Coyotes
review by Bobby Blakey
In my opinion Justin Long is one of the most underrated actors out there. The man has showcased his ease in delivering horror, comedy, drama and everything in between. His latest film, Coyotes, not only throws him back into the horror genre but teams him up with real life wife Kate Bostworth, but does it manage to bring the promised chaos, or will it fail to lead the pack?
Coyotes follow a family trapped in their Hollywood Hills home who must fight for survival as a pack of savage coyotes closes in. The film from Extraterrestrial and What Keeps You Alive director Colin Minihan co-stars Katherine McNamara, Mila Harris, Norbert Leo Burtz, Kevin Glynn and Kier O’Donnell.
I am a hardcore werewolf fan so anytime wolves are involved, Lycan or otherwise of any kind I am in. With the addition of Long and Bosworth it had me more interested and came out of it on the other side having a pretty good time. The story is simple and to the point with a simple explanation to the chaos even if it is a bit over the top in execution. I do like films like this that offer up little to no reasoning behind the carnage and just let it exist.
The cast are all great, and the buildup offers up just enough story to prepare you for the coyote onslaught. It’s not doing anything special to stand out but manages to balance the dark humor and terror well enough. The cast are all in to deliver and it offers plenty of great moments. It never goes too over the top with the kills which was a bummer but also made sense for the story using real coyotes as opposed to some mutated monster element.
​
The one issue I did have was with some of the CGI of the coyotes themselves. Most of them work fine and they use some clever angles and lighting to better infuse them with reality, but there are some that are clearly fake. It’s never so bad to ruin the movie but it does take you out of the fear for that brief moment when you are reminded that they aren’t really there.
Despite the up and downs of the CGI it’s a fun flick that knows what it is and the kind of film you just dive into and have some fun with it. Decide for yourself and grab your copy of Coyotes available now on Blu-ray from Aura Entertainment.