Fantastic Fest 2025 Review: “Coyotes” – A Safe Horror Comedy!

​Humans are always thought to be at the top of the food chain. As apex predators with the ability to communicate, hunt, and survive we often look at ourselves as the smartest and strongest predators on earth. However, not all humans are “built” the same. Some people are better fit to survive and prosper in perilous situations more than others. If you were to ask most people who are the least in touch with humanity, instincts, and survival skills it would be the Hollywood elite. Living in their own bubble of fame and fortune and having others assist you in most tasks can cause a person to develop an inability to do things themselves.

Related – Fantastic Fest 2025 Review: “The Curse” – A Familiar Fright!

Enter the Stewarts family, consisting of father Scott (Justin Long), wife Liv (Kate Bosworth), and daughter Chloe (Mila Harris), who live in the Hollywood Hills in a huge house and an endless amount of life’s most luxurious pleasures. They seem to be on top of their lives until a pack of wild coyotes decide that their neighborhood is the perfect place to chow down on some human flesh. With a storm hitting their area and the power out, the Stewarts family and their colorful neighbors must find a way to stay alive and survive a pack of man-eating coyotes.

​Coyotes thrives off of its comedic horror atmosphere from the beginning, bringing its audience into the world of rich Hollywood where Scott has built his career as a comic book writer and illustrator. It begins with an amusing display of Scott and his family dealing with rats in their walls, thus calling an exterminator to deal with the problem. Where rats are the least of the family’s problems when the coyotes make an entrance, the film’s premise becomes a bit of a slog once the coyote violence gets going.

It becomes a classic “slasher” with animals running the show that lessens its theme of the Hollywood elite being the lowest on the food chain on the backburner until closer to the end of the film. It would have strengthened the film to see the writers and Minihan lean more into Scott’s family and neighbors’ inability to face unexpected circumstances as characters living the “high life” (most of the time).

 

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However, Coyotes does lean into its comic book feel through Minihan’s direction and absurd happenings. It feels very much like a three or four volume comic book series with just enough violence and family values to entertain its audience.

Where a comic book typically delivers pages of dialogue, exhibiting the internal and external conflicts, with pages of pure action and illustration, Coyotes succeeds more when it dives into its ideas of family as a unified pack that is stronger together. Its action sequences, although amusing, feel cut from the same pages as other horror films. As a result, taking hold of its more unique elements would have offered more of a memorable story.

One of Minihan’s more complex ideas that was presented in the film was the idea of humans and animals being displaced into bubbles that go against their nature, creating a more toxic environment to live in. As a result of wildfires and environmental obstacles, the coyotes find themselves in a suburban neighborhood looking for food to survive. On the other hand, people who find themselves living the Hollywood lifestyle often transform into their own sort of “monsters” as their most primitive instincts are abandoned and they become unaware of the real world.

As a result, the prey of the coyotes being the rich elite makes sense, as the easiest prey to catch is desirable. It would have been great to see these ideas take more of center stage amidst the violence and action as it is an intriguing angle form to take on. Although it has some ups and downs, Coyotes may satisfy horror audiences looking for a blockbuster type rental on a Saturday night.

‘Coyotes’ Rating – 2.5/5

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Stephanie Young

Senior Associate Writer at Just for Movie Freaks

Stephanie is a huge film fanatic, a librarian, and a baker! And when she isn't busy doing these activities, she is running around with her Australian Cattle Dog!

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