Real-life husband and wife Justin Long and Kate Bosworth play a couple fighting off a pack of murderous coyotes in the horror comedy premiering at Fantastic Fest 2025.
If you’ve lived through fire season or the “Santa Anas” in LA and seen the coyotes cross the street (no, you seeing Collateral does not count), then you’ll relate to Coyotes. The new horror comedy by director Colin Minihan stars Justin Long and Kate Bosworth as a family dealing with a deadlier-than-average wild scavenger.
Part of the fun of the film is the satirizing of “LA types” that play throughout the script by Nick Simon and Tad Daggerhart (with a story by the duo and Daniel Meersand). Though an ensemble with a host of characters from the deadpan Sex Worker, to the wannabe influencer, to the terrible millionaire, and the high-functioning co-dependent couple, it’s Scott and Liv (Long and Bosworth) and their daughter Chloe (Mila Harris) that are the focus. Scott is a work-focused Comic Book Artist who is so worried about the finances of keeping his family together that he can’t keep his family together. It’s this push and pull dynamic that’s brought to a head when the Santa Anas take out the power in their neighborhood and the coyotes come stalking.
The setup, execution, and ultimate reveal as to why the animals are attacking is as clever as the script’s lampooning of LA life during fire season. One of the things they do get right that many who don’t live in LA or can tell through the 24-hour news cycle is that life goes on pretty much unabated, even in the danger zone. Even when the pack does begin to hunt down everyone, there’s this defiant sense of refusal to admit something is wrong that the comedy of the film comes from.
Long and Bosworth are great as the put-upon couple. Long especially wrings some fun comedic bits out of the tense situations with his nebbish character. Bosworth is actually the best part of the film, giving her a warmth and understanding that we’ve not seen from her before. Both make the final third of the film work in the moments that require that extra push.
One does wish that the production had found a way to use practical FX work for the coyotes but understands the use of the CG animals. Though there are some great uses of gore effects for both comedic and shock moments. If there is one major gripe with Coyotes, it’s that the film sides more on the comedic than the horrific side of the story. One had wished they had found that proper balance to be a truly wicked piece of horror filmmaking to make the film a bit more harrowing and level up the stakes. That aside, Coyotes is a fun entry into the animals attack subgenre.
Coyotes plays Fantastic Fest 2025 on September 20th and is in theaters on October 3rd
Real-life husband and wife Justin Long and Kate Bosworth play a couple fighting off a pack of murderous coyotes in the horror comedy premiering at Fantastic Fest 2025.
If you’ve lived through fire season or the “Santa Anas” in LA and seen the coyotes cross the street (no, you seeing Collateral does not count), then you’ll relate to Coyotes. The new horror comedy by director Colin Minihan stars Justin Long and Kate Bosworth as a family dealing with a deadlier-than-average wild scavenger.
Part of the fun of the film is the satirizing of “LA types” that play throughout the script by Nick Simon and Tad Daggerhart (with a story by the duo and Daniel Meersand). Though an ensemble with a host of characters from the deadpan Sex Worker, to the wannabe influencer, to the terrible millionaire, and the high-functioning co-dependent couple, it’s Scott and Liv (Long and Bosworth) and their daughter Chloe (Mila Harris) that are the focus. Scott is a work-focused Comic Book Artist who is so worried about the finances of keeping his family together that he can’t keep his family together. It’s this push and pull dynamic that’s brought to a head when the Santa Anas take out the power in their neighborhood and the coyotes come stalking.
The setup, execution, and ultimate reveal as to why the animals are attacking is as clever as the script’s lampooning of LA life during fire season. One of the things they do get right that many who don’t live in LA or can tell through the 24-hour news cycle is that life goes on pretty much unabated, even in the danger zone. Even when the pack does begin to hunt down everyone, there’s this defiant sense of refusal to admit something is wrong that the comedy of the film comes from.
Long and Bosworth are great as the put-upon couple. Long especially wrings some fun comedic bits out of the tense situations with his nebbish character. Bosworth is actually the best part of the film, giving her a warmth and understanding that we’ve not seen from her before. Both make the final third of the film work in the moments that require that extra push.
One does wish that the production had found a way to use practical FX work for the coyotes but understands the use of the CG animals. Though there are some great uses of gore effects for both comedic and shock moments. If there is one major gripe with Coyotes, it’s that the film sides more on the comedic than the horrific side of the story. One had wished they had found that proper balance to be a truly wicked piece of horror filmmaking to make the film a bit more harrowing and level up the stakes. That aside, Coyotes is a fun entry into the animals attack subgenre.
Coyotes plays Fantastic Fest 2025 on September 20th and is in theaters on October 3rd
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