Coyotes roam the Hollywood Hills, not the South Dakota prairies, in the newest feature film from screenwriter and director Nick Simon.

The Sioux Falls native saw his latest movie, named aptly enough “Coyotes,” premiere at Fantastic Fest film festival in Austin, Texas, bringing a comedy-horror film that occupied his mind and his computer for about a decade to the screen.

“I wrote it about 10 years ago, but I couldn’t get it off the ground then, and it sat in my computer for a long time,” Simon said.

During a writers strike, as Simon and fellow scripter Tad Daggerhart walked a picket line, they started talking about ideas that had never gone anywhere. Simon told Daggerhart about being caught in a Santa Ana windstorm with his wife, spending three days in a house with no power. The refrigerator quit working, and with no way to open the house gates and no usable phone, the couple was trapped.

While walking his dogs, Simon often noticed wildlife lurking nearby. One night, in fact, two coyotes followed them home. The lithe, athletic animals could leap easily over the fence, he thought. What if …?

Daggerhart liked the idea. They resurrected and revised the script and sold it within three months.

Now, a few weeks after its Fantastic Fest debut, “Coyotes” is appearing nationwide, although it’s not yet scheduled in Sioux Falls. RogerEbert.com reviewer Brian Tallerico gave it two stars out of four. WomenInHorror.com said, “The male writing and directing team created fully dimensional female characters who actually talk to each other about things other than men.”

Reviewer William Bibbiani describes “Coyotes” as “a vicious and exciting horror film” while conceding “it probably won’t join the ranks of the highest grossing productions in history.”

The stars of “Coyotes” are real-life husband-and-wife Justin Long and Kate Bosworth as the married couple trapped in their luxurious home with their teenage daughter. Tony Award-winning actor Norbert Leo Butz appears as a neighbor — an expendable neighbor.

Simon describes it as “like ‘Cujo,’ where the family get out,” referring to a Stephen King novel-turned-movie about a vicious dog that traps its owner in a car.

With 11 directing credits to his name and seven each for writing and producing, Simon realized years ago that as much as he loves a script, the actual reception is out of his hands.

“Hopefully, these projects do well when they come out, but it’s a catch-22,” he said. “You put the stuff out in the world hoping it does well and people respond to it, but there’s a real chance people will hate it as well. You just hope that you get hired to continue working.”

And he is. Simon began his career shooting do-it-yourself music videos for local punk bands. He moved to Los Angeles in 2003 to attend the American Film Institute, where horror legend Wes Craven mentored him.

His most recent project, which should be released in the first half of 2026, is tentatively titled “Entity Within,” a supernatural horror film based on a true story and starring Heather Graham and Mimi Rogers. Simon directed the film, which is in post-production.

The story of Doris Bither, which has been told in two earlier movies, took place in Culver City, California, in 1974 when she claimed that she was repeatedly sexually assaulted by an invisible, poltergeist-like entity. This screenplay was written by Thomas Fenton, whose writing credits include “Saw IV.”

“This is the true story. We ended up doing the life rights to the real woman through her kids. It was definitely fun to shoot a period piece with 1974 period costumes and period cars. We got to shoot in Los Angeles, and I don’t often get to work here unless I’m writing.”

Simon thinks “Entity Within” is his strongest film as a director, and he calls the starring actors’ work terrific.

Simon also recently finished writing a script with former roommate Tony Fleecs, a noted comic book artist. His “Stray Dogs” was the No. 2 selling graphic novel the year it was released. The two men usually attended SiouxperCon together every year; this year, the “Coyotes” premiere meant Simon had to cancel his appearance.

Simon’s parents always supported his “crazy ideas of going to LA and directing movies.” He describes his parents as movie nerds with his mother in particular “a horror movie nerd.” His proclivity to what he describes as “digital hoarding” is his own, and it paid off with the script for “Coyotes.”

“I don’t throw files away,” he said. “I have hard drives full of old scripts, and that proved that maybe I can feel good about being a digital hoarder. That one came back and paid off later.”