By Emma Dawson

In the spirit of Halloween, I recommend the 1960 science fiction comedy The Little Shop of Horrors, directed by Roger Corman. Shot in just two days using rented equipment and a low $30,000 budget, The Little Shop of Horrors presents a hilarious brand of dark humor, employing farce through amusingly bad acting, fake-y special effects, and a successfully disturbing, captivating plotline.

Jonathan Haze stars as Seymour Krelboyne, a quirky, clumsy assistant in a Los Angeles floral shop.  In a brash attempt to save his job, Seymour reveals to his boss—Gravis Mushnik, played by Mel Welles—his invention of a new plant: the crossbreed of a butterwort and a Venus flytrap. In order to keep his job, Seymour is given one week to revive the droopy, unimpressive plant. Seymour soon realizes that the plant doesn’t respond to normal sources of nourishment—in fact, it craves human blood. The Little Shop of Horrors follows Seymour’s struggle to sustain the plant as it grows bigger and bigger and develops the ability to speak.

Haze perfectly pulls off the awkward and eventually frantic role, transitioning Seymour’s character into a believable hysteria. His performance is contrasted by the stern, one-dimensional Mushnik, and by female counterpart Audrey, played by Jackie Joseph, who acts as Seymour’s sweet, innocent coworker. All of the acting is overdramatized and ridiculous, at times, which expertly compliments the absurdity of the film.

A deviation from the suspense-driven, high-budget kind of horror we are used to, The Little Shop of Horrors cleverly captures its audience, prompting them to laugh at an essentially sickening idea. The film humbly makes fun of itself, which is the genius of The Little Shop of Horrors.  It is playful and light, never taking itself too seriously, yet it is based around a disturbed concept and maintains a subtly creepy tone. It even lives up to its horror-movie expectation by taking a sober, haunting turn in the end.

The Little Shop of Horrors is a must-see classic for this Halloween season. I promise it’ll have you laughing the whole way through. It has been rumored that a remake is just around the corner, directed by Declan O’Brien and starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt…make sure you catch the original, first!