Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)

Two creepy "horror" films joined together by Merlin's Shop which is, in turn, introduced by a Grandpa telling the story.

Director:

Kenneth J. Berton

Writer:

Kenneth J. Berton

Stars:

Ernest Borgnine, George Milan, Bunny Summers

Bottom 100 #24 | See the Bottom 100 movies as voted by our users.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Ernest Borgnine	...	Grandfather
George Milan	...	Merlin
Bunny Summers	...	Zurella
John Terrence	...	Jonathan Cooper III
Patricia Sansone	...	Madeline Cooper (as Pat Sansone)
Mark Hurtado	...	Grandson
Nicholas Noyes	...	Nicholas
Hillary Young	...	Nicholas' Mother
Julia Leigh Miller	...	Antique Store Clerk
Ben Sussman	...	Jake Cosgrove
Randy Chandler	...	Burglar
Bob Mendelsohn	...	David Andrews (archive footage) (as Bob Mendlesohn)
Struan Robertson	...	Michael Andrews (archive footage)
Bruce Parry	...	Pete (archive footage)
Vicki Saputo	...	Susan (archive footage)

Storyline

This is a movie within a TV movie within a made-for-video movie. A boy is watching TV when a power outage forces him to talk to his grandpa for entertainment. His grandpa, a former screenwriter, re-tells an old screenplay about Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders. In it, Merlin sets up an enchanting store in a modern-day strip mall, accompanied by his gleeful wife and gnomes, snakes, dragons, etc. From this framing device, we then see two stories about people's encounters with items from the shop. The first sequence (created for this film but looking like an episode of "Tales From The Darkside") involves a pompous, cranky newspaper critic who begins casting spells using Merlin's spell book. The second story, an edited version of the full length movie, The Devil's Gift, is about an evil monkey doll (you know, the wicked grin and the cymbals?) who kills every time his hands clap. Merlin of the 1990s is disjointedly tied-in with the 1980 movie.

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Plot Keywords:

monkey | cymbal | spell book | dragon | clerk | 

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Taglines:

In a world where magic truely (sic) exists, anything can happen.

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Genres:

Fantasy

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Certificate:

Unrated

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Also Known As:

Antykwariat Merlina

Filming Locations:

Petaluma, California, USA

Company Credits

Technical Specs

Runtime:

92 min 88 min (DVD)

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Color:

Color

Did You Know?

Goofs

When the power goes out and the grandchild says "Now I'm gonna' miss the movie", a second young boy in dark clothes walks in the right side of the background seconds later.

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Quotes

Merlin: Excuse me, but have you seen my little monkey?

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Connections

Edited from The Devil's Gift (1984)

User Reviews

Mystically mind numbing

Ernest Borgnine is a great storyteller. I think the boy suffered from random epileptic seizures after this film was made.

This is awful. Merlin has decided to join the business world and has opened his shop of yore. Run by him and Mrs. Merlin, they first must deal with a cynical critic who threatens to ruin the shop's business. Good old Merlin gives him a book of evil wizardry. After fire breathing, cat from hell, levitating, and so on, the critic learns that this film has aged him (he's not alone).

The second half is a rip-off of the monkey's paw, except in this case it's a duracell running monkey toy with cymbals. Ha ha. Of course, someone buys it as a present for a little boy and that's when the fun starts. One of the only saving moments is when Merlin goes around asking, "Have you seen my monkey?" Hee hee, that one always works!

Merlin's gift shop.....to be avoided at all costs.