Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders
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| Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders | |
|---|---|
 VHS cover for the film |
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| Directed by | Kenneth J. Berton |
| Produced by | Kenneth J. Berton |
| Written by | Kenneth J. Berton |
| Starring | Ernest Borgnine George Milan Bunny Summers John Terrence Patricia Sansone Mark Hurtado Nicholas Noyes |
| Music by | Todd Hayen Frank Macchia |
| Cinematography | Michael Gfelner Tony Martin |
| Running time | 92 min |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| IMDb profile | |
Merlin’s Shop of Mystical Wonders is a 1996 film starring Ernest Borgnine. Despite what the title would imply, this film is more of a horror film than a child-friendly fantasy movie. In this film, Borgnine plays a grandfather telling his grandson a story about the wizard Merlin opening up a store in modern-day America. He tells him two separate stories about Merlin and the store.
[edit] Plot
[edit] First story
In the first story an obnoxious columnist examines the store, berates Merlin, and threatens to write a negative article in the newspaper that will cause his readers to avoid the store. Merlin gives the columnist a book of spells as proof that he is actually the legendary wizard. The columnist takes the book home and casts a few spells. The magic makes him age, kills his cat, and causes the columnist to see the image of a demon. The columnist's cat then comes back to life (due to the magic from Merlin's book) and proceeds to chew into the columnist's neck causing blood to spill all over his hand. The columnist tries to kill the cat with a pitchfork but it fails, so he casts a spell that makes him breathe fire, and he burns his cat alive. He then attempts to make himself young again by casting a spell that involves drinking his wife's blood. The columnist takes a long needle and sticks it in his wife's arm, and begins to extract her blood, but when he begins to say the spell, the magic from the book turns him into a baby. The columnist's wife then raises her former husband as her child.
[edit] Second story
In the second storyline a thief steals a toy monkey from Merlins shop and sells it to a novelty store, where it is quickly bought as a present for a young boy. Every time the monkeys cymbals are struck, a nearby living thing dies. The boy's father takes the monkey and attempts to bury it but it finds its way back into the boy's house. Before the monkey can cause any more damage, Merlin shows up and takes the toy back to his shop.
