The Little Shop of Horrors work. And they needed something to bridge that moment. They found in the editing room a nice shot of the moon, and they cut it in, and it worked. Twenty years go by. I'm at the studio one day. Chuck comes running up to me, says, 'You've got to see this!' It was a magazine article—eight pages on the symbolism of the moon in "Little Shop of Horrors"." According to Corman, the total budget for the production was $30,000. Other sources estimate the budget to be between $22,000 and $100,000. Corman had initial trouble finding distribution for the film, as
Horrors of the Black Museum gimmicks at that time." The film was given a wide release in the US on a double bill with "The Headless Ghost". It was very popular and earned over $1 million in profits. Cohen estimated 72% of the audience for this sort of film was aged between 12 and 26. Cohen says when the movie was released on television they had to take off the hypnotism prologue "because it does hypnotize some people." The film was later inducted into the Museum of Modern Art at the behest of Martin Scorsese. Horrors of the Black Museum Horrors of the Black Museum