Roger Corman: The Little Shop of Horrors cult B-movie director dies aged 98 (2024)

  • Published

Roger Corman: The Little Shop of Horrors cult B-movie director dies aged 98 (1)Image source, Getty Images

Roger Corman, who directed a series of cult films including 1960's The Little Shop of Horrors, has died aged 98.

His family told industry publication Variety, external that he died on Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, California.

"His films were revolutionary and iconoclastic, and captured the spirit of an age," their statement said.

Jack Nicholson and Robert De Niro are among the actors he helped develop. Directors James Cameron and Martin Scorsese cut their teeth on his films.

Many of his films became cult classics and he became famous for the speed at which he worked, often making two films at the same location and at the same time, in order to save money.

Roger Corman was born in Detroit on 5 April 1926. His father, William, was an engineer and he had intended to follow in his footsteps.

However, while studying at college, he became attracted to film-making and after a spell working for General Motors quit his job and went to work at 20th Century Fox as a messenger boy.

Having failed to make much progress, he set off for Europe where among other things, he briefly studied English literature at Oxford. He returned to the US with ambitions to become a screenwriter.

Image source, The Fiilmgroup

He sold his first script, The House in the Sea, in 1953 and it was filmed as Highway Dragnet the following year with Corman being credited as co-producer.

However, he was so upset by the changes made to his story that he scraped together some cash and set himself up as a producer.

Corman began directing in 1955 with Swamp Women and over the next 15 years he made more than 50 films, gaining a reputation for the speed with which he could turn them out.

Famous faces

It became something of a joke in the film industry that Corman could negotiate a contract from a public phone, shoot the film in the phone box and pay for it with the coins in the change slot.

The 1960 release, The Little Shop of Horrors, which featured a brief appearance by a young Jack Nicholson, took just two days to shoot with Corman using the set of a previous film, Bucket of Blood.

A stage musical based on the film opened in 1982 and would itself spawn a second film version four years later.

Image source, Rex Features

Corman decided to widen his horizons with a series of films based on the works of Edgar Allan Poe and featuring Vincent Price as the lead in all but one of them.

The House of Usher was released in 1960 and was followed by a string of others including The Raven, The Masque of the Red Death and The Tomb of Ligeia.

His 1962 film, The Intruder, which examined racial tensions in America's Deep South, featured a young William Shatner and won an award at the Venice Film Festival.

Despite this, the film flopped at the box office and became Corman's first film to make a loss, prompting him to remark that he'd stick to making films that entertained rather than carried a social message.

For a time he became part of the 1960s counter-culture, making biker film The Wild Angels, which starred Peter Fonda and Nancy Sinatra.

He also directed The Trip, which was written by and starred Jack Nicholson. The film was seen as the precursor of Easy Rider, with both Peter Fonda and Dennis Hopper featuring in the cast

Image source, Rex Features

In the late 60s he set up his own production company, New World Pictures.

As well as continuing to make budget movies, he also began handling films made by distinguished foreign film-makers, including Francois Truffaut, Ingmar Bergman and Federico Fellini and introducing them to an American audience.

He sold New World Pictures in the 1980s but went on to form two more production companies. He also returned to the director's chair in 1990 with the film Frankenstein Unbound.

Based on a Brian Aldiss novel, it starred John Hurt and Bridget Fonda and featured a brief appearance by Michael Hutchence, the lead singer of the Australian band INXS.

In 2009 he received an Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement and continued to work well into his eighties, producing the 2010 films Dinoshark and Sharktopus for the Syfy TV channel.

The sheer quantity of films on which he worked is almost without precedent, as was his ability to find and nurture new talent.

Many of his films have taken on cult status and few directors have been so successful at making popular pictures on such tight budgets.

When asked how Corman would like to be remembered, he said, 'I was a filmmaker, just that,'" the family said in their statement.

Related Topics

  • Film
  • Hollywood
Roger Corman: The Little Shop of Horrors cult B-movie director dies aged 98 (2024)

FAQs

Roger Corman: The Little Shop of Horrors cult B-movie director dies aged 98? ›

Roger Corman: The Little Shop of Horrors cult B

B
A B movie, or B film, is a type of low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, somewhat similar to B-sides in the world of recorded music.
https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › B_movie
-movie director dies aged 98. leaving the page. , who directed a series of cult films including 1960's The Little Shop of Horrors, has died aged 98. His family told industry publication Variety that he died on Thursday at his home in Santa Monica, California.

Where was the original Little Shop of Horrors filmed? ›

All the scenes were filmed at Pinewood Studios in England, making use of every sound stage there, including the 007 Stage. Oz and his crew did not want to shoot on location as it would tamper with the fantastical mood of the film. Part of the giant 007 stage was used to film the "Suddenly Seymour" number.

How many Little Shop of Horrors movies are there? ›

Little Shop of Horrors may refer to: The Little Shop of Horrors, a 1960 American film. Little Shop of Horrors (musical), a 1982 musical based on the 1960 film. Little Shop of Horrors (1986 film), a 1986 American film based on the 1982 musical.

Why did Rick Moranis stop acting? ›

Acting hiatus

In 1997, Moranis took a hiatus from working in the film industry. He later explained, "I'm a single parent and I just found that it was too difficult to manage to raise my kids and to do the traveling involved in making movies. So I took a little bit of a break.

What is the meaning behind Little Shop of Horrors? ›

As the play ends, the Chorus in Little Shop of Horrors sings “Don't Feed the Plants,” and the message to the human audience is to be careful what you wish for. As Seymour learns, there is a terrible price to pay when you get what you want, instead of what you earn.

Is Little Shop of Horrors inappropriate? ›

Parents need to know that this musical has dark themes and is not for children or very sensitive viewers. It's campy noir not meant to be taken seriously, but the dark comedic plot involves a sinister dentist who tortures his patients, and a flesh-eating plant that devours human parts in a graphic feeding scene.

Why does Little Shop of Horrors have two endings? ›

After two failed test screenings in San Jose and Los Angeles, in which the audiences rejected the ending, the theatrical, "happy" ending was shot, in which both Audrey and Seymour survive, and Audrey II is destroyed. In 1998, Warner Bros. released a special edition DVD of the film, with the original ending as an extra.

What happens to Seymour in Little Shop of Horrors? ›

Seymour realizes the plant's evil plan: world conquest. He tries shooting, cutting, and poisoning the plant, but it has grown too hardy to kill. Seymour, in desperation, runs into its open jaws with a machete planning to kill it from the inside, but he is quickly eaten ("Bigger Than Hula-hoops").

What was the original 1960 version of The Little Shop of Horrors? ›

The Little Shop of Horrors is a 1960 American horror comedy film directed by Roger Corman. Written by Charles B. Griffith, the film is a farce about a florist's assistant who cultivates a plant that feeds on human blood.

How long did it take to film Little Shop of Horrors in 1986? ›

Griffith, who incorporated farce and humor into the horror story, with American actor/filmmaker/producer/film distributor Roger Corman's B-movie film The Passionate People Eater. Corman shot the film in two days and one night, on the set of another B-movie, Bucket of Blood.

Where is The Little Shop of Horrors set? ›

The musical is based on the basic concept and dark comic tone of the 1960 film, although it changes much of the story. The setting is moved from Skid Row, Los Angeles to Skid Row in New York. Seymour's hypochondriacal Jewish mother is omitted in the musical, and Seymour becomes an orphan in the care of Mushnik.

Where is the house of horrors located? ›

When authorities arrived at the Turpins' residence in Perris, California, later dubbed a "House of Horrors" in the media, they discovered 12 malnourished victims in filthy conditions. Some of the children were tied to their beds. Some were so emaciated they could barely walk.

References

Top Articles
Latest Posts
Recommended Articles
Article information

Author: Nathanial Hackett

Last Updated:

Views: 6129

Rating: 4.1 / 5 (52 voted)

Reviews: 83% of readers found this page helpful

Author information

Name: Nathanial Hackett

Birthday: 1997-10-09

Address: Apt. 935 264 Abshire Canyon, South Nerissachester, NM 01800

Phone: +9752624861224

Job: Forward Technology Assistant

Hobby: Listening to music, Shopping, Vacation, Baton twirling, Flower arranging, Blacksmithing, Do it yourself

Introduction: My name is Nathanial Hackett, I am a lovely, curious, smiling, lively, thoughtful, courageous, lively person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.