Little Shop of Horrors - Original Ending - part 3

I don’t know if you’ve seen the original ending but it completely changes the tone and purpose of the film. Everyone dies and the true nature of the plant is revealed; it’s actually a metaphor for man’s wanton desire for consumerism! Audrey’s vision of a perfect white picket fenced and luxury furnished suburban home literally consumed her, as did Seymour & Mushnik’s vision of having a successful, booming store.

This is the last 7 minutes where rampant sales of the plant’s offspring results in multiple giant monsters destroying New York, and it contains more sfx than the rest of the movie combined. It’s dark, moralistic and didactic, and test audiences hated it.

Forced to change it to a happy one, Frank Oz subsequently ended the theatrical cut by showing them defeating the monster and then moving into Audrey’s idealised luxury suburban home where the seed of the plant remains. Frank Oz’s final *up yours* to film goers wanting to revel in their idealised capitalist fantasies rather than acknowledge their dark reality? I think so! The ending with commentary can be seen here.