Coyotes happens to be from one of the two directors that brought one of the biggest horror favorites in high school, Grave Encounters, so I was more than a little excited to see what he had in store here. The film is a high adrenaline home invasion, essentially with coyotes being the ones invading. In more clear terms… It's a creature feature. 

 

Placed in a The Grey scenario, Justin Long and Kate Bosworth, along with their on-screen daughter Mila Harris are all terrific up in the hills of LA. While their family dynamic doesn’t always entirely function properly with some layers of exposition dumped on the audience quite literally out of nowhere, there’s still enough there to care for their well-being from beginning to end. 

 

The neighbors and visitors during the attack are where the issues with the film fall into play. The core family plays the scenario relatively straight while everyone around them has an entirely different surreal attitude. The neighbor for instance has a clear drug problem, inviting a sex worker to their home (who mistakenly goes to the wrong house) and a pest control that wants to eliminate the family dog to control the rat problem. The performances all around are good in their element, but mixed together things can get a little out of hand. 

 

For a film about coyotes, it’s important that the CGI and/or practical effects are worthwhile enough to push the story through and not release any of the tension. Unfortunately the CGI is a mixed bag to be sure, with some shots looking pretty intimidating, while others being admittedly a little “floaty” compared to the actual humans running for their lives. Nonetheless, the kills themselves are still plenty effective with some in particular making me laugh shocked when they came so suddenly.

 

Coyotes is a mild creature feature, fueled by its lead performances and a few creative and hilarious kills. While the CGI doesn’t help the tension, it does help amp up the B-movie factor that will make this film stand out in the long run for horror fans.