Seymour was an ordinary guy until he took possession of Audrey II. Never mind that the plant stood out because it could talk. Worse, it liked to eat human flesh. And it had a hell of an appetite.

Audrey II managed to convince Seymour that providing fresh humans was in the interest of the greater good, and by the time he saw the errors of his ways, it was too late.

"Don't you talk to me about old King Kong," Audrey II sings in the film hit Little Shop of Horrors.

"You think he's the worst, well, you're thinkin' wrong.

Don't talk to me about Frankenstein. He got a temper, ha! He ain't got mine". Audrey II is perhaps the most aggressive in a long line of carnivorous plants that have grabbed the popular imagination. Any kid who has ever tried to keep an exotic Venus fly trap alive can tell you about the chills of watching a plant trap, then slowly devour another living creature. It gets the creative juices flowing, as so many Hollywood versions of man-eating plants in unexplored jungles attest to.

But you don't have to go to Hollywood to find plants that eat things alive. Some local spots managed by the Couchiching Conservancy are home to plants that trap and eat insects.

They're nothing like the bone-crunching Audrey II, but they're among the most fascinating plants you will encounter locally.

Take the pitcher plant. It gets its name from the shape of its leaves, which grow in bogs and along shorelines to form a hollow tube or pitcher.

The tube is green with reddish markings, and it is covered with stiff hairs which point downward. Water gathers at the base of these pitchers - just enough to drown small insects which can get in, but have a more difficult time getting out, thanks to the downwardpointing hairs. The insect drowns in the water, then slowly decomposes to provide nutrients to the plant.

Right here in central Ontario.

The pitcher plant also features a bizarre bloom that shoots up on a bare stem that can grow 18 inches high. It looks like a big purplish button trimmed with five petals and can be impressive rising out of surrounding wetland vegetation in small clusters. Fairly rare and fragile, it's easiest to spot when it blooms in the spring.

The pitcher plant isn't the only bug eater around these parts. Even more dainty and frail is the tiny round-leaved sundew plant.

Sometimes found on the sunny side of partially submerged logs, it likes the acid soil of bogs as well. Just don't underestimate this delicate plant if you're a small insect.

In an adaptation you can only marvel at, the sundew has a leaf blade covered with reddish bristles topped by sticky glands. Insects become entrapped in the sticky substance and wait to be slowly consumed.

It's easy enough to see how a little imagination can lead to all sorts of creative and horrifying extrapolation in the hands of a good - or not so good - screenwriter.

But like so much in the natural world these days, these "killers" are themselves existing on the edge.

Their habitat can be disrupted easily by things like heavy wakes and the destruction of shorelines.

If you know where to look though, they're still out there, putting serious emphasis on the term "wildlife".