Coyotes (2025) | Film Review

Look, I went into Coyotes thinking I’d enjoy an old school creature feature/monster movie; unfortunately, that wasn’t the case. Don’t get me wrong, this film isn’t a disaster by any means, but it's not some hidden gem waiting to be unearthed either. What it ends up being — much like its titular animals — is something that howls loudly, moves a bit sideways, and occasionally snaps at your attention before wandering off into the bushes.

Members of a family find themselves in a desperate fight for survival when a pack of coyotes swarms their Hollywood Hills home.

There are genuine moments of enjoyment throughout though. Justin Long delivers dry, funny beats with ease, and watching him square off against a pack of pissed off coyotes is enough to make anyone smile from ear to ear. Couple that with the exterminator (played by Kier O’Donnell), whose intro and finale could’ve been lifted straight from a midnight comedy sketch, and you get a handful of scenes that genuinely made me laugh. Did also enjoy Trip and the short-lived Irish neighbour. A few of the gore beats land with satisfying fury, too: visceral, splashy, and exactly what a creature feature should be.

Unfortunately, there weren’t enough of those moments, and the film takes itself a bit too serious at times. Think I’d have enjoyed more if writers Tad Daggerhart and Nick Simon leaned into the old school monster movies and altered the story accordingly. After the opening scene I thought that’s what I was in store for- another great death that has fun with a stereotypical blonde woo-girl.

Like maybe had the coyotes were doing what they were doing because they’d eaten animals that had been swimming in radioactive laced water from the government or something and had gone feral. Go for the same of vibe Gordon Dogulas’ 1954 film Them! had if you get what I mean. Just felt like a missed opportunity, given the amount of humour in it as well. The vibe sometimes reminds you that horror can be silly and brutal if it wants — the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it kill here, the unexpected set-piece there — there are flashes where it feels like the film almost gets it right.

Coyotes (2025) | Film Review

Here’s where Coyotes stumbles. The narrative feels like it’s been jumbled together by three people who each thought they were making a different movie. One minute it’s a home-invasion thriller, the next it’s a comedy about Hollywood eccentrics, and somewhere in the last reel it tries to wrangle in some sort of “meaningful drama” that never quite sticks. Characters start, but they rarely go anywhere; few moments throughout where I found myself losing interest by the time the coyotes attacked.

Of course I can’t not mention the effects in this, and the titular creatures themselves. I enjoyed the effects for most parts, thought the gore wasn’t overdone and there were some delightfully f*cked up moments throughout. The titular monsters were a bit hit and miss if I’m being brutally honest. Some look truly terrifying and impressively vicious, others like they wandered off a bad VR game set. That inconsistency threw me off a handful of times.

The movie’s tone is as confused as my dog hearing fireworks. Comic flourishes (yes, even those comic-book-style freeze frames) are tossed in like sprinkles on a sundae that really needs salt. Sometimes they add charm, sometimes they distract, and honestly — if you lean harder into the comedy or the chaos instead of straddling the fence, Coyotes might’ve been a more distinctive beast.

If you’re like me and appreciate a film trying to have fun (i.e. not Mike ‘The Man Who Hates Everything’ Murphy), there’s enough here to keep you watching all the way through. But if you want an old school monster movie or your creature feature tight, focused, and with a story that sticks the landing? You’ll be kicking yourself after this. A bit of a shame as this had potential and sadly, didn’t quite sink its teeth in.

Overall, Coyotes is alright — good in bursts, occasionally hilarious, and sometimes disappointing. Great moments of gore and quirky performances can make you grin, but muddled storytelling and uneven execution means it never fully earns its place alongside the old school classics it seems to admire from afar.

Huge thank you to Signature Entertainment for the Blu-ray. You can check out more info on them and their upcoming releases via their WEBSITE.

Coyotes is out now on digital, 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD. You can check out the film’s trailer below.