Dir. Steve Cox & Matthew Walker · 2026 · about 80 min · in cinemas
Halloween is coming to Mossy Bottom, and the flock's pumpkin patch has been wrecked. Shaun does what Shaun always does: he improvises. This time the improvisation comes out of a mad scientist's handbook, a growth formula that is meant to bring the pumpkins back and, in the way of these things, gets into the wrong hands. Soon something large and hairy is prowling the village, and the townspeople organise a hunt.
That is as far as this review goes. Like the earlier Shaun films, the story is carried by faces, timing and slapstick rather than speech, and the critics agree it is best met without a map.
The craft, first. Reviewers keep returning to the handmade feel of the thing: Third Coast Review's Steve Prokopy calls it work with "that handmade, expertly crafted feel that marks the work of genuine artists". The AV Club's Jacob Oller likes the sight gags, the mad-scientist laboratory set and the Rube Goldberg contraptions, and credits the directors with brisk, tight timing. The horror references are pitched as a first taste of the genre: Oller describes the whole as "simple, soft, and warm, like a stuffed-animal version of a horror movie".
The wider critical response is warmer than any single review. At the time of writing, Metacritic shows an average of 80 out of 100 from 18 critics, with 17 positive and one mixed. The Guardian's Peter Bradshaw is quoted there as finding it "sharp, smart, funny and precise; there is nothing woolly about it", and the Telegraph's Robbie Collin as saying that no gag "appears to have been deemed too abstract or daft for consideration".
Here the critics split, and the split is informative. The AV Club gives it a B-, calling it milder and less sharp than Aardman's best and doubting that it will entertain parents as much as children; Oller also dislikes the pop needle-drops. Little White Lies' David Jenkins is the coolest of the three full reviews: he thinks it recycles ideas from The Curse of the Were-Rabbit, that it does not match the 2015 Shaun feature, and that the series may be running out of road. Third Coast Review has little negative to say, only that nothing in the animation is "truly groundbreaking".
It's a charming outing, albeit one that never quite justifies its existence beyond being an easy go-to for parents during the school holidays.
David Jenkins, Little White Lies
Read together, the reviews describe a small, well-made, good-natured film rather than a landmark. That is why the score below sits where it does: above the sceptics, below the raves.
Tap what applies. This is a rough guide built from what the critics say, not a verdict on your family.
Pick a few. Your answer appears here.
Families with younger children, anyone with a soft spot for Aardman's stop-motion and its dialogue-free comedy, and parents who want to introduce a child to monster-movie imagery without the fear. If you are after the bite of the studio's best work, the more sceptical reviews are worth reading first.
The film opened in UK and US cinemas on 18 September 2026, with Sky stating that it will later move to Sky Cinema and NOW, with no date announced when we checked. Availability varies by country, so check local listings.