- For the episode, see MST3K 1003 - Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders.
| “ | Rock n' roll Martian... | ” |
| - Michael Andrews singing |
Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders is a 1996 supernatural anthology film that was written and directed by Kenneth J. Berton.
Plot[]
During a power outage, a grandfather tells his grandson two stories related to the wizard Merlin.
The first story is about a married couple, Jonathan and Madeline Cooper. Johnathan is a successful and arrogant newspaper columnist, and he and Madeline have been unable to conceive a baby. They visit Merlin's store, where Jonathan berates Merlin and threatens to write a negative article in the newspaper. Merlin loans Jonathan his spell book as proof that he is actually the legendary wizard. Jonathan takes the book home and begins to experiment with several of the spells.
The Evil Monkey from Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders
Jonathan becomes convinced of the book's authenticity when a spell causes him to have a vision of Satan and breathe fire. Jonathan becomes obsessed with the book's powers, but spellcasting drains his life force and he begins to dramatically age. He finds a rejuvenation spell and proceeds to create the potion, but the spell regresses Jonathan into infancy. Madeline happily decides to raise her former husband as her own child.
In the second story, a thief steals a cymbal-banging monkey toy from Merlin's Shop, and sells it to a novelty store, where it is 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's cymbals are struck again, Merlin arrives and takes the toy back to his shop.
Cast[]
- Ernest Borgnine as Grandfather
- Mark Hurtado as Grandson
- George Milan as Merlin
- Bunny Summers as Zurella
- John Terrence as Johnathan Cooper III
- Patricia Sansone as Madeline Cooper
- Bob Mendelsohn as David Andrews
- Struan Robertson as Michael Andrews
Notes[]
- The film's second story, involving the demonic toy monkey, are re-used scenes from director Kenneth Berton's 1984 film The Devil's Gift which seems to have been strongly inspired by the short story "The Monkey" by Stephen King, though it does not credit King.
- The American cartoon seen in this film is a 1935 animated short called Balloon Land.
- The anime movie seen in this film is The Adventures of Ultraman.
- The song "Rock N' Roll Martian" was improvised by Struan Robertson, who played Michael Andrews.[1]
MST3K Connections[]
- George Milan also portrayed General Nelson in War of the Colossal Beast.