Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders (1996)

Wow! What a bizarre film! Unfortunately the few funny moments there were were quite overshadowed by it's completely weird and random vibe throughout.

Great movie! If you want to be entertained and have a few good laughs, see this movie. The music is also very good,

Watching it is like watching the spectacle of a class clown at their best: you laugh at their jokes, instigate their defiance, and "ooooh" when they get in trouble.

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

Grandpa (Ernest Borgnine) is babysitting for little Billy when a storm causes a power outage. Faced with the sudden task of entertaining his grandson now that the TV is out of commission, he decides to tell him a story he'd written years before. It's the whimsical tale of Merlin, the magical wizard who proclaims that he "only wants people to believe in and experience the joy of magic." So of course the obvious thing to do is open a trendy little shop downtown. It's (hopefully) not what the writer had in mind, but nonetheless it immediately becomes obvious that Merlin is (and I quote The Great and Powerful Oz), "not a bad man, just a very bad wizard." Every item that leaves the Mystical Shop of Wonders causes terror and death. Apparently his great powers are useless when it comes to stopping the evil and harm he's 100% responsible for unleashing on the innocent. Despite the nearly non-existent links between subplots, one thing is consistent from beginning to end: every aspect of this story is so wrong on so many levels. No man, woman, child or household pet is safe – not even the goldfish! Seriously, even the most violent movies I've seen usually stick to one pet max! Don't get the idea that this is some sort of graphic horror flick. Not even by a long shot. It's pathetic, lame and ridiculous to the point that it's funny – that is unless you're poor little Billy.As you watch this, you'll be haunted by the burning question: "Why is Grandpa Psycho alone with Billy, telling a violent tale that will likely scar him for life?" But then, alas, he finishes the story with the lamest excuse for a happy ending and tenderly tucks Billy in. Sweet dreams little guy!I typically watch movies like this on Mystery Science Theater 3000, and I give that episode 10/10! This line really sums it up: "So evil wins, Grandpa Borgnine?" "That's right, even your tiny soul is doomed, Billy."

I was writing this correct an earlier user comment. The part with the toy monkey and symbols is actually a rip off of a Steven King short story. I think it was Four Past Midnight or Skeleton Crew. Since this has to be ten lines, the guy who steals Merlin's spell book comes off as a huge jack off. Every time things go bad for him it's actually hilarious. Earnest Borgnine ends up looking like a crazy old man. Whats he trying to do give his grandson mental problems. The kid is like six and he sits still quietly for two hours while his out there grandfather tells him some cockamamie wild story. Worst movie premise ever. The only times I've ever actually was the Mystery Science Theater Three Thousand version which is very funny. As a side note if your actually going to watch this movie do not do it sober. You will turn it off after five minutes.

Wow! I question as to why this was made into a movie instead of a terrible anthology TV pilot. Along with being bad, this is just truly bizarre. It starts off with a burning building, which turns out to be a little kid watching TV. I guess the television program he's watching may foreshadow later events, but it's still pointless. The kid's Grandpa (Ernest Borgnine) tells him to turn that trash off, only to tell him a couple of strange horror stories to put him to sleep.Before the first story really starts, we are introduced to Merlin and his wife who now own a shop to bring magic to the world. Merlin ends up giving a book of spells to a jerk who's wife can't have a baby, but wants one. This guy ends up dabbling in the spells and doing some crazy stuff, including spitting out fire at the cat. Then there's a really dumb twist ending that I'm not going to give away. This segment was really strange, mainly because the first 15 minutes of it was Merlin, then it switches to a short 15 minute story. Also, by the rationale of this segment, Merlin gets his power from Satan. The second segment is better than this one...and the second one was terrible.A dad ends up giving his boy a stolen wind up monkey with symbols toy for his birthday. This doll claps the symbols together and bad things happen. To stop the bad things, all you have to do is put your finger in between the symbols, so it really isn't a very effective killer. The dad finds out the toy is evil somehow when his dog dies in a fire, which leads him to ask a psychic for help. Meanwhile Merlin walks the streets searching for info on where the evil toy he has for some reason, may be. The plot all leads to the dad trying to dispose of the doll before it hurts anyone, but when plans fail, will his family be fine? Who cares. This story is a big rip-off of two Twilight Zone episodes, "Living Doll" and "It's a Good Life", and even though they were made 30 something years earlier, they were much scarier and more believable.Along with these two stories sidetracked by Merlin and his wife's wacky antics, we have this dumb wraparound. The wraparound is stupid and pointless, but even more pointless is the title character, Merlin. There was no need to have Merlin in this. It would've been slightly better if they put in 3 stories and cut out the stupid old wizard and his cantankerous wife. Plus the music in the film I'm pretty sure is stolen from various films, including "the Pagemaster". In the end, this is a very bad and bizarre film. Adults will feel it's too violent and profane for little kids, older kids won't like it, and little kids will be too scared. For my final thought, I know this review sounds like a big complaint, and it really is. Let's hope the movie studios learned from their mistakes.My rating: BOMB/****. 85 mins. Contains some violence, language and some mildly sexual innuendos.

I love Merlin's Shop of Mystical Wonders! But mostly, that little Mark Hurtado is just so darn cute! Of course, I love that it was on Mystery Science Theater 3000. MST3K is this awesome show that used to be on the sci-fi channel that makes fun of awesomely bad movies while you watch them. In my opinion this is the only way to watch this movie, which I have personally seen something like five times. I love watching people make fun of Mark and Ernest Borgnine. It's just so funny! So this movie basically takes two really horrible movies--one made in the 70's and one made in the early 90's--and sandwiches them together with Mark and Ernest Borgnine. It is also interesting to note that Mark's sister, Allee (I'm not sure if that's how you spell it) is the little baby boy in the latter of the horrible movies. Also, it has recently been released in the MST3K Collection, Vol. 5. I can't wait to buy it so that I can watch what has repeatedly been called 'the worst movie ever made' over and over again. ...That darn cute Mark Hurtado...