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Coyotes follows a family trying to survive an attack from vicious coyotes following a storm in Los Angeles. The film stars real-life couple Justin Long (Tusk, Barbarian, It’s a Wonderful Knife) and Kate Bosworth as Scott and Liv, respectively, a married couple in LA. Joining them is Mila Harris as Chloe, the couple’s daughter.
Additionally, the film features Brittany Allen (Jigsaw, What Keeps You Alive, Z, The Boys Season 1, Two Sentence Horror Stories, Abraham’s Boys), Kevin Glynn, and Norbert Leo Butz. Coyotes is directed by Colin Minihan (What Keeps You Alive, Grave Encounters). The film is written by Daniel Meersand, as well as executive producers Nick Simon and Tad Daggerhart.
Characters and Performances
Coyotes makes for a solid showcase for its two leads. Long and Bosworth clearly have a natural chemistry in reality that can be seen on screen. While their characters fall into archetypal roles, which may annoy some, it helps the film maintain a clear focus. Plus, in this type of film, you can only expect so much from characters. Long fits well as a typical dopey and aloof father/husband. And Bosworth naturally slides into the fed-up mother/wife role. Long’s character can come across as mildly annoying but ultimately charming, whereas Bosworth quickly becomes the most likable character in the film. It’s easy to empathize with the latter’s character, Liv, and her situation.
At times, Mila Harris as Chloe can feel a little too stereotypical, but the film gives the character enough layers that it’s not too grating. For the rest of the supporting cast, the most notable performance is Allen, who plays a sex worker who must team up with the family to survive. She’s a lot of fun to watch and helps give some more levity to the film’s heavier moments. Glynn and Butz are in the film solely for comic relief. They both mostly work well, and the film wisely uses them sparingly. Too much of either one and it would be grating.
Balancing Act
Tonally, the film struggles to maintain its balance between horror and comedy. For most of its runtime, it keeps a hand on both sides of the spectrum pretty evenly. It’s neither the funniest nor scariest film out there. However, Coyotes does have a handful of solid laughs and decent scares. Speaking of which, it’s not necessarily jump scares but rather the general anxiety that comes from being in the situation. The film is able to communicate well enough, mostly thanks to the performances found. Furthermore, there are a few great practical effects to be found in the victims of the Coyote attacks.
However, the coyotes themselves often look off. It’s not quite in the uncanny valley, but there is something decidedly wrong about them, and that will pull many viewers out of the experience. With that said, there are a few points where the production team has used practical models or obscured the visual effects ones in enough darkness that it’s forgivable. Still, any direct look or close-up of the coyotes is tough to watch.
Another minor flourish that the film should have kept up is the comic book-style character intros. These little freeze frames with the comic book art added quite a bit of style to the film, but sadly, it drops until the end credits. Obviously, given the nature of the film, it would be hard to be constantly incorporated but there are a few moments where it could have enhanced the comedy on screen. At the very least, it could have been used to help elevate the film visually.
The Verdict on Coyotes
Coyotes may not be a masterpiece, but it makes for a quick, fun watch during this horror season. It’s got enough comedy and gore to keep you entertained, although genre aficionados may be expecting a bit more bite from this film.
Score: 3/5
Coyotes is now playing at Fantastic Fest and will be released in theaters on October 3rd!
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Sometimes I write things, but mostly I watch movies.
