Rings of Smoke and Savage Howls
At first glance, “Coyotes” seems to fit within the confines of a horror genre that a Hollywood set piece contains: a family living within a Hollywood Hills home which they think of as safe, is suddenly attacked by a pack of predatory coyotes, all the while a wildfire blazes outside. But there seems to be more to the film than pure terror. It tackles nature’s vengeance on the privileged, suburban indifference and the delicate nature of what “home” truly is.
The film is directed and edited by Colin Minihan, who also directed the horror film “What Keeps You Alive.” “Coyotes” stars married couple Justin Long and Kate Bosworth. Their on screen marriage gives the character of Scott more depth as he tries to shield his wife, Liv and daughter, Chloe while the illusion of security fades away. The coyotes symbolize more than animals — they bear the metaphor of menace, wildlife pushing into civilized area to remind us how the wilderness is always within our reach.
The onset of the film is disturbed by the sighting of a rat, the anxious tone of a phone conversation, and the barking of a dog. So the abode turns into The Citadel and the coyotes are the first wave of the invading force of the wilderness. The narrative tackles suspense and humor, and even awkward attempts at horror, all within the same time frame. One of the concepts that is frequently analyzed, however, is the role of the backdrop. It is not merely a Pretty Piece of Scenery, nor is the statement, “The fire serves to isolate the family and curtail the possible avenues for escape” Everything has an aim. “What is the result when the worlds of men and beasts become antagonistic simultaneously?”
What The Story Actually Does
Scott, Liv, and Chloe have just relocated to a newly established dwelling in the hills. However, outside a stealthy and cunning pack of coyotes is on the move. The first film ers, and the narrative shows them on a foraging campaign, plundering and pillaging within the terrestrial boundaries of civilization. The moment Scott attempts to call for assistance everything goes haywire. The telephone is inoperable, the electricity grid collapses, and the automated barriers fail to engage. Liv becomes uncharacteristically violent and in a savage manner. Chloe is in an unresolvable conflict of interest, torn between the irrational and the primal.
The film spends the remaining time throwing every tangent under the sun – annoying, peeping drone people, social media commentary, the ‘perfect home’ aesthetic deconstruction, and most fascinating, Scott’s epiphany regarding the glass walls of the home, realizing they serve as both a bulwark and a prison. He frantically shoots a coyote in the glass walls and panics. Liv responds with the fire-extinguisher retaliates, as the trailer proclaims, save the best for last. The pack knows the territory – the pack has their espionage, and the family’s privilege is a liability.
The last portion of the film, “Coyotes,” pulls the last two strands: human hubris and the bite of a viper. The wild has no reason to haggle. Civilization must be shed. Survival instincts must be triggered. Not everything ends in a full stop. Some survive, and some coyotes do die. The coyotes do survive, but do they survive unchanged? The facade of the home still stands.
Documentary Production & Behind The Scenes Insights
The filming location for the Minihan project was in Bogotá Colombia between the months of November and December of the year 2024. The original feature of the project took places in the Hollywood Hills home which required a location that was devoid of snow. The footage that Minihan shot was paramount in capturing a location that had snowless winters along with a very higher controlled wildlife and wild-fire settings. As the production report states, a portion of the coyotes were created using CGI while the score was created by the actress and composer Brittany Allen, who was a member of the cast which allowed for some level cohesion that utilized the cast and crew.
Having Bosworth and Long cast as real life husband and wife allowed the film to take advantage of the chemistry that was already present. Bosworth was able to convince Long to join the project after he declined because of some scheduling issues. The dual wild-fire and animal threat was not by accident. Minihan did say that he wished to create a film that was titled “man vs nature” but in which the nature was “hostile” and the human did not have a “villain” to contend against.
There are plenty of scenes that utilize the night vision and glares of infrared, along with the reflection of eyes at the window in the dark. Many of the scenes were filmed in a single take with wide glass walls in order to create the premise of “watched from the inside” whereby the audience is the voyeur and the filmed are the subjects. As a side note, Long was heard repeatedly asking “why didn’t we just move to the desert” while filming scenes where the coyotes were around.
Speculation, Fan Theories, & Audience Response
Prior to the release of the movie, discussions on horror forums were rampant. Would the coyotes be only animals, or would they be genetically or chemically modified? The fans of the movie would speculate that the blaze would be caused by supernatural means — the wind would be unnatural, or some government would be trying to cover it up — and the pack would symbolize nature’s ever-growing wrath. Some would argue that the title “Coyotes” is a metaphor for human society and is the ultra-wealthy, but the film ends up being literal, which is more disappointing.
After the release, the audience reception changed. Reddit discussions highlight:
“I just saw the trailer and already … the coyote AI is way more obvious than I AI is left untamed.” “Yeah I saw it just yesterday … the coyotes were AI. Like, the most obvious and blatant AI I’ve seen in a movie yet. I’ve never watched a movie and wanted a director’s cut more.”
Others noticed the coyotes too. Brian Tallerico in RogerEbert.com mentioned the threat “never quite has the same weight … the coyotes appeared to be created by A.I. software.”
On Rotten Tomatoes, the audience score was measly 60 percent.
On the more optimistic side, fans speculated that the wildfire angle would serve as a metaphor for the consequences of climate change. One user asked, “What if the pack is the planet’s revenge?” but the film barely touches on eco-horror, instead of heavy-handed messaging.
Alternate Endings, What Might Have Been
As stated in the production notes and in the director/racted actor’s Reddit AMA,”Coyotes” had an alternate ending included in production that was later cut due apparently to the pacing and tonal aspects of the ending of the film where the surviving daughter, Chloe, joins the pack of coyotes and sheds all traces of her human identity, adopting the coyote’s instinctive way of surviving in the wild.
Another draft of the film included the ending of the house going up in flames while the family was driving into the hills, only to be met by coyotes. That ending was scrapped in favor of the much quieter, ambiguous fade out where the house was left intact, but clearly battered and abused.
In fan-theory land, this one debated variant: Because the final cut maintains animals were the ones antagonizing her, and not humans. How people were able to easily access the home, and its gate system, to go unscathed by the animals, suggests the animals were not the only ones orchestrating the plan.
Why It Both Works and Stumbles
“Works”, in this case, the final cut of the film features the two genres of horror seamlessly: rural wildlife sudden attack plus home invasion in a suburb, while also maintaining the chemical bond of real-life couple Long & Bosworth. The night scenes are some of the strongest in the film, and the setting itself is one that is both recognizable yet vulnerable. For a creature feature audience, this film does the trick, and more.
On the “stumbles” side: the coyotes, though AI-generated, along with the CGI, are distracting. The tonal balance between comedy and horror is unbalanced — some moments that are supposed to be satirical feel, well, awkward, while some of the survival scenes feel bland and generic. The thematic or ecological layer seems to be underdeveloped. Critics have pointed out that it is “a lost opportunity” but not a catastrophe.
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