Fantastic Fest 2025 Review: COYOTES is a Fun Nightmare You’re Glad is Happening to Someone Else

When I first moved to the Pacific Northwest, my family worried constantly that I would lose everything in an earthquake. I would have to remind them that they live in the Midwest and are threatened by tornados every year. No matter where you live, there is some sort of natural catastrophe that can level you and everything you have in a microsecond. There is no avoiding it. And with climate change, the threat only climbs. 

But what few people anticipate is getting ravaged by angry coyotes while trying to flee a fire at the same time. That scenario feels like rolling the ultimate snake eyes, and it’s exactly what one family is dealing with in Colin Minihan’s Coyotes. Part family drama, part comedy, part animal attack, part eco-horror, Coyotes tells the story of a family dealing with the triple shit storm of a power outage caused by high winds, aggressive coyotes being driven into the Hollywood Hills, and then a fire that threatens their escape.

Written by Ted Daggerhart, Daniel Meersand, and Nick Simon), Coyotes has a lot to balance. And it largely works. Justin Long, Kate Bosworth and Mila Harris come together to create a believable family unit — one based in love, but has grown apart with change and the normal pressures of life. Long and Bosworth have a charming and humorous dynamic with Long portraying a goofy, yet distant father and Boswoth playing a mother who is holding the family together, but wishes that it didn’t take so much effort. And Harris is great as their teen daughter, who overnight has decided that her parents are beyond cringe and she wants nothing to do with them. It’s a familiar dynamic and everyone here inhabits the roles in a way that makes them relatable and funny.

Kier O’Donnell, Brittany Allen (who also serves as the film’s composer), and Norbert Leo Butz round out the cast in roles that expand the world a bit and also bring a fair amount of comic relief. The opening scene featuring an influencer (Katherine McNamara) encountering the first of the coyotes is hilarious. The cast does a great job in their respective roles, but at times, the story feels too broad. Too many ancillary characters pulling time and attention from the core story of this family having to come together in order to escape danger. The film could have been a bit stronger if it had focused more tightly on the core characters of the family unit. As it is, Coyotes is fun, but the story sprawls a bit. 

But let’s get back to the coyotes. Minihan takes an animal that is generally pretty timid and turns it into a snarling, vicious monster that will tear you to pieces. There is a ton of blood, body parts, and some great effects work. The coyotes terrorizing this family are exaggerated — bigger and more fierce than the real thing, which makes the animal attack angle a ton of fun. And the fact that this family is so unprepared to deal with the threat that is literally at their doorstep offers a lot of opportunities for some great comedic moments. 

Coyotes is a fun ride. Though it could have been a bit tighter in some places, it’s still an enjoyable movie to check out if you’re in the mood for something fun and not too heavy.

Movie Score: 3/5