I resisted watching this film for decades. Why? Because I usually hate remakes and I really love the original 1960 version...and I think it's one of the best micro-budget films in history. But my oldest daughter really wanted to see it and she said she loved the play...so we saw it together...and I am glad that I did.

The story is essentially the same, though with a HUGE budget by 1986 standards. Much of this was to pay for some heavy duty cast members (such as Steve Martin and Bill Murray) but most was in recreating Skid Row in a gigantic English studio. The big change was turning it into a musical...and it really had some very catchy music that you can't help but love. I also adored the set design...it was really impressive. But what I appreciated most is how director Frank Oz did NOT try to change the look of the film...and filmed it like a play. Overall, a very impressive and really fun film...despite being a remake....or at least a reworking of the original Roger Corman movie. And, I appreciate how it wasn't the same.

I love musicals, and Little Shop of Horrors is one of my personal favourites. It is wonderfully weird, and close to perfection with only the rather tacked on ending striking a false note.

The story has a wacky, weird but definitely timeless quality about it with seldom a dull moment, while the screenplay is funny and witty. The characters are delightful, the most memorable for me being Audrey II, and the production values are theatrical but in a charming and colourful way. And I must mention the special effects, they are very clever and successfully underline the rest of the production without ever swamping it.

The score itself is a masterpiece, the lyrics are superb and never fail to put a smile on my face and the music is very memorable and catchy. The cast do a stellar job, Rick Moranis is wonderfully nerdy and Ellen Greene reprises her stage role with aplomb, but top honours go to Steve Martin as the sadistic scientist and especially Levi Stubbs as the voice of Audrey II.

All in all, a delightful, memorable movie musical and so much fun. 9/10 Bethany Cox

I'm no big fan of musicals but LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS captured my heart the first time I saw it as a kid. What's not to love about the ultimate carnivorous plant growing to gigantic proportions as the story progresses, and the ultimate geek whose life is given over to mentoring it? Rewatching it now as an adult, it's easy to see this film as a product of the 1980s. It's all about cheesy excess, and there's never a moment of restraint when some loud, all-singing sequences are ready to be played out. The songs are belted with gusto and the actors put their all into the show. This is a film all about spectacle, and it works.

Rick Moranis is one of those guys who I feel got unfairly maligned by producers and viewers alike back at the time. He was passed over as one-note, OTT, cheesy, unbelievable. But comedy is a subjective field, and I always admired the guy for his turns in this and the likes of GHOSTBUSTERS and HONEY I SHRUNK THE KIDS. Against him, Ellen Greene has a cracking set of lungs and proves every bit his equal.

There's a lot to enjoy in this adaptation of the stage musical, not leave Steve Martin's extended cameo as a truly deranged dentist. Martin goes all out with a performance so physically demanding that he brings an adrenaline shot to the heart of energy to the movie. Plus, of course, there's Audrey II, who still looks and sounds great after all these years; kudos to Levi Stubbs for providing the inimitable voice.

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS might not be high art, but it sure is a lot of fun.