Little Shop Of Horrors

This is the multimillion-dollar movie version of the off-Broadway musical, which was based in turn on an old movie conceived and shot in a matter of days by Roger Corman. Although the plots (in which a carnivorous plant feeds on human flesh, causing its creator to kill to satisfy it) are virtually identical, much of the edge was taken off of the material in its transition from screen to stage to screen. The killer plant has been transformed into a being from outer space (rather than a warped hybrid created by the dimwitted Seymour in his basement). Big-budget and bloated, the film has none of the shabby charm of Corman's effort and is memorable only for a couple of...