Coyotes (2025) by Colin Minihan

Director: Colin Minihan

Year: 2025

Country: USA

Alternate Titles: N/A

Genre: Nature-Run-Amok

Plot:

During a streak of vicious wildfires, a man and his family trying to secure everything they have to evacuate before the fires reach their house are interrupted when a pack of wild coyotes invade their neighborhood, attacking everyone they come across, forcing him to save his family.

Review:

This was a fairly solid and enjoyable enough genre effort. Among the better aspects of this one stems from the rather fun setup that allows this one to come together in a more believable manner than expected for what turns out to be a rather straightforward time. Giving the first half a generally quick-shot approach for each of the characters in the community, whether it's the intricacies of the family and their personal struggles or the various neighbors who are trying to get their supplies for a potential evacuation due to the fire coming closer even though they become stranded, works incredibly well to get the characters established and the means for why they're going to stay so that the coyotes are given some fine fodder to go through.

Once it has established this, the fun manner in which it allows the creatures to start interfering in the lives of everyone they come across gives it some fun moments. Going around to each of the houses on the block and attacking anyone and everything they come across, from the encounter outside by the pool where a victim is set on fire by briquettes while trying to get away, a special romantic encounter is interrupted by the creatures appearing and stalking the owners, and a later scene where an investigation into a missing neighbor reveals the aftermath of the attacks works rather nicely. As we've gotten plenty of other briefer interactions before where the coyotes pick off animals or other neighborhood stragglers, there's a solid series of encounters here to lead into the strong finale.

This fun finale, leading from the rescue of the survivor of one of the neighbors' houses and bringing them back to his house, where the rest of the film concerns a solid series of scenes within the house, fighting the creatures off, is what makes it a lot to like. The trapped nature of the group, with the fire knocking out the electricity as well as providing a physical barrier, forces them to go for some intriguing tactics to try fighting off the animals trying to get to them, which includes some fun chases and narrow escapes around the house. The final encounter to get out and save themselves is an ingenious enough plan that comes together far more logically than expected, and the action involved here is quite fun, leading to plenty of impressive factors to hold this one up.

There isn’t much to hold it down, but it did have some issues. The main drawback with the film is the generally troubling nature of the exterminator being involved as the source of the wolves’ interactions against the family. While his presence is a necessary one with the purpose of their attack being instigated through his appearance, the whole purpose outlives its usefulness at that point, and to then continually keep him alive after that is a curious decision that doesn’t really serve the film all too well. There’s also the strange decision to keep everyone in the house during the forest fire, where it’s hard to imagine anyone would be this late in evacuating and not have any effects from the fire slowing them down, being just enough to be the few flaws with this one.

Overview: ****/5

An effective and generally enjoyable genre effort, there are a lot of fun aspects to be had here that keep this up over a few small, slight flaws that aren’t too detrimental overall. Those with an interest in this style aren’t bothered by the issues present, or who are fans of the creative crew will have the most to like, while most others out there might want to heed caution.