‘He goes to the dark side’: behind the scenes on the Shaun the Sheep horror movie
Aardman Animations is midway through production on its latest film, Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom, a stop-motion horror pastiche aimed at family audiences. Filmed at a Bristol studio unit disguised as a miniature village, the production draws on genre classics such as Psycho, Nosferatu, Frankenstein, The Shining and Weird Science, though the film-makers have deliberately softened its scares and trimmed references too obscure for younger viewers, given Shaun's dialogue-free format has made him Aardman's most internationally popular character.
Around 300 staff are working on the film, with 30 animators producing roughly two seconds of footage each per day across 40 sets, using techniques such as 24-frames-per-second stop-motion and painstaking model manipulation between shots. The production favours a deliberately stiff, non-"boiling" puppet aesthetic (unlike Wes Anderson's fur-in-motion style), incorporates a new character, a female vet, and continues Aardman's tradition of repurposing everyday materials, alongside occasional off-the-shelf items such as K-Y Jelly for tears. The Shaun franchise, which has run for seven TV seasons sold to more than 170 territories and inspired theme parks in several countries, underscores the studio's efforts to balance domestic humour with broad international appeal.
- Aardman filming new Shaun the Sheep horror film, The Beast of Mossy Bottom
- Made via stop-motion at Bristol studio with 300 staff, 40 sets
- Scares softened; references trimmed to suit international, family audiences
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Aardman Animations, the Bristol studio behind Wallace and Gromit and the Shaun the Sheep franchise, is making a new stop-motion film called Shaun the Sheep: The Beast of Mossy Bottom. It puts a horror spin on the usual family-friendly Shaun formula, borrowing visual nods from classic scary films while keeping the tone light enough for children.
Shaun the Sheep has no dialogue, which has helped the character travel well across many countries without needing translation, making him one of Aardman's most valuable international properties. The franchise already spans several television series and has been sold widely abroad, as well as inspiring theme park attractions, so a new film carries commercial weight beyond the UK.
The film is made using traditional stop-motion animation, a slow, labour-intensive process where physical puppets and models are photographed frame by frame and moved slightly between each shot to create the illusion of motion. A large team of animators and craftspeople works on numerous small sets simultaneously, and the studio maintains its longstanding habit of building props from everyday household materials rather than specialist equipment.