Coyotes : Fantastic Fest Review

As you sit on your phone or computer reading this, I want you to think about the worst night of your life. I don’t say this to stir up bad memories or make you relive past traumas, but to set the stage for the night ahead for a few people in the Hollywood Hills. This isn’t an end-of-the-world scenario, but it is one of those nights that forces you to cherish what you have and to re-center on what’s truly important in life.

Scott (Justin Long) has provided well for his family. His wife Liv (Kate Bosworth) and daughter Chloe (Mila Harris) have everything they could want — except the time they’d like to spend with him. For them, work always seems to come first, as Scott does whatever he can to make sure his family has it all. It’s a system that functions, but one that makes the family feel more like roommates than an actual relatives.

During an attempted family movie night, a storm with heavy winds hits the hills, knocking out the power after a tree falls. With only their family, their neighbor Trip (Norbert Leo Butz), and a call girl named Julie (Brittany Allen) on the patch of land, things seem manageable… or so they think. Patrolling the area is also a pack of wild coyotes, who appear to be on a mission and take out anyone in their path. This sets up a tense standoff, as Scott and the others try to survive a night of fire and coyotes — pretty much the worst combo you could ask for.

Written by Tad Daggerhart and Nick Simon, Coyotes wants to deliver B-movie fun, but the questionable look of the creatures undermines much of that plan. The coyotes themselves often look artificial and overly shiny. That might be intentional, since director Colin Minhan seems to be going for a hyper-stylized feel, but for me, showing less would have been more effective. The core idea — a pack of wild coyotes reclaiming land that’s been overtaken by development — works well, and it even plays out a bit like a slasher film as the animals track their prey. But the execution doesn’t always stick, as the script — while often funny — gets too distracted with character bits that aren’t necessary, dragging down the momentum.

Even with its flaws, Coyotes is still entertaining and works as a solid background movie, since you don’t really need to give it your full attention to follow what’s going on. As for the human side of things, Long and Bosworth — who also produced the film — are easily the best part. They fit right into this world, and while Long has played characters like this before, it’s a role we enjoy seeing him take on, so I was all in. That’s where the heart of the entertainment lies — with the humans. It’s just a shame the other elements don’t work as well as they should.

Watching Coyotes, I couldn’t help but think about Jaws — specifically how not seeing the shark more often ended up being the best thing for that movie. I’m not saying Coyotes had the potential to be a classic, but showing less of its predators would have gone a long way. What we got instead undercuts the tension, leaving the film short of what it could have been.