If you're a
DVD fan, besides being a great musical, this is probably the most valuable addition you can make to your collection - if you can find it of course.
Ebay is the best place to look, but don't be confused by the
2000 reissue which doesn't have the extra ending, and don't expect it for much less than $100.
In the 1980 off-Broadway musical, Audrey II eats the stars at the end before going on to take over the world. It works well on stage cos they come out and take a bow afterwards - at a sub-conscious level you know it's just make-believe.
The Great American preview audiences for the 1986 film were horrified to see their heroes devoured (get real guys - it's just a movie) and the studio demanded a rewrite with a happy ending - which produced the movie we all know and love.
In the good tradition of DVD, Warners wanted some sexy extras when they initially came to release the DVD in 1986 and unearthed a scratchy, poorly scored, B&W print of the original $5million ending which they duely added to the disc.
On the first day of release (so the story goes), producer David Geffen saw the disc, threw a fit about Warners releasing his footage without his permission and had it withdrawn. Hence the rarity and sky-high prices.
But what's the original ending like? Well "bizarre" is probably the first word that springs to mind. It's half an hour of black and white, heavily scrawled with movie pencil and with a musical track that sounds like it's stuck ON the film rather than IN the film. But for the LSoH fan it's astonishing. It's that fabled ending that everyone talked about but feared nobody would ever get to see. It's the stuff of legends and $100 is a price worth paying.
Of course if you're lucky enough to have a lover who'll surprise you with a copy for your birthday then so much the better...