‘Coyotes’ Movie Review: Animals-Run-Amok B-Movie Delivers Only Half Of A Hoot
Photo from Aura Entertainment
From Jeremy Kibler
Existing in a genre where social commentary and deeper thematic exploration tends to get tucked inside the thrills and chills, Coyotes is really just a straight-ahead creature feature without any deeper aspirations. The titular animals that come out to wreak havoc are not a metaphor or allegorical, and the low-hanging-fruit Hollywood Hills setting doesn’t really open up the doors for much (literal) eat-the-rich satire. That’s just fine, but while this humor-laced blend of home-invasion survival thriller and animals-run-amok horror movie has some bite, director Colin Minihan’s Coyotes could have gone even further.
Real-life couple Justin Long and Kate Bosworth earnestly play Scott, a workaholic graphic novelist, and Liv, his wife. It’s movie night in their Hollywood Hills home, much to the eye-rolling dismay of teenage daughter Chloe (Mila Harris). Between a possible rodent problem inside and the stormy Santa Ana winds brewing outside, the family holes up inside. To make them really trapped, the storm takes out their power and knocks a tree down on top of their only car (and we know Scott puts work first because he was supposed to cut that tree down earlier in the week). To make matters worse, a pack of feral coyotes is stalking the hills.
One-half of filmmaking duo “the Vicious Brothers,” Colin Minihan got his name in the door with effectively spooky found-footager Grave Encounters. After a few solo efforts, he really knocked it out of the park with 2018’s tensely riveting thriller What Keeps You Alive. With Coyotes, the confidence in tone is a little shakier, however, that’s an issue with the script by Ted Daggerhart and Nick Simon. The attempted model in tone would be Arachnophobia: the situation is to be taken seriously, but the cluelessness of the characters and some of the quirkier bit players are the source of humor (which is very hit-and-miss).
As the movie opens with a vapid, self-absorbed influencer and her ankle-biter dog getting attacked, Coyotes is all set to be a lean, mean blast ready to take out obnoxious Los Angeles caricatures. That semi-parodic savagery kind of goes away for the rest of the movie, except in the form of weirdo exterminator Devon (Keir O’Donnell) and drug-addled, heat-packing neighbor Trip (Tony award-winner Norbert Leo Butz, who’s very game to be delightfully sleazy). Director-editor Minihan thankfully brings an efficient pace and a slick look to the proceedings, stylized mostly during character introductions and with the use of split screens. Almost as soon as every character walks on screen (including Josh’s Irish friend Tony and Tony’s shrewish wife Sheila), they each get comic book-style title cards. Perhaps it’s a nod to Scott’s profession, or maybe Minihan hopes we have as much affection for every single character as he does.
The script ends up finding a logical explanation for the predatory behavior of the title beasties (and before that, there is a funny shout-out to that famous movie about the birds attacking). As the movie turns out to be about the importance of family togetherness, it does get a little too sentimental for its own good. Theoretically, there are stakes, where we should care if the family survives, but the family is so blandly written. Scott is always working, Liv wishes her husband was more present, and Chloe is a typical teenager, not wanting to hang out with her parents. Without recognizable actors who are well-tuned to this material, it would be more of a routine slog.
Unofficial horror king Long does his “thing,” sliding back into likable milquetoast mode, while Bosworth has to be more grounded and the voice of reason (she does get one heroic moment with a fire extinguisher and has the smarts to wrap a coyote in a tablecloth while her husband kills it). In the group of side eccentrics, Brittany Allen (the director’s partner and the film’s composer) is the standout, having the most fun leaning into the tacky absurdity as furcoat-wearing “lady of the night” Julie; rather than just playing her as an irritatingly one-note creation, Allen makes Julie more of an endearing hoot.
Considering a filmmaker isn’t going to put a real-life pack of coyotes on set, the coyotes themselves actually look decent as if they’re (for the most part) sharing the same space as the humans. Not without its alternately amusing and gnarly moments (i.e. a freak accident involving a grill), Coyotes still feels like a missed opportunity. It’s a technically skilled B-movie but one that doesn’t go far enough in either the comedy or the horror.
Rating: 2.5/5
Coyotes hits theaters on October 3, 2025.
