Coyotes – Movie Review | Fantastic Fest (4/5)

COYOTES is a horror-comedy from genre filmmaker Colin Minihan. It features a survival plot that involves coyotes, which did make me nervous. Fortunately, this movie is crazy fun in all the right ways, so I want to watch it again. Screening at Fantastic Fest, but coming to theaters very soon. Read our full Coyotes horror-comedy review here!

COYOTES is a survival horror-comedy screening at Fantastic Fest 2025, but it’s coming to movie theaters in early October, so you’ll get to check it out soon. Admittedly, as an animal lover, I was nervous about this premise.

Of course, with Colin Minihan (and Britanny Allen) at the helm, plus Justin Long and Kate Bosworth, I should have known better. This movie has exactly the craziness that made Shaun of the Dead work. Oh yeah, I went there!

Also, the runtime is 92 minutes, and I didn’t want it to end.

Continue reading our Coyotes movie review below. Find it in US theaters from October 3, 2025.

When Nature Bites Back…

In Coyotes, we meet the Stewarts. A family consisting of Scott (Justin Long), Liv (Kate Bosworth), and their cool and smart daughter, Chloe (a wonderful Mila Harris). They are about to be stranded in their home, surrounded by coyotes.

Now, usually, you can scare them off, but these are different. Not only are they bigger and more aggressive, but they also don’t fear humans. In fact, they appear to want to eat us.

Well, and any small animal they may come across.

To make matters much worse, a Santa Ana windstorm has knocked out the power in their gorgeous Hollywood Hills home. The tree that Scott had neglected to cut down crushed their SUV, and a fire has erupted.

Basically, they are well and truly trapped.

The struggle to survive without power

Without electricity, some manage better than others. While Scott is quick to whip out the “Tin Meat” to survive, Liv and Chloe are more rational. Well, until their sweet dog Charlie runs away.

All bets are obviously off when the dog goes missing in this mess. Don’t worry, this isn’t John Wick… or, well, only if we’re talking the sequels.

There’s also the neighbor, who delivers his own brand of weirdness. His name is Trip (Bloodline‘s Norbert Leo Butz), and that’s exactly what he is. However, he does have a generator, so he has redeeming qualities.

We first become familiar with the existence of the neighbor when his “date” (Brittany Allen) shows up at the Stewarts by mistake. Her character is a brilliant addition to the quirky world.

Perfect horror comedy casting

Whenever Justin Long is in a genre movie, it immediately goes on my “Must Watch” movie list. From Jeepers Creepers (before we knew about the director) to Sam Raimi‘s Drag Me to Hell, Kevin Smith’s Tusk, and Zach Cregger‘s Barbarian, I just adore him.

Also, I am so happy to see Kate Bosworth (The Immaculate Room) again, and I truly hope she and Justin will continue to make movies together. It just works. And please, do team up with Colin Minihan and Brittany Allen again as well.

See, this is what happens when talent and passion for filmmaking come together, and the focus is on making good movies, not making oneself look good.

Speaking of… If you’ve watched previous Colin Minihan movies, you will have seen Britanny Allen before as well. However, I don’t think I’ve ever seen her quite as funny as in Coyote.

Sure, she’s played fun and quirky characters before, and a movie like It Stains the Sands Red certainly has some elements of dark comedy, despite being first and foremost a horror movie with a zombie apocalypse plot (do check it out!).

Watch Coyotes as soon as you can

As already covered earlier, this movie comes from director Colin Minihan. He previously directed genre movies such as What Keeps You Alive (2018) and the iconic Grave Encounters (2011) as part of The Vicious Brothers.

The screenplay comes from Tad Daggerheart (Black Lotus) and Nick Simon (Truth or Dare), based on the story from the two, along with Daniel Meersand (The Pyramid). Honestly, none of these writers has excelled for me in the past.

Still, with this 2025 movie, Colin Minihan has managed to hit my horror-comedy sweet spot and make all my worries about animals being the villains disappear. Also, it helps that the coyotes are clearly CGI, so thank you for that.

Again, it’s clearly intentional and part of the whole comedic focus of the story. Finally, I have to give a shout-out to the composer as well: Britanny Allen. Alongside acting, she has done quite a few scores. I have enjoyed them all!

Coyotes will open in theaters across the U.S. on October 3, 2025.

Details

Director: Colin Minihan
Script: Tad Daggerhart, Nick Simon
Cast: Justin Long, Kate Bosworth, Katherine McNamara, Brittany Allen, Mila Harris, Norbert Leo Butz