No matter how fast the gears might be turning on “Shrek 5” at DreamWorks, they clearly aren’t producing results quickly enough for fans of everyone’s favorite antisocial ogre. In addition to Reddit weaving plot threads together to try and figure out what the upcoming installment might involve, other folks vested in the world of talking donkeys and bounty hunter house cats have gone one step further. The resulting AI trailer gives us a version of “Shrek” that for some fans is just about perfect, though to others it might become more unsettling the longer you look at it. Then again, if you’re a fan of “Krull,” “Excalibur,” and anything from Ray Harryhausen, you might feel right at home.

@abandonedmovies

Shrek – 1980s LaserDisc (Dark Fantasy) #darkfantasyaesthetic #1980saesthetic #laserdisc #shrek #klingai #runwaygen3 #minimax #elevenlabs #midjourney #aivideo #udio

♬ original sound – Abandoned Films – Abandoned Films

The latest AI-generated trailer from Abandoned Films, who gave us a 1950s “Game of Thrones” and put a twist on turning the “Metroid” video game franchise into a movie, shows a dark and doom-filled version of “Shrek.” With its eerie landscapes and musclebound versions of characters you know and love, this 1980s take on the franchise teases a much harder iteration than the one that made Smash Mouth’s “All Star” the anthem of a generation. Naturally, some fans got one glimpse of it and have been willing to intensely interrogate a gingerbread man in order to make it a reality.

Between the yoked big bad wolf and a gingerbread man that looked like it shuffled out of a David Cronenberg film, something hits just right for some viewers of Abandoned Films’ version of “Shrek” from the ’80s. Comparisons with some of the greats of that time period came fast and furious, with some even theorizing over what an actual film like this would be like if certain talents were to get involved.

@KennySkate said that the preview had “absolute vibes of ‘Dark Crystal’ and I’m all up for it,” while @KO said, “It’s a shame David Bowie isn’t alive still to make this actually happen…would be a massive hit in cinemas.” Meanwhile, @Dave described the AI-generated fever dream as “an odd mix of ‘Willow’ and ‘Conan.'”

As favorable as most comments were, though, some of the trailer’s more bizarre moments didn’t go unnoticed, particularly when it came to the dragon that can’t put its fire out. In this vein, @Levi Prentice posted, “Only thing that threw me off was the dragon. Flame kept going even when talking.” As for @Jurassic Jam, they were unable to get invested in this take on “Shrek” thanks to the new iteration being based in a place “Where dragons appear to have fire stuck to their lip.” For now, it looks like AI is still far, far away from being able to get things just right.