted to happenstance and inaction. Awesome job, dude.

Dude, this was amazing, iv recently been going into a deep dive with little shop of horror as iv become obsessed with it after watching it for the first time and finding out about the original ending I was baffled it was originally removed, this video is fucking amazing and your personality is so entertaining, keep up the good work and I really hope you get the crowd of people to watch you that you rightfully deserve