Little Shop of Horrors (film) December 19, 1986 and was anticipated to do strong business over the 1986 holiday season. The film grossed $39 million at the box office, which, from the viewpoint of the studio, was considered an underperformer. However, it became a smash hit upon its home video release in 1987 on VHS and Beta. Rotten Tomatoes retrospectively collected reviews to give it a score of 90% based on reviews from 48 critics, the general consensus states: "Remixing Roger Corman's B-movie by way of the Off-Broadway musical, "Little Shop of Horrors" offers camp, horror and catchy tunes in equal measure—plus some inspired cameos
The Little Shop of Horrors Company yard for an entire evening using two bottles of scotch as persuasion. The scene in which a character portrayed by Robert Coogan is run over by a train was accomplished by persuading the railroad crew to back the locomotive away from the actor. The shot was later printed in reverse. Griffith and Welles spent a total of $1,100 on fifteen minutes worth of exteriors. The film's musical score, written by cellist Fred Katz, was originally written for "A Bucket of Blood". According to Mark Thomas McGee, author of "Roger Corman: The Best of the Cheap Acts", each time Katz