| Scared Shrekless | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
 "2010 Halloween Short of Shrek's Franchise" | |||||||
General information
| |||||||
| Title |
Scared Shrekless | ||||||
| Length |
24 minutes | ||||||
| Release Date |
October 28, 2010, 8PM | ||||||
| Release on DVD |
September 13, 2011 (DVD) | ||||||
| Genre |
Fantasy | ||||||
Production information
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| Directed by |
Gary Trousdale | ||||||
| Produced by |
Karen Foster | ||||||
| Starring | |||||||
| |||||||
| — | |||||||
Scared Shrekless is a 2010 American computer-animated Halloween special produced by DreamWorks Animation.
Set after the events of Shrek Forever After, the special deals with Shrek challenging his friends to tell scary stories to see who would be crowned the "King of Halloween." The special premiered on NBC on October 28th, 2010, and was released on DVD a year later.
Plot[]
Prologue[]
Halloween is Shrek's favorite holiday, and this year he is planning a night of frights- all done ogre-style. Instead of the usual tricks or treats, he and the babies are scaring trick-or treaters. Shrek is very proud of his kids' first time in scaring three boys. He complimented Felicia about her grip on the big fat kid, Farkle made his dad proud for his excellent work on his teeth and grabbing one of the boys' ankles, but Fergus had to work on his timing. Shrek and Fiona are nonetheless proud for the triplets' first Halloween scare. When he, Fiona, and the kids got back to their house, Donkey, Puss in Boots, and the Fairy Tale Creatures try to scare Shrek, but fail. As a way to make up for the attempt, Shrek challenges Donkey, Puss in Boots and the other fairy tale creatures to spend the night in Lord Farquaad's abandoned castle of Duloc, while telling scary stories. The last one to be scared "Shrekless" wins, and is crowned the King of Halloween.
The Bride of Gingy (spoof of The Bride of Frankenstein)[]
Gingy goes first, claiming his story to be true. On a dark and stormy night, Gingy was kicked out of his girlfriend's house and wants the Muffin Man to make him a new girl to date. After finding the right cookie cutter, they begin baking her, with Gingy insisting a large amount of sugar. He is warned by the Muffin Man however that no one had made cookies with that much sugar, but proceeds to make the cookie anyway. The cookie girl, named Sugar, springs to life and excitedly spends a ton of time with Gingy. Eventually, Gingy begins to grow concerned over his time alone, and tries to run away. This only leads to Sugar getting upset and trying to "be pretty" for him by smearing frosting on her face. After throwing her in the cookie batter, she begins to multiply into zombie clones and supposedly eat Gingy. The Three Little Pigs are horrified by the story and go "Wee, Wee, Wee All The Way Home". The Wolf is forced to leave as the Pigs are his "ride". After realizing the error in Gingy's story, Shrek rats out Gingy who then leaves to hide his embarrassment.
Boots Motel (spoof of Pyscho)[]
Only Puss, Donkey, Shrek and Pinocchio remain, with Puss trying to start his own story, only be interrupted by Donkey. In this tale, Donkey and Puss needed to find shelter on a dark and stormy night. They meet a kindly motel owner (who is Prince Charming in disguise) and settle in, only for Puss to get killed in the shower. During the course of the story, the two constantly cut each other off and make up endings as they go along. Puss attempts to continue the story by mentioning his defenses against Charming's attempts to kill, while Donkey keeps trying to end the story with the cat either dying or getting hurt. Puss eventually ends the story with Donkey being eaten by a giant Waffle Man. However, Donkey comes out of the waffle's mouth and unleashes Puss' worst fear- getting sprayed with a spray bottle. Puss scurries off while Shrek says it's cheating.
The Shreksorcist (spoof of The Exorcist)[]
Shrek finally tells his story about him playing the role of a babysitter sent to control a child who has gone mad. He witnesses bizarre behavior from the child, who happens to be Pinocchio, and attempts to calm him down with "fair but firm" methods. This only leads to more mayhem such as the puppet levitating with strings, and vomiting pine sap on Shrek. All of this was supposedly due to Pinocchio hearing voices in his head telling him what to do. After kicking the ogre in the groin, Pinocchio jumps out of the window and him falls down a flight of stairs. It turns out what was talking to him was none other than Jiminy Cricket, who hid in Pinocchio's head controlling Pinocchio's thoughts. The story ends with Pinocchio smashing him as revenge. Pinocchio then runs out of the castle after Shrek shows him a real cricket as a "Conscience" and Donkey calls the scene "cheap."
Epilogue[]
Only Donkey and Shrek are left, with Shrek deciding to wait for Lord Farquaad's Ghost. He also brings up Donkey's hand in Farquaad's demise, to which Donkey tries to deny the ghost being real. Suddenly, the chairs start moving and the chandeliers start rocking, causing Donkey to think it's a prank when Shrek claims he's not behind the actions. A knight (presumably possessed by Farquaad's ghost) suddenly comes to life, scaring Donkey out of the castle saying "Dooooooooooooonkeeeeeeeeeeeyyy!!!!" It turns out that Fiona used an old gramophone head for the voice and the babies were the single knight armor. Now, Shrek and his family are the winners and the Kings of Halloween. Wondering what to do next, Fiona reveals seven eggs which gives Shrek the perfect end to their night. They prepare to throw eggs at the Seven Dwarfs, with Shrek saying "I love this holiday."
Cast[]
- Mike Myers as Shrek
- Dean Edwards as Donkey
- Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
- Miles Christopher Bakshi as Fergus/Farkle
- Nina Zoe Bakshi as Felicia
- Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
- Aron Warner as Big Bad Wolf
- Cody Cameron as Pinocchio, The Three Little Pigs
- Christopher Knights as Three Blind Mice
- Conrad Vernon as Gingy
- Chris Miller as Magic Mirror
- Kristen Schaal as Sugar
- Sean Bishop as Geppetto/Prince Charming/Dwarfs
- Susan Fitzer and Patty Cornell as the Clockwork Chorus
Thriller Night[]
Thriller Night
Added as a bonus for the DVD release was a parody of Michael Jackson's "Thriller" music video. Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and Puss In Boots perform the music video on the streets of Far Far Away. Pied Piper brings the dead to life and makes them dance to Donkey singing Thriller.
Home Media[]
DVD[]
- Scared Shrekless
Netflix[]
- Shrek's Swamp Stories
Trivia[]
- A couple of the costumes in the beginning of the film reference classic horror monsters. These include Count Dracula (worn by Puss) and the Mummy (worn by Gingy).
- Before Shrek declares the location of the storytelling contest, Puss quickly begins saying "Once upon a midnight dreary". This is the opening line to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", one of the most famous poems in history.
- When Donkey interrupts Puss with his own story, he talks about the infamous urban legend about organ harvesting. This involves travelers waking up in a bathtub with ice and no kidneys after getting drugged. Although the drugging aspect was replaced by elements of equally notorious legends, the Hook and Bloody Mary.
- This is the only sequel to reference elements that appeared in the first Shrek film.
- This is the first time Puss in Boots crossed over to a location from the first Shrek film that wasn't the swamp.
- Some portfolios from various animators working on Scared Shrekless display removed elements and stories.
- The short film The Pig Who Cried Werewolf was initially planned for the special. It's likely that it was removed and released separately for timing reasons.
- A different story starring Puss was storyboarded by Ryan Savas involving the character finding cursed red-leather boots. This was an adaption of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, "The Red Shoes." The reason for its removal is unknown.
- Originally, Shrek's final story was going to involve his time in Sleepy Hollow with the Headless Horseman. It was removed and replaced by "The Shreksorcist". The reasons are unknown.
- Eddie Murphy was replaced by Dean Edwards in the film. Murphy voiced Donkey in all of the movies, including Donkey's Christmas Shrektacular.
- Shrek smugly reminds Donkey that he had a role in Farquaad's death, even though it was to save Shrek and Fiona's lives. This is a foreshadowing of Shrek's trick to scare Donkey and win the contest, since he left out the part where he summoned Dragon for help.
Errors[]
- Shrek calls ogres "kings" of Halloween, though the word "king" exclusively means a male monarchy, and never uses the phrase "kings and queens." However in ancient times, some countries used the title "king" for all monarchs, regardless of gender.
- Even though they say Duloc is haunted by Farquaad's ghost, his ghost was sent back to the Underworld by Dragon's fireball in Shrek 4-D (or, The Ghost of Lord Farquaad), which took place during Shrek and Fiona's honeymoon.
- On a similar note, Duloc is shown to have a tomb for Farquaad that, among other things, had murals depicting Farquaad heroically dueling Dragon. This is despite all of Duloc's populace being in the church at the time Farquaad being killed and being a direct witness to how he actually died (not to mention the fact that Farquaad was eaten and digested afterwards and thus can't have a tomb as a result).
- Despite Shrek claiming to have never celebrated any holiday in Shrek the Halls, it is implied that he had been celebrating Halloween for a while in this special.