Post by TV's Cowboy on Dec 23, 2012 12:21:53 GMT -5
Recently, the movie the 1984 horror film The Devil's Gift was posted to youtube. This was the original film that used the evil toy monkey footage that would later be incorporated into Merlin. It was originally up around 2009, but got taken down when the original account was terminated.
Here's the original film
Watching it again I figured it would be a good idea to go over all the changes that were made when the film was edited into Merlin. Considering youtube's policies, there's no guarantee that this movie will stay up and I don't know if anyone is going to track this movie on a streaming site just to compare it to the Merlin cut. Also over the years, there has been some misinformation posted about the movie. In fact until recently, the few reviews for the Devil's Gift don't even mention how Susan disappears from the rest of the movie. Hopefully this will clear up some things.
Before we begin with the full comparison, here's some general stuff(Devil's Gift will be shortened to DG)
-No Merlin or Ernet Borgnine scenes in DG obviously.
-Music was changed or added in different parts. If you're watching Merlin you can tell when it's new music, when the soundtrack starts to sound sparkly or if there is a cymbal like sound.
-It's clearly stated that Susan is not the mother in DG. I wanted to bring this up since early reviews of Merlin called her the mother. In the DG it's established that David's actual wife is dead. Also Susan is shown living in a different house.
-The psychic's name is Adrianne. From here on out I'll just call her the psychic since that's easier for me to type and most people know her by that name anyway.
Keep in mind the version of Merlin used for the comparison is the MST3K version. I do know one scene that was in DG that was later used in Merlin but got cut when MST3K riffed Merlin. I'll update this list if I do know of any changes that MST3K made to their print. UPDATE- and since we have the uncut version of Merlin up on Youtube(as of this writing) I've updated parts where mst made cuts
-DG starts off with a shot of the sky before it pans to a creepy looking tree and then to the house of that crazy old lady with Ouija board. While this is going on, the film's credits roll.
-The Ouija board scene plays the same(minus the Merlin credits), however the sounds of glass breaking was added in Merlin after the monkey is possessed. I guess they did that to make the scene more dramatic. You can tell it wasn't there initially because the sound doesn't fit with the 1984 video.
-The monkey clapping his cymbals for the first time is a lot clearer since here we don't have a kid watching this on tv.
-DG's title is displayed a couple of seconds after lightning strikes the house. This would be around the time in Merlin where it shifts focus to Borgnine and the kid.
-The scene of the house burning lasts longer in DG. When it starts to collapse it fades to black.
-After that is our real introduction to the characters in DG. David and Michael are headed to a fair. Michael gets into an argument with David because the dog Sparkle can't come. We are then treated to a long scene of them at the fair. In one scene they win a toy dog at a carnival game which later appears when David is looking for Michael(when Crow says "He's with Elliot!") UPDATE-The introduction and the carnival scenes did make it into the uncut version of Merlin though some music was changed between the two versions.
-When the fair scene is over, we are introduced to Susan who is looking at stores. It's the same scene in Merlin where she discovers the monkey except it's a little longer in DG. The music was also changed for this scene during Merlin. I imagine this was done because the original music segwayed into scenes that got cut out of Merlin. UPDATE- The longer footage of Susan window shopping is retained in the uncut Merlin
-In DG after the monkey is purchased, we see David drive back to his house and tucks Michael into bed. Susan is there at the house and helps. Susan and David also get a little mushy with one another(For lack of a better term).
-The next day David is preparing Michael breakfast. Michael feeds Sparkle his toast, but David notices("Why does she have syrup on her chin then?")
-Did I mention we also get more scenes of cars pulling out and pulling into drive ways in DG?
-David meets Susan at her house and they discuss Michael's birthday. Susan gets a phone call from Pete to which she says "Speak of the Devil"(cue Matthew Buck saying "SYMBOLISM"). David gets on the phone and talks to Pete about movies that Michael can watch. Bride of Frankenstein is brought up, but David thinks it's okay to watch because that movie is not scary.
-After the phone conversation, we get a scene of the monkey in wrapping paper trying to move.
-The first couple of seconds of the birthday party are cut in Merlin. Merlin didn't get the riveting scene of Pete telling Michael to blow out the candles in a John Wayne voice. UPDATE- This scene is in the uncut Merlin, John Wayne impersonation included.
-When the monkey claps his cymbals at the birthday party it was originally a soft clamp sound. In Merlin they changed it to a loud ding.
-Music was changed when Susan was pawing at the monkey. The original music was the same piano music that was playing when David swatted at the fly. I don't know why they changed it here. I guess maybe to make the scene less tense since they new music sounds a lot more like it came out of a kid's show.
-A weird scene occurs during the birthday party when the adults are at the table. The lights go off all of a sudden and then come right back on(to which Susan replies that it only happened at this house and not the rest of the neighborhood). Maybe this was done as a warning that a demon is in this house.
-When the party's over David is kissing Susan and asks where Michael is. She says he's taking a bath. David walks into the bathroom and finds Michael drowning in a bathtub(Yes you see the body too). It turns out this was a dream as David wakes up and finds Michael watching cartoons downstairs(To be exact the 1935 cartoon the Sunshine Makers). Also David almost trips on Michael's toy truck and even utters an f bomb. This is the "Rock N Roll Truck" that will be seen later. UPDATE-In the uncut version of Merlin this is replaced with a scene of the kid asking Grandpa Borgnine why the monkey would be evil if everybody likes it.
-The next day David and Pete are goofing around with the car as Pete tries to scare David with a shovel. This scene actually did appear in Merlin but was cut from MST3K. You can view it hear at the 1:20 mark www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-V-aCk3XTc
-There's a couple more scenes of David noticing the dead plants. He asks Pete to look at the dead plants, which causes Pete to make fun of David for dragging him away from his work just to look at dead plants. Pete also does "cwaazy" impersonations of Rod Serling and Humphrey Bogart. Between this and the "Here's looking at you sweetheart" line from Merlin, director Kenneth J Berton must really like bad Bogart impersonations.
-The sound of the monkey clapping his cymbals when David returns home is changed again for Merlin. Like before they added a loud ding sound instead of a soft clamp sound.
-In the Merlin version When David comes home and is looking for Michael, a close up shot of the monkey was added. I have no idea why they did this either.
-Music was changed in the scene when the fish dies. In DG it was more silent.
-After they discover the dead fish, there's a scene where they get a phone call from Susan which establishes her coming to the house.
-When Susan finds David in the garage, his lines were overdubbed in the Merlin version. In DG he said "I cut the s*** out of myself" but come Merlin it was changed to "I cut myself". I think the rest of David's lines were also overdubbed in Merlin because they come out clearer then in DG.
-DG has a couple of more scenes of Susan watching tv with Michael. UPDATE-Most of these are in the uncut version of Merlin
-When the monkey starts his plan to kill the dog, there are several scenes cut that show the monkey possessing Susan as she turns up the volume of the tv so that Michael doesn't notice Sparkle's cries. Eventhough all this got cut out of Merlin, you can still see some trace of it after David rushes into the house and you see Susan look like she came out of a trance(When Crow says "But there are funny cartoons"). It's also pretty funny seeing the actress trying to go from "laughing at cartoons" to "Grrrr I' am possessed by a demon" in the span of one scene.
-Another cut scene occurs when David is heading towards the house looking for Pete's timing light. Pete informs David that he found the timing light as David is headed towards his house. I' am so glad that was cleared up in Devil's Gift because it sucked how in Merlin that plotline didn't get a resolution.
-Another closeup of the monkey was added after David comforts Micheal over Sparkle's death in Merlin. Probably, done to serve as a transition to the Borgnine segment.
From this point on there is a ton of stuff cut out until we get to the part where David sees the psychic(In DG this was actually the second time they saw each other) so I'll try to sum up the scenes as best I can.
-We see the characters bury Sparkle. Michael says to David, that she's with mom now.
-Susan comforts David about the recent events. He mentions how he still thinks about his wife and that he feels that death is near him again.
-That night Susan stays at the house. The monkey possesses Susan again so that she can kill Michael by smothering him with a pillow. While this is going on, David is having a dream where he's getting married to Susan in the woods with Pete serving as the minister. David manages to wake up and interfere with the monkey's plan. The monkey actually shows a lot of movement during this scene as it notices David waking up.
-After that night we see Susan goofing around with Michael over breakfast and David calling Marge again so that they can have lunch.
-When David meets up Marge, she suggests that David see a psychic. Marge thinks this is really bothering David, to which David says "That he probably has bad karma". David then asks if the psychic is a "happy medium".
-The psychic is a lot more calm when we first meet her compared to her infamous scene. She talks to David about statues and idols that can be used by demons to create chaos. While she describes this, we are shown the scene of the fly dying again. Her workplace is also decorated with many pictures of Jesus Christ.
-While David is at the psychic, the monkey is planning its next move as is possesses Susan again. When Susan is under demon control, she says "Hey, MICCCHAAAEEEELLLLL!!" in a voice that says "Don't mind me I' am not possessed by a demon. Nope not at all". I had to do multiple takes with this scene because I thought it sounded like Michael playing in the background(since he was making similar noises during this). It also doesn't help that her mouth isn't moving when she says this. If this was in Merlin, this probably would have been the stinger instead.
-Demon Susan is about to give Michael a bath and is trying to drown him. After David is done with the psychic he stops by the junk store and doesn't get much info from the cashier as she just started the job that day. David returns home just as Susan was about to drown Michael. She snaps out of her trance, but David is pissed as he knows she was clearly drowning Michael. She cries saying "She was just washing his head." During the argument, Susan fall on some concrete knocking her unconscious(We even see blood too.) From this point on, Susan is never seen again. Also the monkey is just as bad at killing in DG considering that he had God knows how much time to prepare from the moment David meets up Marge to when he goes to the junk store.
-David tucks Michael into bed saying that he doesn't know if Susan will be okay again. He goes downstairs and sleeps on the couch.
-We then segway into the next day where David is returning home with groceries(The tv is playing some sports program. I can't tell, but it looks like Geraldo Rivera is on the tv). To his shock David finds a bloody arm in his kitchen. A hairy monster comes out and pukes blood over David and claws at his face. However, David wakes up in bed and finds out it was a dream.......until he reaches for the clock and a hairy monster grabs him. It turns out that was a dream too as he wakes up on the couch.
-The next day David goes back to the junk store and meets the owner(who has an Italian accent that's probably fake). The owner tells David that a guy named Jacob Neilman found the monkey in the ruins of a house that was burned down. The owner didn't believe the story because there wasn't a scratch on the monkey and he thinks the guy stole it(Funny line considering how the monkey ended up at the store in Merlin). David then presses the owner about any fires that happened recently. The owner brings up a fire that happened at the old Johnson house, but that place was abandoned for some time.
-After the visit with the junk store, David has his meeting with the psychic. The first couple of seconds are cut from the Merlin version. She's actually pretty calm at first, but doesn't get insane until David brings up the monkey that was given to his son. Merlin's version of the story picks up when the psychic says "You're not going to like this David". Some of the music was also changed for this scene. UPDATE- The full scene in the park is in the uncut Merlin
-When David comes home, he runs into Pete. He asks Pete to look after Michael and says that Pete deserves a friend of the year award. This might be in Merlin, but was edited for MST3K since this scene would be around the 3rd host segment mark. I can't verify this now. UPDATE- This full scene is in the uncut version of Merlin.
-Some cuts happen in between the parts where David comes home and him getting rid of the monkey. In DG, when we zoom in on his face we don't hear hear him flashing back to his conversation with the psychic. After that zoom in we see David getting ready for a shower while different pieces of his conversation with the psychic are playing in his head. He scoffs at the psychic's warning as he puts the bethagram away. When David is done in the shower, the monkey tries to kill him by turning on really hot water and the shower's heat lamp. The water then changes to hot tar as David is trying to escape from the shower. The monkey gives up as David exits the shower. He notices that the bethagram was what saved him so he wears it around his neck(Not only does this serve a more important role in DG, but this also better explains how David survived the tree falling on him later on). As David changes his clothes he remembers the psychic telling him to "never let it know of its presence". In Merlin this audio was moved to the earlier zoom in. You can also tell all of this stuff was cut since David is wearing different clothes when the scene transitions in Merlin after the zoom in.
EDIT-The conversation that David thinks about in Merlin is actually from a the first meeting that he had with the psychic in DG.
-Music was added to the scene where David is trying to get rid of the monkey. This scene originally had none.
-When Pete comes into the house(It's at the point where Crow says "are these two dating?")there was originally some talk about Susan's condition and that they were surprised that she could have a sudden mood swing and act hostile. However, this serious moment is brought to an end when Pete blurts out "So what's for dinner" and the conversation switches over to both Pete and David making goofy remarks about corn. It almost feels like this movie is riffing itself.
-In DG, there's another scene of the guy in the station wagon trying to score with the bike lady. He asks her, "Hey don't you want to meet some new friends?". She then tells him off in Spanish which leads him to say "Hey I love it when you speak French!".
-The zoom in on David's face when he notices the monkey is causing the car to hit Michael is a lot more fluid in DG. In Merlin there's this weird slow mo shot on his face.
EDIT-Looking at both versions of the scene, they probably did that in Merlin because it looks the tape breaks in the original scene. So the slo mo was used to cover that up. UPDATE- Oddly enough in the uncut version of Merlin(least the one I saw on youtube) it plays just like in DG with no Slow mo shot and you still see the tape break. Guess Mst got a different version of the film
-In DG you actually hear station wagon guy say "oh s***" as he hits his brakes.
-In DG when David is digging a hole for the monkey he also says "You're going to have to do better then a little rain you son of a bitch".
-The blackness that happens after David is hit by a tree lasts a little longer in DG. Also the first couple of seconds of Michael watching the Ultraman anime is cut(In DG you can hear someone say "It's a trap!" on tv)
-Music was changed a little bit in the scene where David puts the bethagram away. The arrangement is the same, they just added some sparkly sounds to the soundtrack.
-In DG we see David's mom getting dropped off at the house and Pete helping her with the luggage. Pete mentions how her son is a "horrible cook". UPDATE-This scene is in the uncut version of Merlin
-In DG the movie ends with a fade to black. David's mom screams some more and Michael says "Daaaaaaddd" one more time before a ching goes off. We then hear an explosion and the sounds of fire as the credits roll. Despite popular belief, the "screams" you hear in the background in Merlin when he stops the monkey are not screams of agony from the original film. If you listen closely they're clearly overdubbed lines where David is telling his family to get to the car(In DG they never got that far). It is a little hard to hear with Tom Servo's riff.
-Aside from trailers there's nothing else movie related after the credits end. I've heard various stories for years about how we see the monkey get put in a drawer waiting for his next victim or that he winks at the camera. None of that happens. I don't know where those stories originated from, probably from the same guy who claims that there's a robot scene in Hobgoblins that MST3K cut.
-When the movie ends we're treated to trailers for An American Werewolf in London and the first Ghoulies film. I would find it hilarious if copies of Merlin had kid's cartoons or family friendly stuff like those Olsen twins videos for their previews.
-We finally close on the very 80s logo for Vestron video.
Here's the original film
Watching it again I figured it would be a good idea to go over all the changes that were made when the film was edited into Merlin. Considering youtube's policies, there's no guarantee that this movie will stay up and I don't know if anyone is going to track this movie on a streaming site just to compare it to the Merlin cut. Also over the years, there has been some misinformation posted about the movie. In fact until recently, the few reviews for the Devil's Gift don't even mention how Susan disappears from the rest of the movie. Hopefully this will clear up some things.
Before we begin with the full comparison, here's some general stuff(Devil's Gift will be shortened to DG)
-No Merlin or Ernet Borgnine scenes in DG obviously.
-Music was changed or added in different parts. If you're watching Merlin you can tell when it's new music, when the soundtrack starts to sound sparkly or if there is a cymbal like sound.
-It's clearly stated that Susan is not the mother in DG. I wanted to bring this up since early reviews of Merlin called her the mother. In the DG it's established that David's actual wife is dead. Also Susan is shown living in a different house.
-The psychic's name is Adrianne. From here on out I'll just call her the psychic since that's easier for me to type and most people know her by that name anyway.
Keep in mind the version of Merlin used for the comparison is the MST3K version. I do know one scene that was in DG that was later used in Merlin but got cut when MST3K riffed Merlin. I'll update this list if I do know of any changes that MST3K made to their print. UPDATE- and since we have the uncut version of Merlin up on Youtube(as of this writing) I've updated parts where mst made cuts
-DG starts off with a shot of the sky before it pans to a creepy looking tree and then to the house of that crazy old lady with Ouija board. While this is going on, the film's credits roll.
-The Ouija board scene plays the same(minus the Merlin credits), however the sounds of glass breaking was added in Merlin after the monkey is possessed. I guess they did that to make the scene more dramatic. You can tell it wasn't there initially because the sound doesn't fit with the 1984 video.
-The monkey clapping his cymbals for the first time is a lot clearer since here we don't have a kid watching this on tv.
-DG's title is displayed a couple of seconds after lightning strikes the house. This would be around the time in Merlin where it shifts focus to Borgnine and the kid.
-The scene of the house burning lasts longer in DG. When it starts to collapse it fades to black.
-After that is our real introduction to the characters in DG. David and Michael are headed to a fair. Michael gets into an argument with David because the dog Sparkle can't come. We are then treated to a long scene of them at the fair. In one scene they win a toy dog at a carnival game which later appears when David is looking for Michael(when Crow says "He's with Elliot!") UPDATE-The introduction and the carnival scenes did make it into the uncut version of Merlin though some music was changed between the two versions.
-When the fair scene is over, we are introduced to Susan who is looking at stores. It's the same scene in Merlin where she discovers the monkey except it's a little longer in DG. The music was also changed for this scene during Merlin. I imagine this was done because the original music segwayed into scenes that got cut out of Merlin. UPDATE- The longer footage of Susan window shopping is retained in the uncut Merlin
-In DG after the monkey is purchased, we see David drive back to his house and tucks Michael into bed. Susan is there at the house and helps. Susan and David also get a little mushy with one another(For lack of a better term).
-The next day David is preparing Michael breakfast. Michael feeds Sparkle his toast, but David notices("Why does she have syrup on her chin then?")
-Did I mention we also get more scenes of cars pulling out and pulling into drive ways in DG?
-David meets Susan at her house and they discuss Michael's birthday. Susan gets a phone call from Pete to which she says "Speak of the Devil"(cue Matthew Buck saying "SYMBOLISM"). David gets on the phone and talks to Pete about movies that Michael can watch. Bride of Frankenstein is brought up, but David thinks it's okay to watch because that movie is not scary.
-After the phone conversation, we get a scene of the monkey in wrapping paper trying to move.
-The first couple of seconds of the birthday party are cut in Merlin. Merlin didn't get the riveting scene of Pete telling Michael to blow out the candles in a John Wayne voice. UPDATE- This scene is in the uncut Merlin, John Wayne impersonation included.
-When the monkey claps his cymbals at the birthday party it was originally a soft clamp sound. In Merlin they changed it to a loud ding.
-Music was changed when Susan was pawing at the monkey. The original music was the same piano music that was playing when David swatted at the fly. I don't know why they changed it here. I guess maybe to make the scene less tense since they new music sounds a lot more like it came out of a kid's show.
-A weird scene occurs during the birthday party when the adults are at the table. The lights go off all of a sudden and then come right back on(to which Susan replies that it only happened at this house and not the rest of the neighborhood). Maybe this was done as a warning that a demon is in this house.
-When the party's over David is kissing Susan and asks where Michael is. She says he's taking a bath. David walks into the bathroom and finds Michael drowning in a bathtub(Yes you see the body too). It turns out this was a dream as David wakes up and finds Michael watching cartoons downstairs(To be exact the 1935 cartoon the Sunshine Makers). Also David almost trips on Michael's toy truck and even utters an f bomb. This is the "Rock N Roll Truck" that will be seen later. UPDATE-In the uncut version of Merlin this is replaced with a scene of the kid asking Grandpa Borgnine why the monkey would be evil if everybody likes it.
-The next day David and Pete are goofing around with the car as Pete tries to scare David with a shovel. This scene actually did appear in Merlin but was cut from MST3K. You can view it hear at the 1:20 mark www.youtube.com/watch?v=5-V-aCk3XTc
-There's a couple more scenes of David noticing the dead plants. He asks Pete to look at the dead plants, which causes Pete to make fun of David for dragging him away from his work just to look at dead plants. Pete also does "cwaazy" impersonations of Rod Serling and Humphrey Bogart. Between this and the "Here's looking at you sweetheart" line from Merlin, director Kenneth J Berton must really like bad Bogart impersonations.
-The sound of the monkey clapping his cymbals when David returns home is changed again for Merlin. Like before they added a loud ding sound instead of a soft clamp sound.
-In the Merlin version When David comes home and is looking for Michael, a close up shot of the monkey was added. I have no idea why they did this either.
-Music was changed in the scene when the fish dies. In DG it was more silent.
-After they discover the dead fish, there's a scene where they get a phone call from Susan which establishes her coming to the house.
-When Susan finds David in the garage, his lines were overdubbed in the Merlin version. In DG he said "I cut the s*** out of myself" but come Merlin it was changed to "I cut myself". I think the rest of David's lines were also overdubbed in Merlin because they come out clearer then in DG.
-DG has a couple of more scenes of Susan watching tv with Michael. UPDATE-Most of these are in the uncut version of Merlin
-When the monkey starts his plan to kill the dog, there are several scenes cut that show the monkey possessing Susan as she turns up the volume of the tv so that Michael doesn't notice Sparkle's cries. Eventhough all this got cut out of Merlin, you can still see some trace of it after David rushes into the house and you see Susan look like she came out of a trance(When Crow says "But there are funny cartoons"). It's also pretty funny seeing the actress trying to go from "laughing at cartoons" to "Grrrr I' am possessed by a demon" in the span of one scene.
-Another cut scene occurs when David is heading towards the house looking for Pete's timing light. Pete informs David that he found the timing light as David is headed towards his house. I' am so glad that was cleared up in Devil's Gift because it sucked how in Merlin that plotline didn't get a resolution.
-Another closeup of the monkey was added after David comforts Micheal over Sparkle's death in Merlin. Probably, done to serve as a transition to the Borgnine segment.
From this point on there is a ton of stuff cut out until we get to the part where David sees the psychic(In DG this was actually the second time they saw each other) so I'll try to sum up the scenes as best I can.
-We see the characters bury Sparkle. Michael says to David, that she's with mom now.
-Susan comforts David about the recent events. He mentions how he still thinks about his wife and that he feels that death is near him again.
-That night Susan stays at the house. The monkey possesses Susan again so that she can kill Michael by smothering him with a pillow. While this is going on, David is having a dream where he's getting married to Susan in the woods with Pete serving as the minister. David manages to wake up and interfere with the monkey's plan. The monkey actually shows a lot of movement during this scene as it notices David waking up.
-After that night we see Susan goofing around with Michael over breakfast and David calling Marge again so that they can have lunch.
-When David meets up Marge, she suggests that David see a psychic. Marge thinks this is really bothering David, to which David says "That he probably has bad karma". David then asks if the psychic is a "happy medium".
-The psychic is a lot more calm when we first meet her compared to her infamous scene. She talks to David about statues and idols that can be used by demons to create chaos. While she describes this, we are shown the scene of the fly dying again. Her workplace is also decorated with many pictures of Jesus Christ.
-While David is at the psychic, the monkey is planning its next move as is possesses Susan again. When Susan is under demon control, she says "Hey, MICCCHAAAEEEELLLLL!!" in a voice that says "Don't mind me I' am not possessed by a demon. Nope not at all". I had to do multiple takes with this scene because I thought it sounded like Michael playing in the background(since he was making similar noises during this). It also doesn't help that her mouth isn't moving when she says this. If this was in Merlin, this probably would have been the stinger instead.
-Demon Susan is about to give Michael a bath and is trying to drown him. After David is done with the psychic he stops by the junk store and doesn't get much info from the cashier as she just started the job that day. David returns home just as Susan was about to drown Michael. She snaps out of her trance, but David is pissed as he knows she was clearly drowning Michael. She cries saying "She was just washing his head." During the argument, Susan fall on some concrete knocking her unconscious(We even see blood too.) From this point on, Susan is never seen again. Also the monkey is just as bad at killing in DG considering that he had God knows how much time to prepare from the moment David meets up Marge to when he goes to the junk store.
-David tucks Michael into bed saying that he doesn't know if Susan will be okay again. He goes downstairs and sleeps on the couch.
-We then segway into the next day where David is returning home with groceries(The tv is playing some sports program. I can't tell, but it looks like Geraldo Rivera is on the tv). To his shock David finds a bloody arm in his kitchen. A hairy monster comes out and pukes blood over David and claws at his face. However, David wakes up in bed and finds out it was a dream.......until he reaches for the clock and a hairy monster grabs him. It turns out that was a dream too as he wakes up on the couch.
-The next day David goes back to the junk store and meets the owner(who has an Italian accent that's probably fake). The owner tells David that a guy named Jacob Neilman found the monkey in the ruins of a house that was burned down. The owner didn't believe the story because there wasn't a scratch on the monkey and he thinks the guy stole it(Funny line considering how the monkey ended up at the store in Merlin). David then presses the owner about any fires that happened recently. The owner brings up a fire that happened at the old Johnson house, but that place was abandoned for some time.
-After the visit with the junk store, David has his meeting with the psychic. The first couple of seconds are cut from the Merlin version. She's actually pretty calm at first, but doesn't get insane until David brings up the monkey that was given to his son. Merlin's version of the story picks up when the psychic says "You're not going to like this David". Some of the music was also changed for this scene. UPDATE- The full scene in the park is in the uncut Merlin
-When David comes home, he runs into Pete. He asks Pete to look after Michael and says that Pete deserves a friend of the year award. This might be in Merlin, but was edited for MST3K since this scene would be around the 3rd host segment mark. I can't verify this now. UPDATE- This full scene is in the uncut version of Merlin.
-Some cuts happen in between the parts where David comes home and him getting rid of the monkey. In DG, when we zoom in on his face we don't hear hear him flashing back to his conversation with the psychic. After that zoom in we see David getting ready for a shower while different pieces of his conversation with the psychic are playing in his head. He scoffs at the psychic's warning as he puts the bethagram away. When David is done in the shower, the monkey tries to kill him by turning on really hot water and the shower's heat lamp. The water then changes to hot tar as David is trying to escape from the shower. The monkey gives up as David exits the shower. He notices that the bethagram was what saved him so he wears it around his neck(Not only does this serve a more important role in DG, but this also better explains how David survived the tree falling on him later on). As David changes his clothes he remembers the psychic telling him to "never let it know of its presence". In Merlin this audio was moved to the earlier zoom in. You can also tell all of this stuff was cut since David is wearing different clothes when the scene transitions in Merlin after the zoom in.
EDIT-The conversation that David thinks about in Merlin is actually from a the first meeting that he had with the psychic in DG.
-Music was added to the scene where David is trying to get rid of the monkey. This scene originally had none.
-When Pete comes into the house(It's at the point where Crow says "are these two dating?")there was originally some talk about Susan's condition and that they were surprised that she could have a sudden mood swing and act hostile. However, this serious moment is brought to an end when Pete blurts out "So what's for dinner" and the conversation switches over to both Pete and David making goofy remarks about corn. It almost feels like this movie is riffing itself.
-In DG, there's another scene of the guy in the station wagon trying to score with the bike lady. He asks her, "Hey don't you want to meet some new friends?". She then tells him off in Spanish which leads him to say "Hey I love it when you speak French!".
-The zoom in on David's face when he notices the monkey is causing the car to hit Michael is a lot more fluid in DG. In Merlin there's this weird slow mo shot on his face.
EDIT-Looking at both versions of the scene, they probably did that in Merlin because it looks the tape breaks in the original scene. So the slo mo was used to cover that up. UPDATE- Oddly enough in the uncut version of Merlin(least the one I saw on youtube) it plays just like in DG with no Slow mo shot and you still see the tape break. Guess Mst got a different version of the film
-In DG you actually hear station wagon guy say "oh s***" as he hits his brakes.
-In DG when David is digging a hole for the monkey he also says "You're going to have to do better then a little rain you son of a bitch".
-The blackness that happens after David is hit by a tree lasts a little longer in DG. Also the first couple of seconds of Michael watching the Ultraman anime is cut(In DG you can hear someone say "It's a trap!" on tv)
-Music was changed a little bit in the scene where David puts the bethagram away. The arrangement is the same, they just added some sparkly sounds to the soundtrack.
-In DG we see David's mom getting dropped off at the house and Pete helping her with the luggage. Pete mentions how her son is a "horrible cook". UPDATE-This scene is in the uncut version of Merlin
-In DG the movie ends with a fade to black. David's mom screams some more and Michael says "Daaaaaaddd" one more time before a ching goes off. We then hear an explosion and the sounds of fire as the credits roll. Despite popular belief, the "screams" you hear in the background in Merlin when he stops the monkey are not screams of agony from the original film. If you listen closely they're clearly overdubbed lines where David is telling his family to get to the car(In DG they never got that far). It is a little hard to hear with Tom Servo's riff.
-Aside from trailers there's nothing else movie related after the credits end. I've heard various stories for years about how we see the monkey get put in a drawer waiting for his next victim or that he winks at the camera. None of that happens. I don't know where those stories originated from, probably from the same guy who claims that there's a robot scene in Hobgoblins that MST3K cut.
-When the movie ends we're treated to trailers for An American Werewolf in London and the first Ghoulies film. I would find it hilarious if copies of Merlin had kid's cartoons or family friendly stuff like those Olsen twins videos for their previews.
-We finally close on the very 80s logo for Vestron video.
