Customer Reviews

The Cry Baby Killer (Back-to-Back Jack Edition)

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After all these years, we finally receive an "official" release of Roger Corman's wonderful LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS (1960) -- and Jack Nicholson's film debut is thrown in, too! Wonderful!

Or so I thought. The disc arrived today, and was sent back today. It's COLORIZED. Yep. And no option for B&W, either. Ya wanna watch LITTLE SHOP, you have to see it with that crappy computer color that makes everybody look embalmed. My new choice for WORST DVD OF THE YEAR. What a MASSIVE disappointment.

[...]

Okay, first of all, this should be a "Little Shop of Horrors - Special Edition" with "Cry Baby Killer" as an added bonus feature. And "L.S. or H." should be in black-and-white as it was filmed. This is disgraceful, and I hope Buena Vista refrains from messing up any more Corman titles in the future.

When I preordered the Jack to Jack edition, the box did not proclaim LSOH colorization. Upon receipt I considered sending it back unopened. Actually, I'm glad I didn't. Cry Baby Killer is a reasonable entertainment that has quite devious and anti-establishment observations about most of the cast, who represent various factions of society. Though rather stage bound (only three major sets - bar, storeroom, and outside the bar and storeroom), this is overcome with good camera angles and extraneous business from cops, relatives, onlookers, hot dog vendors, and especially the tv crew. I came away considering it a cheap but effective rip/tribute of Billy Wilder's Ace In the Hole/The Big Carnival. And Jack Nicholson's part as a young, inexperienced and confused youth comes accross as young, inexperienced, and confused. Lots to chew on here, such as who is untimately to blame for the situation. On to LSOH, though I loathe colorization, this particular film, being also very stage bound does get some advantage from the color - Audrey Junior looks much more alien all green with cotton candy interior. Audrey Senior and the hooker are better eye candy as well. Would have been a superior package with the B&W LSOH, but I suspect the change was made to challenge the Legends colorized release product. Overall, I'm happy with it.

Due to some level of confusion, this Video on Demand is being associated with reviews for an entirely different product being released by Buena Vista Home Video. Well, let me attempt to clear up some of the confusion. Firstly, this VOD is not the same version that appears on the Roger Corman Collection DVD edition of "The Cry Baby Killer".

When THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS was originally released, Corman did not see financial prospect in the film after its initial release. As a result, he did not renew the film's copyright, and it fell into the public domain. This became a source of conflict, as the film had gained a strong cult following by the 1980s. In response to a brief popularity of titles that had been converted from black and white to color, Corman authorized a colorized version of LITTLE SHOP, and this became the only version of the film that he actually had any legal entitlement to.

The years passed, and colorization faded, largely because the technology of the 1980s was quite poor. As colorization techniques improved, a few companies decided to give the process another go in the early 2000s. These new colorizations were highly praised, so many films that had previously been colorized poorly in the 1980s have been colorized again with better results. The company Legend Films released a new version of LITTLE SHOP, seen here, which had been colorized in high-definition. As this version was gaining momentum, Corman decided to dust off his colorized version and release it as a bonus feature on the DVD The Cry Baby Killer (Back-to-Back Jack Edition). Corman did not include a black and white version of the film, because he owned the 1980s colorized version, and he didn't feel the need to include something that people had already seen.

By all accounts, the version of the film available from Amazon Video on Demand is better than the version released by Corman and Buena Vista in every way. Firstly, the picture quality of the Legend VOD is far superior than Buena Vista's, and the colorization is strikingly realistic, as opposed to looking like an altered black and white film. One look at the excerpt, and you can tell that the VOD is NOT the version contained on the Buena Vista/Corman CRY BABY KILLER DVD.

The fact that the VOD is being associated with the reviews for the CRY BABY KILLER DVD is not the only mistake. For example, the VOD is listed as The Little Shop Of Horrors (Rifftrax Version), suggesting that it contains a commentary by Michael J. Nelson, presumably the updated version that was recently released on Nelson's RiffTrax website, when, in fact, the VOD that is currently being labeled as being "RiffTrax version" does not contain a "riff track". It is the film only. Confusingly, the VOD for the version containing Nelson's commentary is listed as being simply Little Shop Of Horrors.

Amazon has long been the source of confusion for many buyers, particularly in its VOD and MP3 download services, but hopefully I have cleared things up for anyone who is scratching their heads over this. As for The Cry Baby Killer (Back-to-Back Jack Edition), I have to say to those who have reviewed this DVD negatively, that it is not an edition of THE LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS, and that reviews should focus on the merits of THE CRY BABY KILLER. Those that seek a special edition of LITTLE SHOP should stick with The Little Shop of Horrors - In COLOR! Also Includes the Original Black-and-White Version which has been Beautifully Restored and Enhanced!

You're probably all familiar with the Little Shop of Horrors. After all, its several incarnations over the decades have endeared it to popular culture in a way which few movies ever emulate. If you appreciate the subsequent musical antics of Seymour the Singing Plant, you owe it to yourself to watch this version--the cult favorite that started it all.

Plus, you'll get a look at one of Jack Nicholson's earliest roles.

Admittedly, the Amazon preview video isn't very informative, but this version of the 1960 classic is in full color for the first time ever, and has markedly improved in visual quality from versions previous, presumably because of the higher standards for something being watched on a high definition computer monitor as opposed to a low-def tube television.