Frank Oz’ Rocky Horror for the 80s. Saw a stage production of it once with Lorraine Chase in it. No, fair play, she was quite good.
1.
This film was based on a stage musical which in turn was based on an ancient Roger Corman film. The film, as is, ends somewhat differently to the stage version however. The original ending was discarded and substituted with a less morbid alternative which kicks off after the carnivorous plant (Audrey II) attempts to eat Audrey. Seymour rushes in to save her, wrenches her from its lips and drags her outside, a bit shaken but okay. James Belushi turns up and announces a plan to mass market the plants for everyone in the world. Seymour (Rick Moranis) chases him away and confronts the plant in a final shake-down which ends with the flowershop and the plant exploding. Seymour crawls from the wreckage into Audrey's arms, they leave the scene, get married and live happily every after (or do they? A tiny Audrey II hybrid is seen, smiling, in their garden. Whoo.).
The original ending was rather different - the carnivorous plant attempts to eat Audrey, Seymour rushes in to save her, wrenches her from its lips and drags her outside. She collapses. In the released version she immediately gets up again but in the original she doesn't recover and, after hearing the awful truth about all the goings on, insists that Seymour feed her to the plant, ensuring (to quote her solo song from earlier in the film), that she'll be 'Somewhere That's Green'. She dies and Seymour fulfils her last wish. Then James Belushi turns up with his plan. Seymour once again chases him away and confronts the plant. The original version also ends with the death of Seymour. At the end of all this, James Belushi returns with a truck and starts loading it up with the little potted carnivourous cuttings. This leads to a discarded song warning everybody that whatever you do, 'Don't Feed The Plants' accompanied, apparently, by scenes featuring Audrey II demolishing the Brooklyn Bridge, etc.
An audience test-screening of the original edit ensured that a happier ending was substituted so the cast had to reassemble for a reshoot. This makes the last few scenes a little awkward. Quite apart from the rather obvious Audrey-collapsing scene mentioned earlier, James Belushi's appearance now seems totally redundant to the plot and Seymour and Audrey's marital bliss re-uses the set from the 'Somewhere That's Green' fantasy sequence which was deliberately unsubtle and cheesy.
A rough cut of the original end-sequence was included in the special lazerdisc release of the film. This has apparently been deleted now.
[NOTE: The soundtrack LP of the film features 'Don't Feed The Plants' and a long sequence in the song 'The Meek Shall Inherit', also cut from the film, in which Seymour battles with his inner conscience. The 'Prologue' meanwhile is delivered in a growly horror vocal rather than the mock 50s-announcer style as per the film. Also, as with all fucking soundtrack LPs based on film musicals, there's tons of shite reverb and naff remixing on the vocals. Levi Stubbs is buried so low in the mix that he needn't have bothered turning up.]
