{"id":153308,"date":"2025-09-22T15:05:08","date_gmt":"2025-09-22T15:05:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153308\/"},"modified":"2025-09-22T15:05:08","modified_gmt":"2025-09-22T15:05:08","slug":"coyotes-review-justin-long-horror-comedy-isnt-funny-or-scary-fantastic-fest","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/153308\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Coyotes’ Review – Justin Long Horror Comedy Isn’t Funny or Scary [Fantastic Fest]"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been a while since we\u2019ve seen director Colin Minihan. After making a name for himself back in 2011 co-directing and co-writing the 2011 hidden gem Grave Encounters, he followed that up with solo directorial efforts in films like 2014\u2019s Extraterrestrial<\/a> and 2016\u2019s It Stains the Sand Red (review)<\/a>. It was his 2018 thriller, the tense What Keeps You Alive (review<\/a>), that cemented his place in the genre. After spending some time in development hell on the\u00a0Urban Legend\u00a0remake<\/a>, Minihan is finally back behind the camera to deliver Coyotes, a horror comedy that, disappointingly, is neither horrifying nor particularly comedic despite the efforts of a game cast.<\/p>\n

Coyotes sees the Stewart family \u2013 comic book artist Scott (Justin Long), his wife Liv (Kate Bosworth) and their outspoken daughter Chloe (Mila Harris) \u2014 trapped in their Hollywood Hills home when a Santa Ana windstorm takes out the power and knocks a tree on top of their only car. Stranded and without any means of communication, the Stewarts must fend for themselves when a vicious pack of coyotes set their sights on their house. With their only hope of rescue coming from their drug-addicted neighbor Trip (Tony award-winning Norbert Leo Butz) and his \u201clady of the night\u201d Julie (Brittany Allen), the Stewarts must band together to survive the night, lest they become dinner for this pack of wild animals.<\/p>\n

On a certain level, it\u2019s refreshing just how simple\u00a0Coyotes\u00a0is. There\u2019s no hidden metaphor to grasp from this man vs. nature tale. Social commentary is out the window. You won\u2019t find any interrogations of grief here. Coyotes\u00a0is, blessedly, simply about a family trying to survive together against a pack of feral creatures. The problem is: there\u2019s just not enough here to sustain the film\u2019s 90-minute runtime. Screenwriters Tad Daggerhart (The Expendables 4) and Nick Simon (The Pyramid) shoehorn in some minor conflicts (Scott is a workaholic who ignores his family, Chloe is asserting her independence, Liv\u2026.exists) to round out the plot, but the stakes just aren\u2019t there.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t help that everything plays out so predictably, with nary a surprise in sight. Oh, did Chloe find an old pair of pink walkie talkies that she used to play with when she was younger? You better believe those will play a crucial role in the climax. And that gas leak that\u2019s mentioned early on in Act 1? It\u2019s probably a safe bet that that will come back into play by the time the credits roll. Does Scott faint at the sight of blood? Well, he\u2019s likely to overcome that during the third act shenanigans.<\/p>\n

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Mila Harris as Chloe in Coyotes (2025)<\/p>\n

It would be easy to overlook this if Coyotes\u00a0were firing on all cylinders when it came to the comedy, but it isn\u2019t. Most jokes land, not with a thud, but with a shrug (though a recurring gag about what to call Julie\u2019s profession fails to land each and every time \u2014 can these Hollywood parents really not say the term \u201csex worker\u201d to their teenage daughter?). Homages to other, better films don\u2019t help matters either (we get a full Jurassic Park-style \u201cthey can open doors\u201d line of dialogue), but some of them inspire a few chuckles. It could be worse; but it also could also be a lot better.<\/p>\n

Minihan, who pulls double duty as the film\u2019s editor, does what he can with the pedestrian script. He incorporates comic book-style character introduction cards (unnecessary, but amusing) and has a lot of fun adding comedic beats through his editing, but he doesn\u2019t always succeed when it comes to suspense. Granted, Coyotes isn\u2019t a movie that\u2019s aiming for suspense, but it would have been nice to feel some of that during the climactic showdowns with the titular beasties. He clearly delights in the carnage, though. Coyotes\u00a0isn\u2019t an overtly gory film, but the violence hits when it needs to. The coyotes themselves also look great, thanks to special effects coordinator Felix Andr\u00e9s Villada.<\/p>\n

Thankfully, the performers give it their all. Long settles nicely into the role of the oblivious father, spouting out dad joke after dad joke. Butz delights in his brief screen time as the drug-addled Trip, but it\u2019s Allen (Minihan\u2019s wife, also the film\u2019s composer) who steals the show. Her coke-fueled Julie is always operating at an 11 (on a 10-point scale), making a nice foil for every other cast member. When the film\u2019s energy dips, Julie is there to save the day. Similarly effective is quirky exterminator Devon (Keir O\u2019Donnell), an amalgamation of O\u2019Donnell\u2019s Wedding Crashers <\/a>character and Christopher Walken\u2019s exterminator in Mouse Hunt<\/a>.\u00a0Poor Kate Bosworth, though. The actress (and Long\u2019s real-life wife) is given absolutely nothing to do. It\u2019s a real shame.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Coyotes is a big shrug of a movie. There are worse ways to spend your Saturday night, but there are far better creature features out there that are a lot more fun to watch.<\/p>\n

Coyotes\u00a0made its world premiere at Fantastic Fest. The film will open in theaters across the U.S. on October 3.<\/p>\n

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