It’s been a while since we’ve seen director Colin Minihan. After making a name for himself back in 2011 co-directing and co-writing the 2011 hidden gem Grave Encounters, he followed that up with solo directorial efforts in films like 2014’s Extraterrestrial and 2016’s It Stains the Sand Red (review). It was his 2018 thriller, the tense What Keeps You Alive (review), that cemented his place in the genre. After spending some time in development hell on the Urban Legend remake, Minihan is finally back behind the camera to deliver Coyotes, a horror comedy that, disappointingly, is neither horrifying nor particularly comedic despite the efforts of a game cast.
Coyotes sees the Stewart family – comic book artist Scott (Justin Long), his wife Liv (Kate Bosworth) and their outspoken daughter Chloe (Mila Harris) — trapped in their Hollywood Hills home when a Santa Ana windstorm takes out the power and knocks a tree on top of their only car. Stranded and without any means of communication, the Stewarts must fend for themselves when a vicious pack of coyotes set their sights on their house. With their only hope of rescue coming from their drug-addicted neighbor Trip (Tony award-winning Norbert Leo Butz) and his “lady of the night” Julie (Brittany Allen), the Stewarts must band together to survive the night, lest they become dinner for this pack of wild animals.
On a certain level, it’s refreshing just how simple Coyotes is. There’s no hidden metaphor to grasp from this man vs. nature tale. Social commentary is out the window. You won’t find any interrogations of grief here. Coyotes is, blessedly, simply about a family trying to survive together against a pack of feral creatures. The problem is: there’s just not enough here to sustain the film’s 90-minute runtime. Screenwriters Tad Daggerhart (The Expendables 4) and Nick Simon (The Pyramid) shoehorn in some minor conflicts (Scott is a workaholic who ignores his family, Chloe is asserting her independence, Liv….exists) to round out the plot, but the stakes just aren’t there.
It doesn’t help that everything plays out so predictably, with nary a surprise in sight. Oh, did Chloe find an old pair of pink walkie talkies that she used to play with when she was younger? You better believe those will play a crucial role in the climax. And that gas leak that’s mentioned early on in Act 1? It’s probably a safe bet that that will come back into play by the time the credits roll. Does Scott faint at the sight of blood? Well, he’s likely to overcome that during the third act shenanigans.
Mila Harris as Chloe in Coyotes (2025)
It would be easy to overlook this if Coyotes were firing on all cylinders when it came to the comedy, but it isn’t. Most jokes land, not with a thud, but with a shrug (though a recurring gag about what to call Julie’s profession fails to land each and every time — can these Hollywood parents really not say the term “sex worker” to their teenage daughter?). Homages to other, better films don’t help matters either (we get a full Jurassic Park-style “they can open doors” line of dialogue), but some of them inspire a few chuckles. It could be worse; but it also could also be a lot better.
Minihan, who pulls double duty as the film’s editor, does what he can with the pedestrian script. He incorporates comic book-style character introduction cards (unnecessary, but amusing) and has a lot of fun adding comedic beats through his editing, but he doesn’t always succeed when it comes to suspense. Granted, Coyotes isn’t a movie that’s aiming for suspense, but it would have been nice to feel some of that during the climactic showdowns with the titular beasties. He clearly delights in the carnage, though. Coyotes isn’t an overtly gory film, but the violence hits when it needs to. The coyotes themselves also look great, thanks to special effects coordinator Felix Andrés Villada.
Thankfully, the performers give it their all. Long settles nicely into the role of the oblivious father, spouting out dad joke after dad joke. Butz delights in his brief screen time as the drug-addled Trip, but it’s Allen (Minihan’s wife, also the film’s composer) who steals the show. Her coke-fueled Julie is always operating at an 11 (on a 10-point scale), making a nice foil for every other cast member. When the film’s energy dips, Julie is there to save the day. Similarly effective is quirky exterminator Devon (Keir O’Donnell), an amalgamation of O’Donnell’s Wedding Crashers character and Christopher Walken’s exterminator in Mouse Hunt. Poor Kate Bosworth, though. The actress (and Long’s real-life wife) is given absolutely nothing to do. It’s a real shame.
Ultimately, Coyotes is a big shrug of a movie. There are worse ways to spend your Saturday night, but there are far better creature features out there that are a lot more fun to watch.
Coyotes made its world premiere at Fantastic Fest. The film will open in theaters across the U.S. on October 3.
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