The Little Shop Of Horrors (1960)

A florist shop in skid row L.A. is struggling to stay in business. But when one of its employees (Jonathan Haze) brings in a strange looking plant, the shop begins doing a slam bang business as the plant continues to grow rapidly. Unfortunately, the plant needs human blood to nourish it so it can grow. Directed by Roger Corman (MASQUE OF THE RED DEATH), this low budget horror comedy quickly became a cult film and inspired an off off Broadway musical that ran for five years and eventually had a film version of the musical in 1986. Neither the film's distributor (American International) nor Corman had any faith in the film and it opened on the bottom half of Bava's BLACK SUNDAY. The film's amateurish quality is part of its charm and the movie features an amusing performance by a young Jack Nicholson as a masochistic dental patient. An unpretentious little sleeper now regarded as a "classic" of its kind. With Jackie Joseph, Mel Welles and Dick Miller.