The Real Ending to Little Shop of Horrors

I'm not a musical fan. There are plenty of exceptions (most of them containing Muppets), but I generally find the genre tedious and overlong. But the first musical I remember loving was Little Shop of Horrors (and of course, it's directed by Frank Oz who was a puppeteer and voice of many Muppets). It's got an amazing cast -- Rick Moranis, Steve Martin, Bill Murray, John Candy, Levi Stubbs, Christopher Guest -- incredible songs (Martin's being my favorite), and ambitious puppet work. In high school, a classmate and I did a report on the movie for music class and built our own little Audrey II.

It wasn't until I was in college (or thereabouts) that I learned of an original ending that wasn't used. I've always wanted to see it, hearing that it dealt with worldwide annihilation. I never bought the DVD, holding out for the super deluxe edition (come on Criterion!) with the original ending. Not the happy, piece of shit that exists now (actually, the ending is very satisfying as it stands). As luck would have it, IFC.com just put out a small list of movies that had the endings tampered with by studios and it directed me to the following series of videos of the original Little Shop of Horros ending! With commentary from Frank Oz!

I almost can't believe the studio didn't use this stuff because it looks amazing and must have cost a fortune. Oz gives a fair amount of interesting info about what it took to operate Audrey II, as well. Enjoy!