Little Shop of Horrors 4K (1986)

           To celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of director Frank Oz’s film version of the off off Broadway musical - that was itself inspired by a film that has become a legend in itself - Warner Bros. are bringing out LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS on 4K UHD in standard, steelbook and collector’s editions.

Why is the original film a legend? Made in 1960 and the brainchild of writer Charles B Griffith (who also voiced Audrey the man-eating plant) and producer-director Roger Corman, it's the story of browbeaten Seymour Krelborn who works in a flower shop and finds fame when he discovers a ‘strange and interesting new plant’ which turns out to need human blood to survive.  Allegedly it was shot over just a couple of days. (“We were going to play tennis,” quipped Corman, ever the showman, “but it was raining”).

The film was eventually turned into a musical and then into a big budget Hollywood picture with Rick Moranis as Seymour, Ellen Greene as the woman he loves, Vincent Gardenia as Mr Mushnik the flower shop owner, and Levi Stubbs and about forty other people as Audrey the Man-Eating Plant. Despite featuring memorable toe-tapping songs and likeable characters, preview audiences were upset with the original ending, and so more than ten minutes of complex and extensive effects work (and one of the songs) were sacrificed and a new ending filmed, which was then what audiences got to see when the film was released.

This is being mentioned because Warners’ new 4K gives you the option of playing the original director’s cut (103 minutes) or the version that was seen in cinemas (94 minutes). There’s an archival Frank Oz commentary on the theatrical version, with the original ending separate with an accompanying commentary amongst the ported over extras.

New to this disc is a featurette (15 minutes) in which Frank Oz and Ellen Greene share their memories of making the film, and a new piece on the creation of Audrey II (eight minutes). Otherwise extras are archival including Frank Oz discussing the director’s cut from 2012 and nine minutes of deleted scenes and out-takes.

If you go for the collector’s version you get the film on UHD and Blu-ray discs in a steelbook as well as two posters, a 34 page booklet, 4 character cards and 2 behind the scenes cards. You can also get the steelbook alone, or a standard edition which contains the UHD disc only. 

LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS is out in 4K from Warner Bros. in collectors, steelbook and standard UHD editions on Monday 19th October 2026