Scared Shrekless is a 2010 American animated Halloween horror comedy television special based on the Shrek franchise. Set shortly after the events of Shrek Forever After, the film is told in anthology film format, using a frame story to introduce three horror tales. The special premiered on the American television network NBC on October 28, 2010.[1]
| Scared Shrekless | |
|---|---|
 DVD cover | |
| Genre | Comedy Adventure Mystery |
| Based on | Shrek! by William Steig |
| Screenplay by | Gary Trousdale Sean Bishop |
| Story by | Clairee Morrissey ("Bride of Gingy") Robert Porter ("Boots Motel") Sean Bishop ("Shreksorcist") |
| Directed by | Gary Trousdale Raman Hui |
| Starring | Mike Myers Cameron Diaz Antonio Banderas Kristen Schaal Dean Edwards Cody Cameron Christopher Knights Conrad Vernon Aron Warner |
| Theme music composer | Halli Cauthery |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer | Gary Trousdale |
| Producers | Karen Foster Chad Hammes |
| Running time | 26 minutes |
| Production companies | DreamWorks Animation Pacific Data Images (uncredited) |
| Original release | |
| Network | NBC |
| Release | October 28, 2010 |
The special marks the first time outside of the video games that Donkey is now voiced by Dean Edwards since Eddie Murphy declined to return. Rupert Everett and Chris Miller were both replaced by Sean Bishop as Prince Charming and Mister Geppetto respectively while Miles Christopher Bakshi and Nina Zoe Bakshi reprise their roles as Fergus, Farkle, and Felicia from Shrek Forever After. This is also the first time Duloc has been seen since the original Shrek. It was produced with the working title of Shrek or Treat.[2]
Plot
editAfter Fiona and their three children scare away some teenage trick or treaters, Shrek, Donkey, Puss, the Three Little Pigs, the Big Bad Wolf, Gingy, and Pinocchio (after unsuccessfully trying to scare Shrek and his family) decide to tell scary stories. Shrek claims that whoever can tell the scariest story without getting eliminated will be crowned King of Halloween. They go to the rundown kingdom of Duloc where Lord Farquaad once reigned and get settled inside his abandoned castle. Each takes turns telling their story.
Scary stories
edit- The Bride of Gingy told by Gingy (a spoof of Bride of Frankenstein)
- Boots Motel told by Donkey and Puss (a spoof of Psycho)
- The Shreksorcist told by Shrek (a spoof of The Exorcist)
The Bride of Gingy
editGingy goes to see the Muffin Man and tells him that his girlfriend dumped him because he only thought of himself. So, he and the Muffin Man make a new girlfriend named Sugar. When they make her, Gingy decides to use a lot of sugar, thinking that she will love him forever, despite the Muffin Man's warnings against doing so. When she is baked, Gingy is initially happy with her, but ends up disturbed by her obsession with him. After running away and pushing her in a big container of batter, he finally becomes free of her, unaware that the batter Sugar was dropped in ended up creating thousands of zombie clones of herself, surrounding Gingy and eating him. This story causes the elimination of the Three Little Pigs, who get scared and run away and Big Bad Wolf, wearing a witch hat, heads after them on the grounds that they're his ride home. Shrek comments on the falsehood of Gingy's story, saying that he cannot be there if he was eaten, and Gingy runs off as well to hide his embarrassment, resulting in his elimination as well.
Boots Motel
editNext, Donkey and Puss tell a story about their taking shelter from a thunderstorm at the Boots Motel (a parody of the Bates Motel from Psycho). Their story starts off well, but when Donkey tells it, it always ends up with Puss getting killed (which irritates Puss to no end), so Puss decides to change it: Donkey and Puss go to the Motel, but Donkey calls Puss his sidekick.
When Puss tries to deny it, Donkey says he took a tongue bath, and gets killed by the innkeeper, but Puss retells it, saying he would fight the innkeeper but the keeper gets knocked over by Donkey, who rescues Puss. It turns out that the keeper was Prince Charming and he zaps Puss with his wand to dust, but Puss says he used his sword and leaped to safety, but Donkey says he was standing on an 'X' spot, which Charming pulls a lever to drop Puss to oblivion, but Puss says he would never let that happen to him, so he says that he woke up, revealing to be all a dream. Donkey comes in and tells Puss that he is actually on the ceiling. The lights go out and when they come back on, Donkey is in the shower and about to be eaten by a giant waffle. Donkey tries to run, but gets covered in butter, wears a pink tutu, a sombrero and a coconut bra. Finally, Donkey gets Pinocchio to spray Puss with water, making him run away, signaling his elimination. Shrek suspects that this was cheating.
The Shreksorcist
editAt last, Shrek tells the final story about his experience babysitting a crazed and possessed Pinocchio.
After repeatedly beating up Shrek, Pinocchio leaps from the window, despite Shrek's attempts to catch him. When Pinocchio lands on the streets, a talking cricket (Jiminy Cricket) pops out of Pinocchio's head, claiming to be his conscience and the voice in his head that made him go crazy, in which Pinocchio squashes him with his foot in retaliation. Pinocchio denies that the story is true, but when Shrek shows him a normal cricket, he screams and flees in terror, being eliminated as well. Now alone, Shrek and Donkey once again discuss the rumors about Farquaad's ghost, with Shrek recalling that Donkey was involved in Farquaad's demise. Suddenly, they hear the wind moving about, and a walking suit of armor calling Donkey's name. It appears to be Farquaad's ghost, who has come to exact revenge. Scared out of his wits, Donkey admits defeat and runs away, resulting in his being the final one to be eliminated.
Fiona reveals it was her and the babies who planned the ghost act and then they, along with Shrek, celebrate by egging the Seven Dwarfs, who declares them the winners of the scary story contest and the "Kings of Halloween".
Cast
edit- Mike Myers as Shrek
- Dean Edwards as Donkey
- Cameron Diaz as Princess Fiona
- Antonio Banderas as Puss in Boots
- Cody Cameron as Pinocchio and Three Little Pigs
- Conrad Vernon as Gingerbread Man and Muffin Man
- Christopher Knights as Three Blind Mice
- Aron Warner as Big Bad Wolf
- Kristen Schaal as Sugar
- Sean Bishop as Geppetto, Prince Charming, Jiminy Cricket, Dwarves, and Waffle
- Miles Christopher Bakshi and Nina Zoe Bakshi as Ogre Babies[broken anchor] (Felicia, Farkle and Fergus)
- Louis Gabriel Basso III as Teenager #1
- Devon Werkheiser as Teenagers #2 and #3
Home media
editScared Shrekless was released on DVD on September 13, 2011.[3] The release was accompanied by a new short animated film, titled Thriller Night (a parody of the song by Michael Jackson).[4] It was rereleased on August 28, 2012 as part of the Shrek's Thrilling Tales DVD and the DreamWorks Spooky Stories Blu-ray.[5][6]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ Hibberd, James (September 6, 2010). "NBC orders 'Shrek,' 'Kung Fu Panda' specials". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on January 19, 2015. Retrieved September 8, 2011.
- ^ "Scared Shrekless". bcdb.com. Archived from the original on August 31, 2015. Retrieved August 11, 2015.
- ^ "Scared Shrekless and Monsters vs Aliens: Mutant Pumpkins from Outer Space Halloween Party Double Pack". Starpulse.com. August 22, 2011. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
- ^ "Scared Shrekless (2010)". Amazon. Archived from the original on July 9, 2015. Retrieved August 27, 2011.
- ^ "Shrek's Thrilling Tales (Widescreen)". Wallmart. Archived from the original on July 6, 2015. Retrieved July 20, 2012.
- ^ "Dreamwork's Spooky Stories: Shreks Thrilling Tales / Scared Shrekless / Mutant Pumpkins From Outer Space (Blu-ray) (Widescreen)". Wallmart. Archived from the original on August 30, 2012. Retrieved July 20, 2012.