10 Horror Movie Props You Didn't Know Were Reused

10. Little Shop Of Horrors' Dentist Tools Were Used In Batman

What do Bill Murray's Arthur Denton and Jack Nicholson's Joker have in common? They were both 'operated' on using the exact same tools.

For Nicholson's Jack Napier in Batman, his transformation to become the Clown Prince of Crime sees his face fixed up by a shoddy doctor. And wouldn't you know it, but the instruments used to reconstruct the Joker's face after his initial run-in with the Dark Knight had been recycled from 1986's Little Shop of Horrors.

In Frank Oz's famed take on Little Shop of Horrors, we see Bill Murray's character paying a visit to sinister dentist Orin Scrivello (Steve Martin). During Arthur's time in the dentist's chair, several of the tools used by Martin's DDS are all present and accounted for by the time Tim Burton's first Batman picture rolled around three years later.

There's surely some sort of comparison to be made between a dentist and the Joker for those with a fear of getting their pearly whites checked out from time to time, although the main connection here is simply a smart case of reinvention that nicely ties Little Shop of Horrors to Batman.

Authored by Andrew Pollard

Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks/Saints, Jamie Hayter, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.

First Posted On: 16th Jul 2021

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