Scared Shrekless 2010

On Halloween night, Princess Fiona and her family—Shrek, their three children, and friends—enjoy a spooky fun atmosphere as they scare away some teenage trick-or-treaters. To keep the night lively, the group gathers in Lord Farquaad’s abandoned castle in the rundown kingdom of Duloc and agrees to a friendly contest: whoever can tell the scariest story without getting eliminated will be crowned King of Halloween. The mood is playful but tense, as each of them tries to outdo the others with twists, tricks, and a little chaos, all while sharing the stage in a nontraditional storytelling showdown.

First up is Gingy, who launches into a darkly comic tale called “The Bride of Gingy.” In his story, Gingy ventures to the Muffin Man to complain that his girlfriend dumped him because he only thinks of himself. The plan to win her over backfires when Gingy and the Muffin Man decide to craft a new girlfriend named Sugar. Gingy, eager for love, uses an abundance of sugar in the creation, hoping it will seal the romance forever. At first, Sugar seems harmless and sweet, but she quickly becomes unnervingly obsessed with Gingy himself. The tale grows increasingly eerie as Sugar’s fixation spirals, and when the batter is poured and Sugar is baked, the situation takes a terrifying turn: Sugar’s hunger for Gingy evolves into a horde of zombie-like clones that surround Gingy and threaten to overwhelm him. The story’s climax arrives in a brutal, almost dreamlike turn where Gingy realizes he is entangled in a nightmare he cannot escape. Back in the castle, the other players watch in growing discomfort as the fictional terror spills into the night. The result is In a dramatic reveal, the story itself seems to topple the illusion: the group watches as the Three Little Pigs—Three Pigs—and the Big Bad Wolf, who had hoped to ride home with the pigs, are rattled by the tale. Shrek, ever the skeptic, questions the plausibility of the events, noting that Gingy could not be present if he were actually eaten. Gingy, embarrassed, ducks out of the room, while the others reassess the boundaries between story and reality. The tale ends with a sense of unsettling humor rather than a clean victory, marking Gingy’s elimination from the contest in a playful, self-aware way.

Next, the duo of Donkey and Puss in Boots take the stage with a story titled “Boots Motel.” The tale begins with a thunderstorm driving them to shelter in a quirky, haunted motel. Donkey spins the setup into a duel between his own sidekick status and Puss’s fierce independence, but the narrative keeps shifting as they argue about who is telling the story. The innkeeper turns out to be none other than [Prince Charming], a quick reversal that injects a magical danger into the night. Puss tries to defend himself, but the innkeeper’s wand and magical traps complicate the plot: Puss is briefly reduced to dust in a new twist, then miraculously reappears, claiming that he fought back with a sword leap and a daring escape. Donkey insists that Puss was actually defeated in a more humiliating way—standing on an “X” spot—only for the innkeeper to drop a trap that would send Puss plummeting to oblivion. The suspense peaks as the lights go out and a surreal sequence unfolds: Donkey is whisked through a chaotic chase, appearing on a ceiling in one moment and a ridiculous scene on the other, culminating in a comical reveal where Donkey ends up wearing a pink tutu and a coconut bra while being chased by a giant waffle. In the end, Donkey’s antics and a last-minute ruse involving Pinocchio attempting to spray Puss with water lead to a humorous elimination, with Shrek declaring that him, Donkey, and Pinocchio have made it into the final three. The story keeps the mood light but with a streak of spooky mischief, and the crowd reacts with a mix of laughter and genuine shivers as the dream-like elements blur with the night’s reality.

Finally, Shrek himself tells a terrifying “Shreksorcist” tale, where he is assigned the impossible task of babysitting a crazed and possessed Pinocchio. The night becomes a suspenseful jaunt through playfully haunted spaces as Pinocchio’s antics escalate into a chilling possession. After a series of aggressive outbursts, Pinocchio leaps from a window and lands on the street, and a talking cricket—claiming to be his conscience—emerges from his head. The cricket becomes a physical target when Pinocchio stomps on it in a moment of fear-driven rage. Pinocchio denies that the events could be real, but Shrek soon shows him a normal cricket to prove the point, triggering a scream from Pinocchio and a quick exit from the room. The result is a tense moment that leaves Pinocchio eliminated, and the atmosphere grows more sinister as the line between story and reality tightens.

With the final round narrowing to the last two, Shrek and Donkey enter a non-story elimination, discussing rumors about Farquaad’s ghost and whether he truly haunts the castle. The air grows colder as a walking suit of armor—carrying the weight of old legends—appears and whispers Donkey’s name. Terrified, Donkey runs, quickly becoming the last one to be eliminated. In a late twist of misdirection and teamwork, Fiona reveals that she and their babies plotted the ghost act—a playful deception that turns the entire scare into a clever finale. The night ends with Shrek proclaimed the winner and crowned the King of Halloween, a fitting tribute to a night of storytelling that tested friendship, imagination, and the boundaries between fear and fun. The celebration ramps up as they celebrate by egging the Seven Dwarfs, sealing the moment with laughter, camaraderie, and a shared memory of a Halloween night that was equal parts terrifying and tender.