In the original ending of both the Alan Menken/Howard Ashman musical (based on the 1960 Roger Corman film), and the 1986 Frank Oz film based on the musical, Seymour and Audrey certainly did not live happily ever after âsomewhere thatâs greenâ.
In the original, downbeat ending (which was changed in the film due to negative audience reception in test screenings), after Audrey is attacked by the Audrey II, Seymour rescues her, and confesses feeding Orin Scrivello and Mr. Mushnik to the ravenous plant. In her last, dying breath, Audrey requests that Seymour feed her to the plant as well, and earn the accolades that he deserves.
After fulfilling Audreyâs dying wish, Seymour attempts to commit suicide by jumping from the roof of the building, only to be stopped by Patrick Martin, who offers to mass-produce and market the Audrey II from clippings he had secretly harvested, also issuing the warning that Seymourâs consent to the deal isnât 100% necessary, as plants are considered âpublic domainâ. Realizing this to be the plantâs plan all along, Seymour confronts Audrey II, attempting to destroy it, only to be swallowed whole.
Martin goes on to sell the plants in mass quantities to the public, who unknowingly buy up the little stinkers en masse, allowing the overgrown, delinquent dandelions to conquer the world.
The 2012 Blu-ray Directorâs Cut release of the film includes this ending, fully restored to the same level of quality as the rest of the film (as opposed to the recalled DVD release that included the raw, unpolished footage without sound, and in black and white, due to the color print of the footage being lost in a studio fire). With the discovery of color negatives of the sequence, along with notes from Frank Oz, the film can finally be seen as it was originally intended.
A sample clip from the restored ending can be seen here (the colors are absolutely gorgeous). Downbeat or not, I donât know how this isnât still a highly-enjoyable sequence. Test audiences in the 80âs apparently had no taste.
The recalled, black and white footage of the complete ending can still be viewed on Youtube, with some sound restored:
blakekathryn
2087
kianamaiart
amandla
tangentwithtanner
turnnoffyourmind
stormborns
s-u-f-j-a-n-s-t-e-v-e-n-s
