Righteous Recommendations
Other Releases Available:
Releases Reviewed:
The Little Shop of Horrors is like other old public domain flicks in that it has a horrific number of releases to sort, but this little gem of a horror comedy has gotten far better treatment than most.
Most notably is a Blu-ray which also has a DVD version of the same release. A different Blu offers it with a variety of other old films. There's a Collector's Edition with some extras, a digitally remastered version from GoodTimes, a 3D Horror Classics release, a Digital Gold Collection that is remastered, and any number of other unremarkable DVD's. In addition to those are numerous multi-packs few of which stand out except the Roger Corman Classics Collection 1.
I'll compare a few different versions of this movie. First is the “Horror Classics” 50 pack .
Video:
1.33: This seems to be the only aspect ratio offered for the movie; I can't find a widescreen presentation. The video is often washed out making it difficult to make out some of the details of the picture. It has the typical trash, fuzzy image, and other imperfections of an old unrestored movie.
Audio:
1.0 mono: The sound quality is rough and so distorted that it is sometimes hard to make out the words.
Packaging:
This particular disc is housed in a cardboard sleeve contained in a Velcro-fastened box (more recently repacked in plastic). You can read about the set as a whole in great detail in the Horror Classics (50 pack) guide.
Extras:
There are no extras of any kind.
Other Editions:
The Blu contains both the colorized version and the original black-and-white. The ratio is the standard 1.33 that all of the releases have. The video is a 1080p transfer. The screenshots that I've seen blow every version I've ever watched out of the water but reviewers say that it's still not perfect with trash, damage, and missing frames. The mono soundtrack is presented in high-def DTS 2.0. Again, it sounds like it is far better than any version I've seen but still very much imperfect. The only extra is a commentary by Mike Nelson of Mystery Science Theater 3000 fame.
The DVD version of this release appears to offer pretty much the same thing although I never saw a mention of the commentary being included.
The Attack of the B's Blu collection seems to be part of a slowly growing trend (or perhaps attempt at a trend) of using Blu's storage capacity to fit a lot of movies on a single disc. 18 public domain films (some very common, some fairly rare) reside on a single disc in standard 480i definition (no HD here). The best I can say for these is that they seem to occasionally present the original image ratios and may be very slightly improved quality over some of the cheaper DVD budget packs. Otherwise they offer nothing special aside from being exceptionally self-space friendly. They offer no extras and can be somewhat hard to find.
The digitally remastered version from GoodTimes has gotten some positive comments about the quality. There's no mention of extras.
The 3D version offers no helpful comments and has no reviews that I found. I'll be skipping it since the thought of seeing this in 3D doesn't excite me.
The Digital Gold Collection mentions being remastered and sports a 5.1 digital surround mix. The quality is supposed to be pretty good though I didn't see people praising this one like they did the others I mentioned. The package offers bios of stars and filmmakers.
The Roger Corman Classics Collection 1 is remastered. The quality is reportedly pretty good although none of the reviews had much useful info. There are no extras.
Final Thoughts:
The Platinum Disc Collector's Edition DVD is nothing special. The Horror Classics 50 pack is a good bargain overall, but you get what you pay for as far as quality goes. The Blu or its DVD counterpart is the way to go if you are concerned about quality and probably have the best extras offered even though they still don't have much to them. Other than that I say just go for the best deal on one of the remastered releases if possible.
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Next up is from a 20 pack called “Chilling.”
Video:
1.33: The image is little less washed out than the others I've seen but is very soft looking. It's a trade off I suppose. It still has plenty of trash in the image. It can be a bit pixelated, but it's only enough to bug me when there are large sections of black in the scene.
Audio:
1.0 mono: Of the versions I have the audio in this one is marginally better if only because it is not quite so distorted and is therefore easier to make out. It's not quite as loud (the others being TOO loud is what caused much of the distortion), but it's easier on the ears.
Packaging:
The disc comes in a paper sleeve that lives in a plastic case. You can get more details about the set as a whole by checking out the Chilling (20 pack) guide.
Extras:
No extras for this one, either.
The last one I'll talk about is a stand-alone “collector’s edition” by Platinum Disc Corp. (which is also available a box set that includes The Terror, another old Corman flick). It's remastered but don't let that get you too excited.
Video:
1.33: This is less washed out than the 50 pack and not as soft as the 20 pack. It's still not fantastic, though. It's a little fuzzy and grainy although the amount of trash in the image is tremendously less.
Audio:
1.0 mono: The sound quality is not really any better than the collection copy. It's still distorted and hard to make out at times. There's not much white noise but still some crackles and pops.
Packaging:
It comes in a standard plastic case. I'm not sure why the art features a close up of Jack Nicholson's face.
If you get the box set with The Terror you'll get the 2 plastic cases in a larger cardboard box.
The menus feature some graphics of the plant and a loop of the score.
Extras:
-Quiz: First is a quiz that features 3 easy questions. Choose the answer and see if it’s correct or not, that’s all there is to it.
-Bio: The other is a Jack Nicholson bio. It’s short and inaccurate saying he played Joker in “Bat-Man2.”
