The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2014: Little Shop of Horrors (1986), directed by Frank Oz

The Trailer

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The Appropriate Tune: "Feed Me (Git It)", by Rick Moranis and Levi Stubbs

     The Little Shop of Horrors first appeared in way back in 1960. Directed by B-movie king Roger Corman and featuring a young Jack Nicholson, the film dealt with a young nerd named Seymour who achieved great success in life with the help of a little murder. In 1982, the film was adapted into a musical for the stage, because literally everything in the world can and will be adapted into a musical. In 1986, the musical version of Little Shop of Horrors was adapted into a film by Frank Oz, better known as Yoda in the original Star Wars films and puppeteer to Ms. Piggy and various other Muppet character. The original film is, at least in my opinion, an exercise in complete boredom and not really worth the time to watch aside from the Nicholson appearance. The film we’re here to highlight is the musical.

     Starring Rick Moranis as Seymour, Ellen Greene as Audrey, and featuring John Candy, Steve Martin and Bill Murray, Little Shop of Horrors centers around the life of Seymour, who in the basement of a florist’s in a rundown part of the city known as Skid Row. Seymour is a complete milquetoast, who pines for fellow employee Audrey, who is locked in an abusive relationship with biker/dentist Orin Scrivello (Martin). Seymour’s only dreams in life are to be with Audrey and to escape the prison that is Skid Row, which seems increasingly less possible as time goes on. That is, of course, until he comes across a particularly strange planet from outer space with the voice of one of the Four Tops, an insatiable lust for human blood, and the answers to all his problems (and great puppetry as well, Audrey II looks fucking fantastic in this movie). All he has to do is feed it…

     The closest thing I think of that is similar in tone to LSoH is the cult 70’s musical The Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I doubt very much that it’s a coincidence. Both films are liberal in their use of colour, making each scene seem to burst with energy. Both films take the aesthetic of a previous decade and warp with devilish glee. Both films have a twisted sense of humour, whether it’s Frankenfurter singing about being an alien transvestite or Bill Murray as the masochistic dental patient, it’s all fantastically irreverent. Most importantly of all though, both films have a great soundtrack, with great people performing the songs. So if you’re looking to sate your hunger for musical this Halloween, why not give this a try?

The Long Dark Marathon of the Soul 2015: The Dark Crystal (1982), directed by Jim Henson & Frank Oz

The Trailer

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The Appropriate Tune: "The Dark Crystal Overture", by Trevor Jones

     What with all the science fiction movies I tend to highlight, both in the Marathon and otherwise, you might think I have a problem with it’s sister genre fantasy. It’s true that I’m generally not a fantasy guy, but it doesn’t mean I’m unfamiliar with it. I’ve read Lord of the Rings, Earthsea, The Black Cauldron, Dragonriders of Pern, and even modern fantasy stories like Harry Potter and the Dresden Files. So I know all about high elves, low dwarves and middle men, all right? The ways of wizardry are not foreign to me. I just prefer science fiction, and since sci-fi and horror tend to be so closely linked, that’s usually where my loyalties lie. 

     The 1980s, aside from being a great time for sci-fi movies, was also pretty awesome for fantasy movies too. The Princess Bride, Legend, Willow, Labyrinth, Conan the Barbarian..if you could dress up a few dudes in robes and swords, rotoscope some lightning effects and film it in the woods or some dank ass castle, then you had a fantasy film on your hands. The sky was the limit really, because at the time investing in a movie didn’t run the risk of bankrupting the entire film industry. Want to do some Lord of the Rings ripoff? Go ahead. Want to do a mind-bending child’s dream like Time Bandits? Why not? Throw as much crap on the wall and see what sticks. Hollywood gets some breathing and keep that hunger for improvement and we, the consumers, get a variety of things to choose from. Which is exactly what I like, and it’s what’s best for business in my opinion.

     Case in point: The Dark Crystal, the brainchild of Jim Henson, who you might recognize as the guy responsible for the Muppets and Sesame Street, otherwise known as the foundations of your educational development. Here we an example of high fantasy at its most blatant: a fantastical world filled with inhuman creatures (including the short unassuming creatures that you would never expect to be the heroes that turn out to be the heroes), some kind of mystical MacGuffin that somehow keeps the world from shitting itself that the hero must journey to find, and the horrible evil force that would be the obstacles for our hero to overcome (in this case the Skeksis, the despicable vulture-like counterparts to the wise and noble Mystics). Pretty basic stuff really, except every single character, every single creature in fact, is a puppet. Which may not seem like a big deal, in this world of computer generated images, but it’s really only a film that could have been made then. No studio in Hollywood today would even consider throwing money at a movie that features no actual humans in it, and certainly not enough to really do it justice. In the wild & wonderful 80s however, it was totally possible, and it looks pretty damn impressive. Not perfect, Jen and Kira in particular seem rather unexpressive compared to the rest of the cast, but still a level of craft that defines why Jim Henson, Frank Oz and the rest are considered masters of their craft.

     If you were a kid who grew up with the fantasy movies of the past, like The Neverending Story, The Black Cauldron or even the Bakshi Lord of the Rings and you haven’t seen it already, then you should place it on your queue. If you’ve got kids (very kid-friendly Marathon this year, I guess), then this is prime material for expanding their horizons. And if you don’t fit either category, watch it anyway. It’s really cool.